Linda May Cruse was born in Nowra in 1936. Her father was Benjamin Cruse and her mother Lillian Sarah Pepper a Kurnai woman from Victoria. Benjamin’s mother was Dolly Walker a Yuin woman and his father was an American Indian. In 1946 Linda attended Bodalla School when her family took up seasonal work along the Tuross River. In 1951 Linda worked at Macintosh’s farm in Moruya, where she met her husband, Ted Davis (deceased), a Moruya man. In 1959 Linda moved to Port Kembla where her husband worked on the Port Kembla Wharves. He worked there for 40 years.

During the mid to late 1940s Linda and her family picked seasonal vegetables in the Bodalla / Tuross River region. They camped close to the farm where they worked; mainly on the riverbank, or in old houses and barns. Linda recalls the farmers “treating us well…. I’d swap all of my tomorrows for one yesterday…we had a great childhood….”

Throughout her childhood Linda camped and fished with her parents at places including Mystery Bay, Potato Point, South Durras, Turlinjah and Brou Lake. Linda currently resides in Moruya with her family.

Excerpt from Stories About the Eurobodalla by Aboriginal People, 2006. Story contributed by Martin Ind from Moruya High School.