Kevin Robinson
I think the happiest memory is when I married my wife in the backyard…

I have been 26 years in Minto. I started off in Dunlop Way and now I’m in Guernsey Avenue Minto. I can remember exactly when I first set eyes on the house. There was a dirt road up in Dunlop Way, there was no tarred road. There were no carports. My first instinct was I didn’t like it, I still don’t. If I had the money, I’d be out of here.

Barry Roberts was my next door neighbour. We knew Betty and Derek Coulter and we’ve known them all the time. There was a Joe Shillingsworth, Aboriginal chap, in the corner house. Barry raised five kids on his own as a father. We know the five children and we know their children and we’ve been good friends with them for 20 odd years.

I try and help in the community, in the local area. The children there, play games with them, sports, to give them a bit more education in that area. I’m no expert but that’s what I do.

The worst experience I have had here was, there was a chap who lit up the house we were living in two days running and it set fire to that house twice. I was laying on the floor of the bedroom we were living in because I was so petrified and mentally stressed and my wife will verify that I lost close to two or three, maybe even four kilos during that period which was about ten days. I told Housing Commission that we wanted to move extremely urgently otherwise I wasn’t staying there, and they moved us. That’s the worst experience I’ve had.

I think the happiest memory is when I married my wife in the backyard with a celebrant, other than the birth of the kids. The wedding was in January 1984.

I’m a train driver on City Rail now and I’m happy as a train driver. My wife’s not real happy with the shift work I do but she’s learnt to cope with it. I got where I got for my father’s sake.