“The place was kind of basic but it had skylights, it had a spare room which I used as a studio. My bathroom was outside. In those days, Reg was upstairs and Reg used to get out on the street every morning and hose down the street. I think the guy – what was his name, George? – he was an ex-wharfie. He lived opposite me. Jean lived down the road in a one bedder, like a bedsit. And my friend Lucy, who’s an artist, she decided to move in. So, Lucy was next to me and her and I shared my bathroom. She had a studio, she was a painter as well. So Lucy and I between us decided to run the Port Kembla Culture Festival!” – Ann Martin, 3 July 2017 Photo: @_nina_cucina_ @wollongongcity @visitportkembla @exploreportkembla #wentworthstreet #wentworthstreetportkembla #memories #oralhistory #regionaltowns #steeltown #streetphotography #revitalization #australianhistory #ourtown #1990s

I was dragged back down here in the early 90s by my friend, Gregor Cullen who was one of the artist/printmakers from the old Redback Graphics days. He was Wollongong born and bred and I was Berry born and bred. I’d been away working in the Central Coast and other places and I was kind of finished and at a loose end. He said, “come on down, Ann!” At the time, the Chamber of Commerce had a revitalization program happening and so, Gregor says, “why don’t you come and volunteer on that project?” Which I did. I was living with my father in Berry and I would drive up to Port. Things were pretty tough for me, I literally had next to no money. I’d left a fairly good job because I’d convinced myself that I could do something that was completely un-doable and I was pretty well on the bones of my arse. Had nothing, almost nothing. I was living with my father and travelling up every day from Berry to Port. Living with my father was not easy and it wasn’t fair on him, I kind of just landed, as you do! And so I moved to Port and I moved upstairs from the old newsagent above what was then a Dions building. I still dream about that place. - Ann Martin, 3 July 2017 📸@nina_cucina @wollongongcity #portkembla #wollongong #redbackgraphics #dions #revitalize #revitalisation #wentworthstreet #1990s

Available to rent online courtesy of the Sydney Film Festival - Robynne Murphy’s film Women of Steel - capturing women’s fight for equal rights to work for BHP (now Bluescope Steel). https://ondemand.sff.org.au/film/women-of-steel/ #womensrights #equalpay #equalrights #workersrights #portkembla #steelworks #bhp #sydneyfilmfestival #womenofsteel

LAUNCH of the ABC Documentary project about Wentworth Street Port Kembla - Sat 22 June 330-530 at the Servo Food Truck Bar, corner of Wentworth Street and Darcy Road Port Kembla - come and see the short film and listen to the podcast episode. Live performance from Daryl Wallis, Kerrie Sweeney - link for tickets (free): https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/port-live-tickets-62962852587

The Governess will be leading a walking tour of Albion Park this Saturday 15 June to mark 160 years of Shellharbour as a local government area. She will meet walkers at this bench at 10am and 3pm sharp on the day - don’t be late! Click the link in the comments to find out more and to book your place. #albionpark #walkingtour #illawarra #illawarraevents #historylovers #bench #rendezvous #walkingshoes #flaneur @thegovernessschool

“There was Joe Ryan the boot maker and I always used to like going up and getting the shoes when they were being repaired because he always used to have this big leather apron and his shop always smelt beautifully of leather. But he always had a mouthful of tacks and I used to love standing at the counter waiting for our shoes and watch him talking with all these tacks in his mouth. I was fascinated – ‘he’s going to swallow one, he’s going to swallow one!’ – he never did. I’ve got a photograph of Joe outside his shop with his then assistant, Jimmy Crimmins who was killed in the war.” - Peggy Stransky, 21 November 2015 . . - Image of Joe Ryan (R) and Jimmy Crimmins (L) outside his shop on Wentworth Street in the late 1930s (note the glimpse of the opposite side of the street in the window reflection). . . 📷 provided by Peggy Stransky . . #anzac #anzacday #wewillrememberthem #bootmaker #shoerepair #leather #oldshop #shopwindows #olddays #portkembla #wentworthstreet #wentworthstreetshops #meninaprons #oldsigns #bootpolish #kiwishoepolish

#thesirenproject development showing Sat 28 July at IPAC - women’s stories from Port Kembla reimagined through song ... beautiful, powerful, moving. Our sirens: Katrina Retallick, Matilda Brown, Aunty Marlene Cummins, Jean Lewis, Billie Rose Prichard and Kerrie Sweeney. Words by Aunty Barbara Nicholson and Ali Jane Smith, music by Daryl Wallis. Huge thank you to Merrigong Theatre Company, Culture Bank, Create NSW, and Wollongong City Council. ❤️

“Life in the street was so important. There was an SP booking shop in our back lane. They were funny places because everybody would sneak up and put their bets on a Saturday. It’s called Starting Price betting but they were illegal. They used to come up the back lane where we lived and go up into this old garage place and put the bets on and periodically the police would raid and you’d see people running in all directions and jumping over fences and goodness knows what. It was really funny.” – Peggy Stransky - Photo by @where_is_nina #portkembla #wentworthstreetportkembla #wentworthlane #mytown #memories #illawarraphotographer #betting #startingprice #backlane #gettinguptomischief #jumpingoverfences #streetlife #illawarra #oralhistory #bettinglife #lifesagamble #gamblinglife #riskybusiness

“It was really tough times. There was no government help in those years (1960s), nothing. 50 cents a week I got for one child and a dollar a week for the other - that’s what child endowment consisted of. If you don’t write it down it gets forgotten. I think it’s very important for the younger generation to read what it was like in an era before their time because they think that what they’re doing at the moment was the norm, and it’s not. When I was trying to raise my two children on my own after coming home from Chile, women were earning only 70% of the male wage. Even though you had children to raise, because you are a woman you got 70% of the male wage. The first approach I made to try and buy this dilapidated old house was, ‘Oh, we don’t sell houses to women’. And they’ve forgotten what that was like.” - Peggy Stransky - photo of the house Peggy eventually bought (back row), just off Military Road #portkembla #mystory #myhome #heritagehome #heritagebuilding #vintagephoto #oldphoto #womensstories #womenshistorymonth #womensrights #womenswork #singlemom #womenspower #femalepower @wollongonglibraries