Goolwa Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) Area Coordinator Pat Salter has fond memories of growing up along the Murray River in Victoria.

Having spent the first four and a half years of her life in an institution, Pat moved to country Victoria with her adoptive parents, attending primary school in Rutherglen and high school across the New South Wales border in Corowa.

“I would ride my pushbike eight miles each way to high school, then I’d milk the cows, feed the chooks and all the usual things you do in the country,” Pat said. “How very Australian.”

Having finished her schooling and moved to Melbourne, Pat met Malcolm (Mal) and the two soon married.

A holiday to Adelaide in 1966 proved life-changing for the Salters. Mal was offered a job in an auction room and the couple moved to the South Australian capital without hesitation.

Pat spent much of her working life as a nurse in Adelaide before seeking a sea change in 1997 and returning to the river, albeit at its southern terminus in Goolwa.

“Goolwa is a peaceful and happy town, similar to where I grew up in Victoria,” Pat said. “We’d always liked it down here and growing up at the other end of the river had a lot to do with it as well.”

Pat and Mal wasted no time in getting involved with the local community, first volunteering with St John’s Ambulance before joining Goolwa NHW.

“We came along to a Goolwa Neighbourhood Watch meeting back in 1998 and things took off from there,” Pat recalled.

Having been involved with the group for well over a decade, Pat took on the responsibility of Area Coordinator in 2012 - a role she fulfills to this day.

“Originally I thought I’d do it for one year, but all these years later I’m still here,” Pat said with a laugh. “I love helping people, connecting with them and being a part of something.”

Pat’s dedication to the NHW program saw her join the NHW Volunteers Association of South Australia Inc. (VASA) Board of Management in 2016, where her wealth of NHW experience and enthusiasm proved invaluable.

Pat recently stepped down from the board after nine years, but will continue in her role as Goolwa NHW Area Coordinator.

“I think volunteering is very healthy,” she said. “I have friends who are retired but can’t be bothered to get out and do anything and I think to myself, ‘gosh I can’, and I’d like to think I can still be doing this for a long time to come.”

When she isn’t volunteering with Goolwa NHW or the Goolwa Craft Shop, chances are Pat is outside tending to her garden.

“Getting out in the garden is what I love the most,” Pat said. “I forget anything and everything and just enjoy getting my hands dirty. I’ll come in for 10 minutes for a glass of water or a coffee, but then I’m back out again.”