Tanya Heaslip

I thought these rough-as-guts bush kids were okay to talk to.

But the country kids were all, I mean, they were much better adapted anyway.

They'd all been to, you know, mid-north schools and, you know.

Yeah, coming there from Mount Gambier is a big difference than coming there from Central Australia.

Yeah, yeah.

So I was an absolute fish out of water.

We were in a dormitory, 14 girls, and a little window above my bed and I'd look through it and I couldn't see the stars.

And all I could hear was traffic on Green Hill Road.

And I'd only seen night skies full of stars and I'd never seen or spent time or gone to sleep next to a road full of traffic.

And it was like being on another planet.

Not being able to see the stars was traumatising.

For a bush kid.

What about the beach, though?

Was Glenelg kind of a culture shock for you?

Yeah, Glenelg, yeah, I have never really much been into the beach since then.

So were you victimised a bit by the day girls at that school?

Not the day.

The day girls really were quite separate.

They, you know, they came to school.

They all had these interesting packed lunches and we'd have to go to the dining room for something.