Sita Walker

I see the hallway with all the rooms coming off it and I see the family room which was attached to the kitchen.

We sort of had two family rooms.

We had one...

good lounge and my dad had his bookshelves in the good lounge and there was a piano in the good lounge and we were never really meant to go into the good lounge because my father had sort of said, look, we need just one space in this house that isn't overrun with family and children and things and

So I have a family room attached to the kitchen, which was really the heart of the home and that's where we lived most of the time.

Mum?

Mum was...

That's a really interesting question.

What was mum in charge of?

I remember my grandmother doing most of the cooking when I was very young before she sort of got too old to take on that job.

So my grandmother was a constant fixture in the kitchen cooking and in the garden gardening and just pottering.

She

And my mother went to work.

So my mother was a school teacher like me and she taught year two at Toowoomba East State School for probably about 30 years.

And so she knows everybody in town and has people coming up to her saying, oh, Mrs Walker, you taught me in 1991 or whatever.

And she's, of course, got no idea who they are.

But so my grandmother sort of looked after me, looked after the kids and my mum worked, I think.

Well, strangely, as relaxed as the woman is.

So she's relaxed about everything to do with the home.

So she would never be the type of mother that would tidy up if guests were coming over.