Alex Walker was born in Berry in 1938. His father Reginald Walker, and paternal grandfather were both from Wallaga Lake. His mother was from Cooma.
Although living in Nowra and Sydney for a period of time, Alex has spent most of his life on the south coast and now lives once again at Wallaga Lake. Alex Walker is renowned as a worker on saw and spot mills across the shire including Davis’s on Potato Point Rd, Nerrigundah, Stony Creek, Moruya and Dalmeny during the 1950s and 1960s. On weekends they went fishing in Stony Creek for eels, or Brou Beach to fish off the rocks, or went to Nerrigundah to pick peas and catch up with family.
Alex worked there cutting firewood at ‘Whiffens’, Jeff Bates’ holiday house on Bridge Point, Akolele. Alex recalls the ‘Cricket ground’, nearby as a camping place for people visiting Wallaga Lake. The people that lived there played cricket, giving the place the name. In 1950 Alex himself camped there. The manager at the Wallaga Lake Reserve during the 1950s was hard on people, so many people camped at the Cricket ground, where they knew they could practice their culture and connect with family passing through the area.
The main area used by Alex and other people living at Wallaga Lake is the coastal strip between Bunga Head and Mystery Bay, Poole’s Point, as well as Potato Point and Brou Lake. Alex recalls a lot of koori families camping at Tilba Lake throughout the 1950s.
Alex continues to reside at Wallaga Lake with his family.
Excerpt from Stories About the Eurobodalla by Aboriginal People, 2006. Story contributed by Martin Ind from Moruya High School.