Jeff Huddlestone
Roustabout, farm owner, nurse, Justice of the Peace, community volunteer and disability peer worker.
These are some of the highlights of the interesting and diverse activities of Glenburnie resident Ruth Mott.
Born in 1960 at Mortlake, Ms Mott was raised on a soldier settler mixed farm ‘Westgreys’ at Caramut, Victoria.
She was educated there and in Hamilton.
Her family was community minded and Ms Mott was involved with Brownies and Scouts.
At the urging of her father to get a trade, Ms Mott studied wool classing and got an agricultural apprenticeship to her parents.
They encouraged her to experiment and make decisions.
She worked as a roustabout and general farm hand in a male dominated shed.
“We worked 750 acres, 1500 sheep, 200 cattle and grew wheat, oats and canola, as it’s now known,” she said.
”I loved working with the animals and also hay carting,” she said.
She earned the respect of the blokes in the shed, by meeting their expectations.
“You certainly had to prove yourself back then,” she said.
“There was no ‘I’m a female you have to accept me’, it was I’m a female and I have to do your work.”
In acknowledgement of the bloke’s presence and a thank you, Ms Mott would shear the last sheep of the run.
“I used to love being called the duck on the pond,” she said.
“All the men realised the duck wasn’t going anywhere. It used to be great.”
Financial difficulties and lifestyle changes resulted in Ms Mott having to sell the farm in 2007.
“I really miss it,” she said.
“But how things were and how I am now, I couldn’t run it.”
Ms Mott, her four daughters and step son then moved to Mount Gambier/ Berrin, where she worked as a nurse.
In November 2019, she had a fall which severed her spinal cord.
“I had rehabilitation at the Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre in Adelaide and came home in a wheelchair,” she said.
“That was a total change and I got involved with the local wheelies group.
“We meet once a month to discuss any problems or issues we have in a wheelchair.
About a year ago, Ms Mott was reading a newsletter from Purple Orange, a social profit organisation on a mission to create a world where people who live with disability get a fair go at what life has to offer, and saw they were looking for a Limestone Coast country coordinator.
Ms Mott applied and began working for the organisation, pleased to be in a paid role again.
She works with the SKILL project helping to develop leadership opportunities and peer networks for people living with disability, their family and allies.
“SKILL gives people with a disability the tools and understanding to make their own decisions,” she said.
The group meets monthly and Ms Mott said they were generally happy.
“They like to see that they’re being accepted for who they are and not their disabilities,” she said.
“I’d like to organise a barbecue for members before Christmas.”
While she has many paid work experiences, Ms Mott is also resilient and active in the community.
She was recently involved with the City of Mount Gambier’s 2035 project, and is a justice of the peace who volunteers her services at the Mount Gambier Library.
Ms Mott also helps at the Salvation Army thrift shop, the Glenburnie Hall, is an avid reader, scrap booker, enjoys craft work and loves attending shows at the Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre.
“People don’t realise how lucky they are to have it here, the shows are as good as any in Melbourne, Sydney or Adelaide,” she said.
She also felt lucky to have her family close by.
“I’m lucky, all my girls live close, within 10 minutes of me, and I enjoy my nine grandchildren, they’re special,” she said.
Ms Mott said she still had a lot to offer.
“I’m in a wheelchair but that doesn’t mean I’m any different to anybody else,” she said.
“I can do most things, it’s just that my legs don’t work from the waist down.”
