April Harrison was born in 1990 and Chantelle Shackleton was born 1986. They came with their parents to live in Millers Point when they were little girls. In their interview they give young people’s perspective on living in an historic neighbourhood and talk about kindergartens, playgrounds, school, teachers, strong relationships between the local children, celebrating New Year’s Eve, drug use, sport, their involvement in RocksFest; and mentorships. In the excerpt below they talk about outsiders’ perceptions of The Rocks and Millers point as it undergoes demographic change.
This interview is part of Housing NSW’s 2005 Millers Point Oral History Project. The City of Sydney acknowledges the State Library of New South Wales as the archival custodian of the project and digital preserver of the masters.
April: My mum only works casual but she loves it when people come down and she can show off where she lives, Millers Point and The Rocks, like everyone wants to be there. She takes walks with hundreds of our friends and family around, ‘Look at this, look at this.’ She thinks she knows all the little secrets.
Chantelle: That is the other thing. Like when you go out and you speak to people, like you meet people, ‘Oh were do you live?’ ‘Oh, I live in The Rocks.’ You don’t tell them you are Housing Commission [Housing NSW] because they think you are rich and you sit there. Then they go, ‘Do you live in a house?’ ‘Yes.’ They are like, ‘Wow.’ We all laugh about it because it is funny.
