Oral history has the power to capture memories before they are gone forever. I have interviewed about ten people who grew up in the small communities which developed at each lock site during the construction phase on the River Murray. I have gained insights from these people which augment the archival records which I have also explored.

We always had a government house … the government provided some housing. They had board floors in them. They were very, very rough, just wood and iron, but at least they didn’t leak, or not much anyhow … they were very primitive in many ways. There was no screen doors for the flies and mosquitoes. Max P.

This image shows lock houses in the background of some ‘lockites,’ as children born at the lock communities were called.