Willy Philp is another of Menindee’s unsung heroes. He was born William Gregory Philp in 1953 and has lived here all his life. His mother was Margaret (née Kelly) and his father, Lawrence Philp. His family lived on a block on the east side of the river next to the Old Reserve.

Willy was only a baby when his father tragically died and his grandfather Jack Kelly with his wife Louisa took him in and reared him up. Willy fondly remembers the droving trips he went on with Jack Kelly. They took sheep, cattle and goats across to the Flinders Ranges and from Hungerford to Deniliquin.They had no vehicles then — just horses and carts (and their dogs).

These trips could take six months or more. They took graziers’ sheep along the ‘long paddock’ — the stock routes that criss-cross western NSW. Some of the others who were in these droving parties were Doonie Murray, Steve Whyman, Amos, Harry and Dan Kelly. Their destination was usually Deniliquin or Yelta saleyards at Mildura.

Willy was most of the time barefoot in those days. One day in Hay Grandfather Kelly bought him some fine riding boots. The droving party had upgraded to a De Soto ute, but it was a bit temperamental. At Prettypine, near Deniliquin, it got a flat battery one morning and had to be pushed. When it finally started the kids all flew in, and because they couldn’t stop the ute, the riding boots got left behind. They could be still there!

All this, plus station work (fencing, lamb-marking, mustering), didn’t leave much time for schooling, but for the kids of today Willy says it has all changed. There is no employment nowadays on stations and to get ahead kids need to learn all that school has to offer, especially in the new technologies.

At 19, Willy married Lynette Gail King and they had four sons: William Shane, Allan Troy, Thomas John and Gregory Lee. Willy and Gail now have 15 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.

When Kinchega National Park was formed Willy worked on the high boundary fence that surrounds it. After this he became a Field Officer at National Parks, doing the necessary training, as well as spending ten years working for the railways as ganger and track supervisor.

Willy has also been chairman of the Menindee Local Aboriginal Council and the director of Maari Ma Health. He has also served as Ngiyampaa representative on the board of Mungo National Park. In 2005 Haythorpe station near Menindee was purchased by Indigenous Land Corportation and Willy was employed as manager, a position he still holds today. Haythorpe was purchased on behalf of Maari Ma to run its social and emotional wellbeing programs. As a rural property Haythorpe is going well. Maari Ma has run 13 programs there and Willy thinks there should be more involvement in them from Aboriginal people in the western region.

Willy has seen Aboriginal society devastated by alcohol and drugs. “Alcohol and drugs are the breeding ground for domestic violence,” he says. Haythorpe runs programs for gaining greater self-respect and dealing with drug addiction.

Willy believes that Aboriginal people should become more focused on getting things done for themselves and not relying all the time on the government, and that includes younger kids having more respect and learning self-respect. He says, “The government’s been looking after Aboriginal people for 220 years and we’re still second-class citizens in our own country. We have to make our own destiny.”

From the book Menindee’s Unsung Aboriginal Heroes Menindee Central School