84-Year-Old Op-Shop Owner Barbara Carroll Drives Thousands of Kilometres to Donate Clothes to Remote WA Communities

Barbara Carroll loads her van with boxes of donated clothes each month and heads north to the red dirt of Western Australia's remote Pilbara.

The 84-year-old op-shop owner is affectionately known as "Nan Barb" around her home town of Donnybrook, 200 kilometres south of Perth.

Ms Carroll distributes the clothes to charities and women's refuges in places such as Carnarvon, Newman, Nullagine and Roebourne, road trips routinely covering more than 2,000km.

"I don't go out to get any rewards or anything; it just comes naturally," she says.

"They can't just go into a shop and buy clothes. They're too far out."

Her love of country music helps her pass the time on the long drives.

"I'd rather drive by myself. Take me time. I just like it on my own," she says.

Heart in the red dirt

Ms Carroll's community op shop is packed to the hilt with every item imaginable, from old toasters to ornate wedding dresses.

An overabundance of donated clothes from across WA's South West region led her to start the charitable campaign she calls "Nan Goes North".

It is a mission that is close to her granddaughter Tara Carroll's heart.

Tara, who is a proud Wiradjuri woman, joins her grandmother's trips when she can.

"Living remotely, that's a disadvantage already because they don't have access to a lot of medical or clothing or whatever it be," she says.

"So to be able to go with Nan on these adventures with all the clothes and anything that they need, it's pretty cool."

Nan Barb's personal connection to northern communities runs deep, having been brought up in the remote community of Nullagine, in WA's Pilbara region.

"They are her tribal family; she has a very close connection with people up there, with mob," Tara says.

'We love her'

Shahenaz Kouzi is a community advocate with the Newman-based Puntukurnu Aboriginal Medical Service and former staff member at the local women's refuge.

She said both organisations had regularly received clothes donations from Nan Barb.

"Blankets, winter and summer clothing, baby clothes, women's and men's clothing, it's tremendous," she said.

"We love her. I wish she was my Nan."

Ms Kouzi said Nan Barb was well-known and loved by residents in the remote communities of the East Pilbara.

"They call her the angel. There are too many good words for Barb from all the Aboriginal people; they all know her," she says.

Nan Goes North

Donnybrook op shop volunteer Andrew Clifford says Nan Barb is a beloved, straight-talking local.

"Oh, she's a lovely lady, does a lot for the community; she's quite funny, very funny," he says.

"The way she speaks and language-wise, it's fairly rough, but it's good."

Despite the occasional mishap on her adventures, Tara Carroll says her nan always manages to find a way home.

"She's been broken down on the sides of the road, and someone always rescues her," Tara says.

Ms Kouzi recalls giving Nan Barb eskies full of ice to keep her cool when her van's air conditioning had broken down.

"We worry about her, but she's fit as a fiddle," she said.

Her family and community are raising money for a truck, so Nan Barb can expand her outreach and make it easier to take along a passenger, aside from her dog, Bob.

"[The van is] too uncomfortable to take two people because there's no room for your legs," Nan Barb says.

"I don't need it, but everybody else reckons I need somebody to go with me."