Allie Parker, brother of Rhonda Parker

Rhonda Parker: My mother was a Gurruma, Innowongka and Banjima lady, my father was Wobby Parker, he’s a Banjiyma man. I grew up in Wittenoom back in the 1970s with my Mum, and we used to go out to a lot of stations like Mulga Downs, Hamersley Station, Rocklea, and Ashburton. Back in the ‘90s we did a homeland movement with my mum to Wakathuni, that’s why this it’s there today. On the stations we used to help cooking dampers and everything else for the old people. They’d sit down, tell us about the land, who we are for the land, and show us how to dance. My big brother used to teach us how to saddle a horse, me and my sister used to be go riding with our grandparents around Rocklea Station. All the women used to do the cooking, getting everything ready, especially a cup of tea! Nanna used to show us how to ngunda [dance] a lot, teach us about which tribe is your next door neighbour, your kinship, you skin name. At Rocklea Station we used to go to Sandy creek all the time, that’s where my Nana Dora used to hang out all the time, she used to make a soak there. We go back, but it’s all sanded in, it’s not there anymore. We’d go out with pop Chubby, he used to tell us about when they would do their windmill runs, fencing, they used to do the trough, and we used to help keep them clean. We’d always pull up by the river, that’s where they did the storytelling, they would name the river and the hills which are the landmarks, the boundaries of countries. On Rocklea they used to send us to the main homestead, to the lady of the house for the stores, flour and tobacco. We used to drive the little buggies and take rations back to the old people. One time we hit the biggest rock going, everything went everywhere, then we got told off. Old people used to growl at us, never used to hit us though. The old people used to look smart all the time with their boots and buckles on. My big brother used to talk about that all the time. He passed away not long ago. Still today, he used to dress up like a stockman. He was so proud of himself.