It was while studying at Wollongong University that Richardson wrote her first play, "Windy Gully", which was commissioned and performed by the "Theatre South Regional Theatre Company", directed by Des Davis, in 1987. The subject of "Windy Gully" is the mine disaster which took place at Mount Kembla on 31 July 1902, in which 96 men and boys lost their lives. Every family who lived in the village lost a relative. In many families, fathers and sons died. The bodies were buried in Wollongong Cemetery, Mount Kembla Cemetery and in an unmarked communal grave near a cricket field in Windy Gully. In describing how she came to write the play, Richardson said: