Coolabah, No.14, 2014, ISSN 1988-5946, Observatori: Centre d’Estudis Australians / 

Australian Studies Centre, Universitat de Barcelona 
 

 

53 
 

DR PAM JOHNSTON  

 

MY BIG ‘BLISTER’ SISTER  

 
Pauline Mitchell and family 

 

 

Copyright© Pauline Mitchell 2014. This text may be 

archived and redistributed both in electronic form and in 

hard copy, provided that the author and journal are 

properly cited and no fee is charged. 

 

 
Red Shoes. Retrieved from Pam Dahl-Helm Johnston’s Facebook page 

 

 

PAM CAME INTO OUR LIVES BACK IN THE MID 1980’S. SHE CAME WITH TWO 

BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN, DANCE AND KEERA. OVER THE YEARS PAMMY WAS A 

ROCK TO EVERYONE. IF YOU HAD A PROBLEM THEN RING BIG SIS, AYE, AS SHE 

KNEW HOW TO LISTEN AND HELP SO MANY PEOPLE. PAM DEVOTED SO MUCH 

TIME TO OUR MUM, THE LATE GREAT DOCTOR RUBY LANGFORD GINIBI. SHE 

WOULD CHUCK MUM IN THE CAR AND SAY, ‘COME ON WE’RE GOING AWAY FOR 

A BIT TO GET OUT OF THE CITY’. PAM ALSO PUT TOGETHER A BEAUTIFUL PHOTO 

DISPLAY OF MUM’S LAST LIVING RELATIVES AT CASINO AND BOX RIDGE 

MISSION, CORAKI, WHICH WAS PROUDLY EXHIBITED BY THE TWO OF THEM AT 

THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY IN LISMORE MANY YEARS AGO. ONE OF THE BEST 

TIMES WE ALL HAD TOGETHER WAS MUM’S BIRTHDAY IN 1990 WHEN PAM 

PICKED HER UP AND DROVE OUT TO MY SISTER AILEEN`S HOUSE IN BIDWELL, 

MOUNT DRUITT, FOR THE PARTY WE PUT ON. ALL THE FAMILIES WERE THERE 

HAVING A GREAT TIME. I MADE MUM A BIG FAT CHOCOLATE CAKE TOO. IT WAS 

A STINKING HOT DAY AND AILEEN DIDN’T HAVE ANY AIR CON. AT THE PARTY 

MUM STARTED TEARING UP, AS SHE ALWAYS DID, OVER OUR DECEASED 

SIBLINGS PEARLY, BILLY AND DAVID. THAT WAS IT. WHEN SOMEONE THREW 

WATER OVER MUM IT WAS ON FOR YOUNG AND OLD, AYE. I REMEMBER PAM 

RUNNING EVERYWHERE TO HIDE BUT WE ALL GANGED UP ON HER AND 

DRAGGED HER INTO THE TUB AND SOAKED HER BIG TIME. WE ALL GOT COOLED 

OFF THAT’S FOR SURE AND I CAN STILL HEAR THE LAUGHTER TODAY. WE 

CALLED PAM ‘MISS PRISSY’ BECAUSE SHE ALWAYS LOOKED AMAZING. EVEN 

WALKING TO THE SHOP TO GET A BOTTLE OF MILK WAS A RED SHOES AND RED 

LIPSTICK MOMENT. I’M CRYING WRITING THIS BUT I WANT THE WORLD TO 

KNOW HOW MUCH WE LOVE AND MISS HER STILL.  
LOVE ALWAYS, PAULINE MITCHELL AND ALL OF OUR FAMILIES. 



Coolabah, No.14, 2014, ISSN 1988-5946, Observatori: Centre d’Estudis Australians / 

Australian Studies Centre, Universitat de Barcelona 
 

 

54 
 

 

Biographical note. Pauline Mitchell is a proud Aboriginal woman from Bundjalung Country 

north coast of New South Wales, Australia. After having her first daughter Roberta when she 

was fifteen she handed her baby to her mum Doctor Ruby Langford Ginibi so she could work 

to make a living. She had second daughter, Kylie, who was born twenty-two months later and 

her third and last daughter, Tenneil, who was born five years on. Pauline has worked as a 

Caterer for the Royal Easter Show, Football events and Cricket. She began to work for 

Aboriginal Home Care looking after Elders where she was poached in 1989 and became an 

Aboriginal Education Assistant supporting and looking after the Aboriginal Students and the 

wider Aboriginal Community. Pauline began to attend guest speaker conferences with her 

mum which empowered her to move to the forefront in Education where she became the 

Regional Aboriginal Community Liaison Officer for Metropolitan West Region. Pauline spent 

eleven years in Education before moving to the Gold Coast where she became a Cook in 

Retirement Villages. Pauline is currently working back in Education as a Community Liaison 

Officer. 

 

 

 

 
Pamela Dahl-Helm Johnston, 2009  

Retrieved from Pam Dahl-Helm Johnston’s Facebook Page