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Ghost Walk
PHOTO: MARK SCHNEIDER
Tricia Walton pays $300 a week rent for this derelict shed in Balingup and is desperate to find something better in Bridgetown.
Disabled pensioner calls shed home Finding suitable accommodation in I Bridgetown is well-nigh impossible. n the freezing cold of winter the condensation drips down the walls of the dilapidated Balingup shed that Tricia Walton is forced to call home. It gets so bad she has to keep a fan on to keep the air moving in an effort to control it, and she recently contracted pneumonia. Heating the place is out of the question. The old wood heater is too dangerous to use and an electric heater costs too much to run. Renting the shed costs her $300 a week and she’s been living here since last November. By the time she’s paid that and other expenses the disabled pensioner is frequently left with $65 a fortnight to live on. So how does she survive on that? “I do have friends in town that go through their freezer for me, and their pantries, if it wasn’t for them I’d be in deep pooh,” Ms Walton said. “Sometimes I don’t have the fuel to come to town.” When that happens she’s dependant on relatives to pay for fuel. “But you can’t keep doing that to your in-laws, but they’re fine with it.”
Life wasn’t always this tough for her. For 10 years she worked in the northwest as a machine operator. Domestic Violence That was before her violent ex-partner bashed her so badly she was left with scar tissue and a cyst on her brain that gave her seizures for seven months and saw her dependent on epilepsy medication. As a result she lost her job because she couldn’t drive at the time. “He used to kick me with steel-capped boots and that’s how I ended up with a titanium rod going up my spine and titanium rods in the bottom vertebrae.” She’s also survived a bout of brain cancer. Ms Walton’s desperate to find somewhere better to live in Bridgetown where she’d be close to friends and relatives, and even a granny flat would suit her well, she said.
But finding suitable accommodation that’s affordable in Bridgetown is well-nigh impossible. Good tenant That’s despite good references from a real estate agent gained from when she rented a home in Kangaroo Gully for $360 a week for three years. “Which was good,” she said. She’s worked as a cleaner, loves gardening and will look after any home. Through all her struggles this doggedly determined woman has maintained a lively sense of humour. And despite everything that life’s thrown at her she’s adamant that she’s better off than people who are living in tents, or in their cars. It’s a disturbing thought that she’s probably right. She says she’s aware of one woman living in a tent while raising a baby and another child in the bush around Greenbushes.