I ride to the city along the Upfield train line—and a creek, which I can't see and which isn't on Google Maps, but the frogs love it. It's an invisible wildlife refuge in Melbourne's inner north.

My mum took her first job in 1980, when she was fourteen. In my childhood, she worked as a medical receptionist. For every hour she worked, she was almost certainly paid less than a man in a job of ‘comparable value’. For every curtailed pay check, there was a lower superannuation benefit, a lower amount left for savings at the end of each week and, inevitably, a lower amount to put towards a house deposit.