Kathleen Murphy
My house is a back-to-front house, unfortunately

I’m 35 years old and I’ve lived in Minto for 13 years. I was allocated this house and I had to take it at the time as we were on a low income. I live in a quiet little street with nice, friendly neighbours. I love the street I live in. I moved from Campbelltown.

When I first looked at my Housing Commission house, I cried because it was such a mess. There was rubbish out the front, the grass was knee high. It’s a nice little place to live in now.

My house is a back-to-front house unfortunately. My back door is actually my front door which is my laundry and it gets used all the time. I’ve got a high fence and my clothesline faces the street so whoever comes down the street can see all our washing. It was probably a male who designed the house. Don’t know what he was thinking.

My mum and dad come from Ireland. I’ve got an older brother 20 years older than me born in Ireland. Another brother, who’s just turned 40, was born in Australia. I’ve got three children and I’m married.

My happiest memory is when I got married and the car coming down the street - I didn’t know what kind of car I was having because my husband arranged it all. Seeing that car come down the street, I was overwhelmed. It was a Corvette convertible. There was that many people walking the street who stopped and looked and I felt very special.

My house isn’t getting knocked down, they’re going to do it all up… Hopefully they’ll get rid of the riff raff and it’ll be a nice, quiet place to live. It won’t be so rough or have a bad name as it does now. A lot of people look down on you when you say you’re from Minto.

I think the redevelopment is a great idea and needs to be done. My house won’t be back-to-front anymore. Because I’ve got houses being knocked down in my street, there’ll be a lot of bulldozers, noise, equipment but I’m prepared to put up with that. Hopefully we’ll be able to buy our houses. I’d like to stay in Minto and see all the changes happen.