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Mary Williams

Mary Williams

Racism was still there but everyone realised they had no choice and had to live side by side.

When I grew up you could walk from the City to Taperoo.  It didn't matter if it took you two days, you could get a drink, a feed, there were safe houses we could stay at. Back then most of Taperoo knew each other, black and white. As racist as it used to be, we all knew we had no choice and had to live together side by side, and that was the way Taperoo worked.

There was a youth centre across the road from the Taperoo Primary School (on the corner of Victoria Road and Gedville Road), and we'd hang out there. Racism was still there but everyone realised they had no choice and had to live side by side.  Back then I got called Blackfella more but it didn't mean anything to me. You can bet the white girl sitting next to me would jump up and defend me before it even registered with me.

Mary Williams

Georgina Williams

Georgina Williams
m2y

163 St Vincent Street | PO Box 110

Port Adelaide SA 5015

(08) 8405 6600 | Email Us

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Port Adelaide SA 5015

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"We acknowledge and pay respect to the Traditional Owners of the land on which we stand, the Kaurna People of the Adelaide Plains. It is upon their ancestral lands that the Port Adelaide Enfield Council meets. It is also the Place of the Kardi, the Emu, whose story travels from the coast inland. We pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging. We respect their spiritual beliefs and connections to land which are of continuing importance to the living Kaurna People of today. We further acknowledge the contributions and important role that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to play within our shared community."