Doris Thomas Shire day, Titjikala

Shire day is Thursday. Everyone from around town and the outstations drives down to the main street in town. Shire day is when all the people working for the shire – like working at the garage, fencing, rubbish collecting on tractors or trucks, road work, all those sorts of jobs – get paid.

Everyone gets out. Do banking at Community Store, do shopping, visit the nurse, or the doctor if he’s visiting. They all visit each other, and they visit the art centre, where I used to paint. Everyone is happy to be there.

Police there too. No trouble. There’s lots of cars, lots of people, lots of babies, lots of kids, lots of dogs. The day sees everyone smiling, dogs too!

Doris Thomas, 2023