ARTIST: Ruth Leigh
TITLE: Mavis Taylor
Before coming to Australia, Mavis spent many years working in the United Kingdom prison system supporting young offenders. Though the work was challenging, it also gave her a strong sense of purpose and compassion for those navigating difficult circumstances. Indeed, throughout her life, Mavis has been guided by resilience, humour and a belief in making the best of whatever circumstances arise. Mavis has recently relocated with her family to Broome.
I was born in Birmingham, which is central UK. And then once we’d got the children, we moved about 50 kilometres north to a little town called Stafford, because I’m not a city person despite having been born in one. I’m more ‘out in the suburbs’.
I moved over here in June 20, 2023 from the UK. My son and daughter in law live here, so I’m on what they call a bridging visa for aged persons and I was told it would take up to 20 years to decide whether I could be a resident. So I’ll be well down under by then! [laughs]. And since then I’ve been told it’s going to take up to 31 years, so they’re going to have to dig me up to give me the results!I’m just on a bridging visa, which means I can’t leave the country unless I get another visa to say I can go out to the country and come back in [laughs]. So as long as I behave myself, I should be able to stay. But any day they could send me back for no reason at all. But it was a risk I was prepared to take.
I’m here with my son and daughter in law. Simon, my son has lived here since 2012. And then Lindsay came over from Ireland in 2000 and at the end of 2013 and they met up. I decided that since I was leaving home I was going to try and integrate myself into the community. So it’s turned out to be very busy! Monday is the gym. Tuesday I go to the Well Woman’s [Centre] to do crafts there. Wednesday here, [and] every other Thursday ‘Salt’, which is the gym, it’s for over 60-year-olds. They have a ‘Salt’ social for an hour where we play games, you know board games and things or do jigsaws. And then Friday it’s Pilates. I’ve never been an exercise person. Back home I worked in a prison, and the gym was beneath us, and I think in all the years I worked there- which was probably 10 or 11- I went to the gym twice.
The only reason I go here [to the gym] in many ways is because Morgan sometimes comes, Merle always comes and there’s another lady, a Ukrainian lady that I pick up. And I think if I didn’t pick allthem up to bring them, it would be a case of- Nah! [laughs]. I’m the only one, well, Morgan’s got a car, but Morgan’s 87 and he’s quite forgetful, so I make a point of bringing him as well. But he makes sure that I will go to things as well. So, I’ve got most people’s phone numbers. So if they’re not there, [I’ll call to ask] are you right?
[I ] love it in Hedland- no roadblocks! I mean it’s bumper to bumper in the UK. No traffic lights [here] and I couldn’t believe how little traffic’s on the road. It’s just so different here. I came one year over the winter [season] to see if I could cope with it and I sort of managed it. But I’m looking forward to it as it cools down again, because I can’t go outside quite so much [while it’s hot]. I still haven’t climatized. During the winter it’s still just a sheet on the bed! I thought I would have acclimatized by now but I certainly didn’t.
Back home I worked in a prison, but I wasn’t a prison officer. I was more like a social worker. The prison I worked in was for juveniles aged 15 to 18. So I used to support them as they were going through the sentences. And it could be very hairy – but also very rewarding. I used to feel so sad for a lot of them. Alright, they’ve done wrong, but some of their home lives were dreadful. So I did find that work rewarding, but you never knew what the day was going to bring. You’d be threatened if you upset someone.
But I’m pretty strong-willed, so I used to take it on board. The one lad told one of the officers he was going to kill me and his officer told me to keep away from him. So I said, take me to his cell- because I hadn’t had cell keys- so he took me to the cell and he stood at the door, and I stood in front of this lad and I said; “I believe you’re going to kill me? I’m here now.” [laughs]. It’s just their tempers, you know, but if you can show well, you’re not afraid and you’re there to help. And in the end, by the end of his sentence, he was thanking me for what I was doing. So if you can make someone’s life a little easier – then it’s worthwhile.
[In terms of my family life] Lindsay and I share the cooking. We’ve got three dogs, and I live in their house. We’re moving up to Broome, probably at the end of the year. They’re going to be building a house and a granny flat. So I shall have my own little granny flat, which will be good. So then I can be really naughty again- do exactly what I like, when I like [laughs].
[When I move to Broome] That worries me, because Morgan’s memory is dreadful. I phone him up about four mornings a week to check he’s taken his medication, and there’s someone else that phones on the other three, and within half an hour he will have forgotten. So you know, you’re forever reminding him, which is a shame. But he’s a lovely man, but he lives on his own, so it’s quite concerning. So I do worry how he’s going to get here [to the group] – but I’d have nowhere to live here when they [my son and daughter in law] move up [to Broome]. So in any case I’ve got to go. I’m going to miss everybody that I’ve made friends with- I’ll have to start again.
It’s the only thing about UK. I’ve got a daughter still in the UK, but we speak every week. But the friends that I’ve got over there, my close friends, I miss. But again, we speak on WhatsApp. We call ourselves the Three Amigos. There’s four of us, but one hasn’t got a smartphone, that’s why we ended up with the three Amigos [laughs]. We used to go walking together, which I miss. It’s too hot here to walk. In the evening as it’s cooler [I will], it’s still not really cool enough but it’s getting there now. But fortunately we’ve got a swimming pool so I can still do a bit of exercise. I went in yesterday and oh, it was glorious! It was a case of “Do I have a nap or do I swim?” Well, I went to swim!
I’m sort of not really into politics of any sort, never have been. I was brought up in a religion that didn’t agree with voting or anything, so I’ve only ever voted once in my life. I’m not part of that religion now, but that’s how I was brought up. And it was a case of “you don’t know what God has got in mind for the world, therefore you might be voting against that.” So I just stayed away from it. And the only time I voted was to come out of the EU! [Laughs]. I just tend to think of politicians as they’re all in each for their own good. There’s very few that are in to really serve the people. Perhaps that’s a very jaundiced view, but that’s my attitude [laughs]. They all make promises and don’t really mean it.
It’s just sad that the world is the way it is, and people… can’t be satisfied with what they’ve got. That’s the way I feel. It’s frightening to be the parents bringing up children in this world. I think our lives were easier at my stage. I’m 79 and it was much easier, I think, to bring up children then without the internet. And although the internet is good, there’s a lot of evil in it. Children don’t play together so much because they’re on the phones or on the laptops and this sort of thing, I wouldn’t like to bring up children myself at this [stage]. It must be a lot more difficult.
MEDIUM: Oil on Canvas
$420.00
In stock
