The Otto Bin Empire by Judy Nunn

didn’t go back to Eleanor Downs. She went off with Eddie instead.
    â€˜He’s camped just out of town,’ she’d told Betty mid-afternoon when Betty had returned with the pies. Rose hadn’t been hungry, so she’d stayed and talked with Eddie, but Betty had brought a pie back for her anyway.
    â€˜He’s got a ute,’ Rose had said while Eddie was off getting himself another beer. ‘He’s heading for Sydney and I’m going with him.
    Betty had been horrified. ‘But you don’t even know the bloke!’
    â€˜I know him good enough.’
    There’d been an uncharacteristic touch of defiance in Rose’s reply, so Betty hadn’t pushed. She doesn’t really mean it, she’s just bunging on, Betty had thought, finishing the last of her pie and getting out her harmonica.
    But apparently Rose had meant it.
    â€˜You can’t, Rose! You can’t do it!’ As the pub was closing and they were preparing to leave, Betty spoke up openly, regardless of Eddie standing right next to her. ‘Sydney! Heck, you can’t let him take you to Sydney! You’ve never been to a big city in your life, Rose! Big cities are scary.’ Not that Betty would know, she’d never been further than Alice Springs, but she’d heard things.
    â€˜Don’t you worry about Rose, Betty,’ Eddie said expansively, ‘I’ll look after her. I got mob living in Redfern. Blackfellas’ paradise it is, right in the middle of Sydney, family just waiting to welcome us.’ He put his arm around Rose and hauled her in close. ‘And my Rose here’s gunna be a star.’
    He nuzzled his head into Rose’s neck, to her delight. She didn’t care about being a star. She didn’t want any of that. She just wanted to be with Eddie.
    Recognising the cause as a lost one, Betty gave up further argument. She knew Rose was unhappy at Eleanor Downs, hating the Young Boss the way she did, and why shouldn’t she, the bastard pig! But this wasn’t the way to escape – it was all wrong. Everything was moving too quick and Eddie was too smooth. Betty didn’t trust him.
    The girls hugged, holding each other closely and exchanging farewells in their own language.
    â€˜Travel safe, little sister,’ Betty said. ‘I’ll miss you.’
    â€˜I’ll miss you too, sister,’ Rose said, ‘but I take you with me in my heart.’
    Â 
    Betty’s fears were justified. Eddie left Rose barely a year after their arrival in Sydney, and during that one short year he came close to breaking her spirit. He beat her regularly when he was drunk, which was often, and of a night when he wasn’t out with his young hooligan mates, joy-riding in stolen cars or thieving to score money for grog, he forced her to drink with him at home.
    â€˜What’s the matter with you, woman? Drink with your man, for Christ’s sake! Where’s the companionship? A woman drinks with her man.’
    Rose gave in, developing a taste for alcohol she’d never had before, even allowing herself to believe it was a valid form of escape. He didn’t bash her up as much when they got drunk together.
    But it wasn’t the answer. He left her anyway, disappearing one day with a pretty girl from out near Wagga Wagga who’d just arrived in the city in search of adventure, which Eddie was only too willing to provide. Eddie liked them young and innocent.
    â€˜We’re heading north,’ he announced, ‘Surfers Paradise.’
    And then he was gone, leaving Rose in the terrace house they’d been sharing in Eveleigh Street with a fluctuating population who came and went from the country and outback regions. The area on the western border of Redfern, known simply as ‘the Block’, offered low-cost housing that attracted Aboriginal people who’d gravitated to the city, many living on the poverty line and banding together to