Annie’s father George Man Fong was the last owner of Jones' Store before it was purchased by the National Trust

We couldn’t have asked for a better life growing up at Newcastle Waters. Life was simple but good. We had the love of hard-working parents who gave us nothing but the best. We were fortunate to be surrounded by our big family. Our grandparents, Charles (Pompey) and Sarah Alum lived a few blocks away and this was our second home. Nanna and Grandpa had 13 children, our mother, Alison was the second eldest of the girls.

Although we didn’t have a lot growing up, what we did have was the freedom to enjoy our childhood. We made our own fun. Swimming in the creek, making cubby houses in the bush, fishing and finding things to do to amuse ourselves.

Life skills – We learnt to drive at an early age. Fishing, hunting & gathering. We learnt how Grandpa trained his dogs. We teased horsehair for Dad’s saddles. Learnt how to cook from Mum, Nanna, Dad and Grandpa.

Food – We had the best beef in the country. We had fresh fruit and vegetables compliments of Grandpa’s garden. We made our own bread and damper/jonny cakes. We had special treats such as Nanna’s brownies, custard and tin fruit or rice and milk. Grandpa and Nanna had chooks, ducks, and geese so we had plenty of eggs.

My sister Sandra recalls making mud cakes with Grandpa’s eggs. Our cousin James took off once he saw Grandpa walking towards them. Sandra didn’t have time to move quick enough and she received her first mud and egg facial...and she never touched any eggs again. There was certainly no wastage of food in our family.

We remember the times we would go to the station when we had to get our health checks. We were given a cup of goat’s milk with pendavite. We would also go to the store to get our rations. We did like that we could get a softdrink if we were lucky.

Dad would travel a lot leaving us with Mum at the old house. Sometimes we would travel with him and Mum but we mostly stayed at home. Dad went from station to station fixing broken saddles.

Flooding in Newcastle was common occurrence every wet season. We enjoyed this time as boating across the water was exciting. We would also get a buzz moving camp to higher ground to our wet weather camp at the base of the ridge, near the turn off.

Hunting was essential and we learnt so much from our family members especially Nanna and Grandpa. We would go with them hunting for bush turkey, sand goanna and porcupine.

We spent most weekends at North Yard (Goolija) our grandmother’s country, fishing, camping, hunting and shooting ducks. We have so many fond memories here with our big extended family.

Our Grandpa Charles Pompey Alum worked at the station garden. We would often visit him, only to help ourselves to the eggs, tomatoes and carrots. He also had his own veggie garden located at his block. We always helped out when he wanted us too.

Not only was Grandpa Charles the station gardener, he was the station butcher. Every Thursday would be killer day. He would kill one cow for the station and another one for the locals. Other families known to us at that time was the Ulamari’s, the Dixon’s, the Raymonds, Uncle Fred and Aunty Isobel Taylor. There were many other aboriginal families that lived there too but we cannot remember their names.