Josephine McGuinness
Since I was young, we used to move from house to house and I just don’t really want to leave here

I moved to Minto around about ’79, ’80 back then. It was my first house, so I was so excited, getting out of my parents’ house. And my two boys thought it was alright because they had their own room. I was a single parent. I think I just liked being on my own.

I have lots of friends here. I’ve had a lot of people that have helped me when I needed it. I had a car accident. It was pretty bad, I had broken ribs, collar bone, arm and face. I had a good friend across the road, Liz, she said, “Come over and stay.” I brought my kids over and she looked after me and my tribe.

I had four boys playing football and my two. I kept pushing them because I never had the chance when I was a kid. I remember Kenny said once that he wanted to throw everything in but I said, “No don’t do that, you got the chance. You wouldn’t have a car only through football, go for it.” He said he wanted to hang out with his mates, but he ended up letting it go and sticking with football. I went to every game, never missed a game, right from the age of six.

They got better, they made grade, Kenny and Kevin did. The other two tried to get there but I don’t think they had the ambition like Kenny and Kevin, they just wanted to play. Now Kevin’s in England. He’s playing for Salford Reds in Manchester and Ken’s in Campbelltown. He plays local but he likes working with kids. He’s working in a detention centre in Campbelltown with the youth. He likes that.

They bought me a bigger house - that was too big. Then they bought me a smaller house but it wasn’t in Minto. If they’d bought me a smaller house in Minto, I would have been happy because that’s all I wanted; I didn’t want to move from here because of all my friends. When you get older and you see the same crew and your friends have always been there if you need them, you mightn’t see them for days or months and when you run into them and if you need something, they’re still there for you. That’s what I’ve loved about Minto.

I really don’t want to move from here, I like the area. I like being close to the shopping centre, everything’s so handy. Since I was young, we used to move from house to house and I just don’t really want to leave here.

I went on an excursion once and we interviewed a couple of young boys and they said to one of the girls, “How can we make a name for ourselves, we come out of a ‘houso’ house?” I happened to be there and I says, “My name is Josie McGuiness. Do you know Ken and Kevin?” And they said, “Yes.” and I said, “I’m their mother and we come from a Housing Commission house and they’re black too,” because these little fellas were Koori kids. And I said, “If they can do it you can do it.’ So with the Koori kids here now, I’d like to see them help Koori kids plus other kids who reckon they can’t do anything from a Housing Commission house.