Charles Errock [2] d
Charles Errock [2] d
Illness in the Grade 4 time
I do not
remember a lot about Grade 3 and 4 at Peterborough Primary School, but at Grade
3, I had a teacher called Miss Thomas. I had a lot of sickness
at that time, and she was very kind to me. She signed me up for the Children's
Lending Library in Adelaide, and every month, I would send off requests for
what books I wanted and send the other books that I borrowed back. It was all
free and I read all the Biggles books through that
scheme. The book would be sent to Port Pirie, Peterborough to Peter.
When I was
in Grade 4, I used to get one sickness after the other. Then, I started getting
these shocking pains in my stomach. I asked to go to the toilet. I'd get up to
the toilet, and it was a fairway away from the classroom, and I wouldn't come
back. They'd send someone for me, and I would be doubled up. They would get
her, bring me back down to the classroom, lay me down, and give me a couple of
aspirins. Then, when the pain goes away, they'd send me home. Usually, one of
my friends would donkey me home on their bike.
When I went
home, my mother would call the local doctor. His name was Doctor
Flaharty. After he came a couple of times, he decided that I probably had
a twisted bowel. So, he recommended that I go to Adelaide to see this
doctor Britton Jones, who was a leading surgeon there. He examined me, and he
put me in the Children's Hospital. I don’t remember how long I was there, but
one thing I do remember about the place was that every morning, I'd go out on
the balcony. There was a depot across from the hospital, and because
it was during the war, they would come out and all line up, and salute the
flag. They would parade in the morning, so, I would watch them.
They then
found out that I was suffering from kidney stones. I didn't
require an operation. They said I was OK, and I could go back home to
Peterborough because my mother was there.
But I had
two aunties who lived at Middlebury Rd. Lower Mitch, and I said I wanted to go
to see her. Auntie Lorna was my father's cousin. She had a hairdressing salon
in the York
Theatre at Rundle Street. The hair salon had a big photo of Joe Stalin
on the wall. She came to the hospital to pick me up when I was ready to go
home. She took me to the Civic Theatre in Rundle St to see the film
called Hit the Ice, with Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in
it. It lasted the whole day.
When we got
outside the theatre, there were two aboriginal chaps, two American soldiers,
and two Australian soldiers. They were having a little scuffle there. And
next thing, there was this screeching of brakes and two American MPs in a Jeep
turned up. They didn't say a word to anyone. They both had a bat. And they went
to the two American soldiers, and hit them across their heads. Then, throw them
into the back of the Jeep, and tore off. Apparently, during the war, they had
an office at the opposite side of the Adelaide railway station. Someone must
have rang up and reported it. They come and fix it. They didn't say a word;
just went bang and put them in like that. So, I remember that. They were one of
the first impressions of Adelaide. I was in Grade 5 at the time, so I
remember lots of things that happened while I was there. I could remember
more also because I was a lot healthier than before.
[Returned to Peterborugh? How and When?]
Milking and shearing
One day, my
friend was dogging me to my home on the bike, and there was a
big stormwater
train that ran right through the middle of Peterborough. They used
to get huge storms around April and May. That was empty this time, thank
goodness, and we fell off when he lost control of the bike. We went
through the fence and fell down into the drain, which was about 8 feet down and
about 6 foot wide. As we fell down there, this chap, Ivan Lang, who
had a dairy, a simple old dairy at the turn of Victoria Street where I lived,
came and got us out, and took us home.
And that
started a relationship with him because he got to know us and my brother. They
used to milk eight cows a day, and it was only him and his elderly mother and
father. So my young brother used to go up there at night time, and help him
with milking cows. He would have milked the 8 cows. So then one day, Lang
pulled up, and he said to my mother, "Would boys like to come out to the
farm?" They had a farm about 12 miles out from Peterborough. She said alright, and he said "I've got a bit of work to do out there.
They can come out. I'll just cuddle my lunch. I'll pick them
up." A lot of the fences had been washed down with this rain, so he
had to put all these fences up there and needed someone to hold the post while
he pounded them in. So, that happened several times. We went out there with him
to help put up fences. So, I learned how to put a fence, how to use the wire
tighteners and everything.
And then,
another year, he came back. They were shearing, but his brother had
gone off to study to be a motor mechanic. So that left techie with
the techie xxxx [?] Lang said[?].
So, he
would like to take us out with him. So, he taught us how to shear the sheep,
and told us how to throw flees [?] out on the table, and pick
all the other bits out, follow up, and put it in the bale. [?]
When we're
done with that, he'd get us to jump in, and press them down. So he went out
there. We would be up there all day while he was sharing. So, I got to know him
very well. And that was something for us to especially in our school
holidays, then later on in the year.
The Gibbs
brothers, they had the milk round. They lived on the other side
in Peterborough. Jim Gibbs came in one day and he said to me, "would you
like to earn a bit of pocket money? I need someone to come on the milk round
with me." Those days they used to have a can and the needle in the top.
Just tip the milk into whatever jug or sauce.
whatever person was going to put
the milk in. [?]
And I remember milk was 4 pence
a pint and tuppence. hate me [?] for half a pint and so anyway,
He had a model [?]. He used to go on the ground, and we'd have the big cans of milk in the
back, and the smaller ones in front of them. We go out and I suppose they
used to serve about between 40 and 50 customers. They used to get 2 shillings
from each customer. We go around all the households.
And there
was a
strange thing that went on that of course. It was during the war,
so, it was against the law to serve cream to people. People had to go to the
butter factory to order it. But Jim used to scold his milk at nighttime.
Give the scolded cream to some of his customers if it was their children's
birthday or something. "Mr. Gibbs, can I get some cream?" And he used
to have these little condensed milk tins. He cut the cloth out. [?] It.
And he'd fill one of them up. And I used to charge them one, two, and
six cents [?] for one of these. It used to be funny. He used to
wear a hat for what you may call a sort of covering. [?]
And he
just hide
it under there and look around and see that no one was looking. It
used to be real funny, eyes get real. It was great on a grey coat he used
to wear. He put the cream under the coat to hide it, to see if anyone was
looking. He always had a few of those in the back in a box with a wet bag over
it.
I used to
work there with him for quite a few years, like Grade 5-6, and probably Grade
7. All the other milkmen used to go early. They'd be coming off their milk
round when we started, and they used to call us the mid-day milkies.
I had to
help him wash the cans out. And then, they gave me lunch. They'd make a
nice lunch for us. Jim would always takes me home afterwards.
Chaff
One
day, he said to me, "If you'd like to earn a bit more money, we need
to cut up some chaff."
What do we
do? Well, he bought an army disposals truck, Chevrolet, and
we used to go down to the canal. We built load that up with hay [?] and bring it
up because when we got there, had to go through the chaff cutter to
feed the cows. They had between 28 and 30 cows.
So, I would do that from probably 2:00 in the afternoon till it got dark. I would be up there putting a chaff. She is a haze [?] for the chaff cutter. I would get another two shillings for that. So that was OK. You had to get wherever you could because we were a very poor family. But we were well looked after.
Collecting
newspapers and bottles
Then, apart
from doing that, to earn a few more, about once a month, I used to collect
newspapers and bottles from the nearby households. I had a cart that I
made, thacould carry those for a good mile and 1/2 to the butcher shop, and he
would buy the newspapers.
Month to month, I'd load up the bottles, and then, I go down to root shocks [?]. This route [?] like the Federal Hotel across the road, he had a green grocer shop and a wine shop which were together, so he wouldn't pick up the bottles to a green grocer shop as he used to at 12:00 on Saturday mornings as he used to. So, you had to wait there till the shop openned. Then, they come out and buy the bottles from me. So, I might make 3 or 4 shillings out of that.
Christmas time
Then, when I was in Grade 5, one morning, Arnold Pink was the butcher came. Now, there was a relationship with our family through his late father. Every Christmas, Arnold Crank [?] turned up on our doorstep. He gave to my mother either a duck or a fow. That was under instructions from his late father because my father and he were great friends. Apparently, no one ever said anything anymore. Anyway, Arnold turned up and he is leading this butcher's cart alongside as they had those days. The baker had a bakers cart to go around delivering bread, and the butcher had a butcher's cart to deliver the meat and everything.
A Brumby
He had this horse alongside him. And he said, “I’ve bought your kids a horse to try. He said it is a Brumby. He
said, “A lot of Brumbies from the north are to be slaughtered. But I saw this
little bloke there. And I thought, he looks like he might make a good little
horse to ride in the Gymkhana." "You'll have to break him in",
he said.
So
anyway, because my father was in the life force during the War, he knew the
first thing we had to do with for mounting. So he was able to help us with
that. So he's put him in. We had a 10 acre paddock and went out. The two horses
there and we just shoved him in. He took a little while, but he seemed to be
OK. We gave him a feed bin and fed him the same time as the others. And then we
tried to pat him and clotting him down as much as we could. And then when we
got him after I put a halter on him, and left him for a couple of weeks.
Then, Dad started to put a bridle on him with a bit in his mouth so he
could teach.
you
know they have to mouth. And so that when you pull on one rain, they come round
and that so anyway we got him mouthed and. And and we used to. Put the saddle
on him. But we were my father wouldn't let us ride him and he said no. He'll
get someone to ride him. When? When the time comes. And so we'll put the saddle
on and leave him. Not the saddle on for a couple of hours. Then take it off.
And that and leave him around. We'd get on one of our horses and have a head
truck alongside of us round the paddock and that's so we got, you know, got him
fairly quiet.
The brumby
was very young. He was only about 16 hands high. He was just above pony
size, still a couple of years old.
When we got
him reasonably quiet, the O’Toole brothers, Jack and his brother Ronnie, used
to break in horses and and educate them at a place in the Terrelli Rd. called
the Ranch.
There were a few horse yards, and they'd built a little barn, and put all their saddles and gears in. It was a meeting place for us all.
So, we'd go out there to
practice. It was right alongside the [?]. We would practice for
the GYMKHANAS there. Anyway, I said to Ronnie one day. "Well, we've got that
Brumby ready to ridee. Dad won't let us ride." He said, "All right. I'll
come in tomorrow, and I'll jump on, and see how it goes."
So, he came. Well, he squealed and bucked and bucked, and he couldn't bug him off even though Ronnie was hefty. So, he came two or three nights after he finished out at the ranch, and jumped on him. Eventually, he got the brumby very quiet. He'd walk around, then we could ride him and do what we like. We used to ride our horses quite often bare back without putting the saddle on. But the Brumby would not let you ride him bare back. No, he bucked off straight away. You get on, he bucked you off. But if it's with a saddle on, he wouldn't buck.
Collecting firewood
We used to
burn wood like firewood. Mum and Dad used to buy firewood. We had this little
green cart, so we harnessed the brumby, and put him in his cart one
day.
I knew a chap metallic out that mean valara just out the road ...[?]
He had a lot of dry wood available in his paddock. So, I went to him, and asked if we could use some of the firewood. He said, "Yeah, you can take all the dry wood you like. But don't touch any of the green. It's all mally trees."
He said we
could take all the dry wood soon. But we would get bit by bit. My brother and I
would go there on a Saturday morning. We'd take some lunch with us. We'd go out
there with a saw and an axe. We'd dig up a few stumps, and we'd
load the load on the cart as high as we could. The cart had a seat across the
front. And the back was all open. The Brumby gave no trouble.
So, at
least once a month, for a couple of years, we would go there, and get a load of
firewood. And that helped. We've made enough not to buy wood. That was a real
experience for us. Now breaking a horse in, and that. That was about when I was
in Grade five. I think that's when things started to get better for me.
We were having a sports day one day, and we were playing cricket and owls fielding at Silly Point. I was there, and this boy cracked the ball as hard as he could. I put my hands up in front of my father to catch it. But it went straight through, and knocked me out. That was the first time that I was knocked out. And I remember that they had to bring a stretcher down over the drain down to the oval.
So the same old thing: they put me in a room out of bed in their restroom, gave me a couple of aspirins, and then, when it came time to go home, a teacher would ask me if I was alright. So, I said "Yeah, OK." So, that was done. Mr Anderson took me home on the pipe [?]. I don't think Peterborough ever had an ambulance until after me. Anyway, there was no such thing as calling the doctor or calling an ambulance. We just go home.
Boxing
Then, I
became very interested in sport and boxing. Boxing was great at
that time. It was a big thing among boys. Four or five lads used to come around
to our place. We couldn't afford boxing gloves, but we used to make up
materials. We used socks and stuff, together with newspapers, and get in fight.
I wanted to
keep on doing that. I wanted to learn to box. Then I found out I could join the
YMCA. That was a club that made a big difference to my life. We used to
have 40 minutes: you'd go into the room, you'd first have a prayer session, and
perhaps the Bible reading. And then, we used to have a debate. We would be
split into two groups. There were 40 people, so 20 on each team. You have a
debate for or against, you learn how they do it. So, it taught me a lot. You
got a lot of confidence in public speaking, that sort of thing. But then, after
40 minutes, you go out into the gymnasium, and they used to have tumbling, and
there was one chap there who used to teach boxing. So, I got into that squad.
Most
students from our school went to the YMCA. In the boxing group, a lot of us
were about the same height and weight. So, they would be teaching us to throw
punches. You're using a punching bag and everything. And then, at the end of
the session, the coach would pair up two boys: "You have a fight with
him," and "You have a fight with him." He'd sort boys out, try
and make it even strength.
We would
get big 8 oz boxing gloves, and we have 2 rounds of boxing. The coach didn't
like to say, "You're the winner." But you sort of knew who won. And
he would just tap on the shoulders, “Well done." So, I've done that for
several years.
They
used to always send a manager from Adelaide to manage that side of it. [?]
They had a big brick fuel
[?], they took
boarders, and Mrs. Nuttall used to run the boarding house. She used to make the
meals.
They ate meals for their
boarders and everything,
but they they couldn't get
suitable boats to go and take over the club part that I was in. So that
virtually died.
You can go
down and use the gymnasium on your own sort of thing. And some of us used to go
down, but I eventually left school and joined the railways in 1948. Shortly
after that, they had a big wave of migrants. They built a big migrant
hostel under the Mass Rd. They got all these blokes from the Baltic
states.
They were
under contract to the railways' Waterworks for two years. When they came out,
we started the boxing and athletic club. So I got into boxing again. And we had
this Nicky, I don't know what his other name was, but he was one of those
chaps. He was very strict, he wouldn't let us put the boxing glove on for at
least a month. He gave us a list of exercises, just to skip and run, and use the
punching bags.
And
then, several instructors here teaching how to throw punches. But
after a month or so, he used to do the same thing. He would pick out who would
fight who. So he went to three rounds. And
so you said, you know, a couple of weeks, it wouldn't be every week, probably
every fortnight.
And so that
lasted for a while. I didn't go any further than that. I was quite happy, but I
wasn't winning as many as I would have liked. Later, I got called up for
the National Service training for three months. When
I got there, I went into the sporting section. Of course, I went in the boxing
thing again. But after I came out of there, I decided that I wasn't going
to make it.
The
National Service training is done up to two years with CMF (the Citizen
Military Forces), so it was a two-year thing, but we did three months basic
training at Woodside.
---
I went back
to Peterborough, and I worked in the railways.
Then made it to come round. [?]
This lad,
he was an apprentice fitter and turner, and he'd been sent up Medley. [?]
He was
an amateur fighter. He had been practicing only for a title because
his father back in the 40s used to be the station master there, and he himself
was an amateur champion boxer. He had two boys. He taught them both just right.
So, this lad had come up from Adelaide.
He said to
him later, like Kevin Turnbull, he said, "I need someone to spar with."
And he said, "Oh, I'll ask Charlie." He said he might start with
me. So I went down to the gym, and I said to him, "Look, I haven't done
any training, but yeah, OK." And because he was bigger than me, I said,
"OK, well, you know, we'll give it a try and see how it goes."
For the
first round, I thought "this is alright." I was keeping up with him
halfway through the second round. But I was starting to get a bit puffed out.
Then, when we come up to the third round, we only went about 1/2 a minute, and
he put his hands up on my head. He said, "Yeah, you were right to
give it away." And that was the last time we were put in a box.
[?]
I said "It is OK."
30:45
But he said, "No, give it away. I don't wanna hurt
you. You haven't got it."
I had a
mate that I met in the National service training. He filled in my
place. He was a good boxer. He turned professional when he was about 15
or 16. He went to Melbourne. He fought the top preliminary boy,
and fought
for square, bumped into Wilford [?].
Always put feathers on
that [?] because he could beat me easy, but it was just for
fun.
Most of the
trainers we had had just come back from the Korean War.
And they were the
boats that trained us. [?]
We got
trained very well because they'd just come back from the war.
But the only
page is while you're there. [?]
Strange
times. Yeah, a lot of terrific memories there. But you get basic military
training full on. By the time you come out of there, you could use a brand gun.
It was very
good. So
that was later in life.
Entertainment
Going back to my schoolboy
days. There were things that I used to do for entertainment.
Because it was during the war, they were always collecting money for the Red Cross or Fighting Forces Comfort Funds. And I remember, at one stage, they had these penny pricking.[?]
Bugs had a
card that always watched you take it to you, and you gave me a penny. You'd put
a brick in the card. You might give me shopping for six months and put.
I mean, and I saw I think a couple of weekends [?]
I walked all the time around Peterborough to fill these cards up, so I could take him back. At Monday's school, ... one of the things I mean from doing their and. [?]
I always loved sailing, and I would have loved to join the Navy. But my father would never sign the forms for me to go.
I used to make these [?] at the end of the big drain that went through Peter, [?]
it was a railway dam was a huge dam [?]
The size of this block probably even got a bit bigger, so I could make these wooden boats to put a sail on them. I would take them over to the dam, and watch them go around the dam. Therewere many different sorts.
One day, I saw someone who were dabbing [?] yabbies. They were about that long. I thought I'll give a go. So, I tried on a Sunday afternoon, with a chop and a bit of string, and a little dab [?] net. I could fill a bucket full with the yabbies. I'd take them home, and mum would cook them. She'd make a salad, and we'd have them for dinner on Sunday night. So, I've done that for quite a few years.
And then,
of course, a bit later on during the war, we had troop training, running up
and down, and they passed in front of our place, and we used to go out to
see them.
Because we all use firewood map [?], there was a railway bridge there, and we would go out sometimes with a bucket, and we get the coal that had fallen off the engines and take it home. The first time, it was one of those troop trains that were coming back from Darwin. Then, suddenly, they threw these cans of preserved apricots, and we'd just pick them up and take them home. Mum would be really pleased with their vape cuts [?]. We would have custard for dinner that night. They were big cans. So, that was always something that went on. As the train went past, they recognized who we were, and they would throw out a shovel of coal or cans of preserved apricots to give us a bit of help.
And over there [?], because we had this cow that dad bought, and we used to go across there, and there were always plenty of green plants for feed. We went with a sickle and a chaff bag, and come back with a filled chaff bag.
With this
for the cow, you know and butcher from this will, but she used to love her and
I sold the horses. [?]
Sometimes
we'd fill a couple of bags of freed up [?], which are sickle [?], and the horses like that.
Then, we
got into this. Jim Carnes. [Gymkhana?] They started up and we used to ride in the bending
races and the flag and barrel races and the musical chairs competition.
And
they would always have a hack race [?]. And I used to ride moan and a hack
race but then there were a few gaps there that had real racehorses out, and
they always put a race on for them, and my brother used to ride in those races.
He was a lot better than I was, a lot lighter. So, that was a bit of fun.
I used to
ride them in the bit of track with it, and it became quite a hub tool
had their ranch there. [?]
And they were always breaking in horses. And they had a big horse called Lofty because half the draft horse, half that same. But big horse they used to put him in a cart. And the horse having trouble with getting the horse that they're breaking in time, they'd put him in. And they go around the track, you know, and of course, the little other little horse. He'd have to go with his Lofty, would you know?
And then, we decided with some of the horses there would try and jump them, and fell there one day, and they had this pony, and I was trying to make it jump, and it just wouldn't jump.
At any
rate, Mr. Maloney, he was the oldest man in South Australia holding
trainer’s license. He trained hundreds of winners back in the 20s and
30s. And he was well up into his 80s, and he was a big man.
And he was
on his horse this day, and he was watching me try and jump this pony. And he said, "Bigger than a pound. Yeah, about 15-16 hands high." Anyway, he jumped off his
horse. "Give it there," he told me. "I'll show you how to do that"
So, he left and stirrups and jumped on his horse, and just wheeled it around back-to-back that way, and then he tore it to jump straight over the top. [?] I'm looking. He trained lots of steeplechase winners and hurdle winners in his training career. He was a very interesting man.
So. Where do we go from here?. Troop trains?
Ken's seat
with the butcher there.
And he
bought these young steers. They were half brown. Who brought them down. And
there was a road that went at the back of our 10 acre block.
But no one. To use very much so, he used to bring them down there with plenty of grass there. And he'd put them in there for the day to have a feed.
My brother and I thought at that time they were thinking about starting buck jump riding.
It was as well as the Jim Carner [Gymkhana?], which meant riding the stairs [?], and riding bucking horses, and all that.
So we'll
give our try ourselves out with these stairs. We've run a bit of winning
across. Behind and in front of them, when we got out there with the rope pushed,
put a rope around him and jumped on them and they bucked like hell.
We've done
that for several days, but then someone must have told us to sleep, that we
would come down on his horse with a big stock, wet and threatened, he said.
They get on those tears again, and he said you'll get this whip around you and
that. So that was the end of that. We didn't do that anymore.
But we were never bored.
You know my grandchildren and people on board [?], they got all these mechanical things. We never had time to be bored. We were always doing something, riding horses, boxing, and playing a game of football. During the school holidays, we're getting enough to get two teams together, and go to one of the ovals to have a football match. There was no difference the kids in rich and poor families. Everyone got on pretty well together. There weren't people who considered themselves elites. Port Pirie was a working class town. Everyone got on pretty well together.
So, that was virtually all that happened during my School life and the younger life in general.
I've done like most kids at the time. I went to school. I had done only one year of high school at 14. Around this time, most of students, 70-80% went to highschool. But, with us, in the position we're in, my mum and dad needed our help. I remember my first payday. I couldn't get home quick enough to give my mum 5 pounds for my board. So, it was help to them, but then, the first year was the only high school year for me.
Mr Jack
McCarthy was the math teacher there. He was a great athlete. He ran
second in a store gift [?] once, and he said he always won.
But that was a hometown decision. Nowadays, they've got a camera photo for the
finish. But those days, he said, they just gave it to the local lad. He said,
"I'm absolutely certain I beat him."
He played football for
this time. During the recess time when we were out, he'd be out there
watching us, and he'd give us a tip on kicking a football or cricket
bowling.
In the wintertime,
there were four football teams in Peterborough. There was one
combined team there: Peterborough and James Sound. It was combined because
they all
died away, but he would ... [?] the teams. The football
clubs would ring him up and say, "Are there any lads that you think might
be good enough to fill in with the short."
Once
he tapped me on the shoulder, and said, "If you go down to
practice with the Railway Football Club, you might get a game this
week. They're very short of players." I said alright. So that was a story
in itself. I went down because I was very excited. I put my shorts on, and ran
out over there. I went to pick the ball up, and this boy said, "Hey, have
you paid your Subs?" [?]
His name
was Healy Stevens. He was the captain of the RailwayFootball
Club. And I didn't even know what he meant.
The Town
Football Club used to have half the home, and the Railway
Football used to train the same night, so that half the Day.
Bleeds. [?]
And just release presents. He
was from and past. [?]
He said,
"Charlie, come over here with us. Don't mess about there. Come over here
with us. You can have the ball now here." So they took me under their
wing. So,
instead of playing for the Roller [?] Football Club, even though
working rollers are playing for a Town football club.[?]
Because of
that, they're.[?] It was just one of these sarcastic quotes. [?]
He
was David. You applied with him in combined size later on in life.[?]
Then, I got
better at playing, but that was a start there.
So, anyway, I didn't I intend to
get a job.[?]
As soon as you have from 10/14, [?] after Christmas and. Any latencies? [?]
Chaptal said, said Tweeden. [?] He was another player. [?]
He tried to
help me a lot with my football.
Finding a job and learning to
work in an office.
And he
said, "What
are you going to do when you leave school?"
I said,
"Oh well, I don't feel about the job in Peterborough. I'd like to go
to Adelaide, and live with my auntie. I get on really well with
them."
Then, he
said "Oh, you might want to go to Adelaide, but you might also like a job
here." I said, "I'll try, and let you know." Then, in
a couple of weeks, he came and said, "I got a job for you."
And I said,
well, you, me and he said, well, he said,"I've been in the stores
clerks office since I was 14. But I turned 21 now, and I have to
go and work in the store. I asked Mr. Harris, my boss in the house if he would
give you the job. He knew who you were, and he said yes. No
worries."
So, my
first job was the OfficeYouth in the stores. Mr Island was
fantastic. He was the best boss I've ever had. I owe him a lot. One thing he
did was he taught you to work. He had a little office. First, this
room and a bit more besides, yeah. He had his desk faced out over where the
stores were. Mine faced against the wall so I couldn't get distracted.
All had a certain amount of work to do every day, and then he had a draw down
alongside. I ran out of wor, he'd put his hand down. Need something to do that
is happy.
But he
tried very hard to make me go back to school. He didn't want me to leave
school. "You go back to school. If it does not work out, you come
back here. You will always have a job here." But I said, "No. I need
to help mum and dad."
The
store sold all kinds of miscellaneous things that were needed
in the railway workshops, no groceries. It was all nuts and bolts, and
parts for steam engines and parts for royal cars. Yes, it was like a hardware
store.
So, anyway,
it's the lower stop [?] there for a few years
and I never left
the railways after that. I worked there for 41 and half years.
So, that
was my start, but he had this office, and it had the old Brown Liner [?] that
government stores had. So, every morning, he used to come in an hour later. [?]
I
used to come about 7 a.m. And normally he'd be there by 8 a.m, but sometimes,
he wouldn't come in till 9 a.m.
What I had to do was to scrub one yard at a time, and then wipe it off. Then, another yard. When it is dried, I had to polish it all. Polishing on the hands and knees. My boss, Mr Island, wo, "I think you better do it again, lady.[?] So, I'd have to do it again. So, he taught me to work. He was very strict that way. But he was a good boss.
A couple of
times I was when you young lads like that you get into with the strikes, then
you know, I got had a made over in the machine shop, and this Bill Sanders was
the boss over there.
He came
because I used to go around. I used to go to the office and at the main office
and pick up the mail and that and I'm on the way.
I'm calling
in the chat with Peter, mate, who was office boy there?
An old
little Sam's. He came over and he said, "Can you keep that lad of yours
out of my office? He is distracting my boy. That all hinders
him. You go back and look after yours."
Then he
told me off afterwards. But he also stuck up for me while he was there.
Then when he went, he laid the Lord out[?] for ne.
The store had eight employees. Others were of older age. Three of them worked shift work.and in the oil store, which was on the other side.
Had to trap the bucket for the boats driving engines with the lamp in them, and different things. They had to go like afternoons. [?]
The store itself was a part of South Australian Railway. I was there from 14 to 21.
Then I went out into the store.
They used to bring the Ore, lead, zinc, and silver down from Broken Hill over to Port Perie to be smelted. That was at a premium at that time.They couldn't get enough trucks. And a lot of trucks needed fixing, and they couldn't get any of their carriage and wagon makers to come up, from Islington to Peterborough. So they put us to diluted carriage and wagon makers. So I went out and it was a lot better money and a lot of overtime. And so I went out there as a carriage and wagan maker, and that was a big thing. Normally, it requires apprentice, but because they didn't have enough trucks to go along, caring ragnos came up. [?]
They
gave us jobs. They would call us for diluting carriageway. We hadn't served
our apprenticeship, but they just employed us to do that. And mostly, it was
out on the trucks. These trucks always needed to be repaired. So, we
would go out there ahead of the system that worked there. Trucks came in
the morning and went out at night. You might get 20 trucks in some days, and you'd
be working flat out, getting only three of them ready next day.
There would be some skilled technicians, but you would be helping them. But then, we went on to working on the carriages, and you're learning the trade as you went along. Because you're working with tradesmen, you eventually become one. That is how I became a carriage and wagon maker. Today's term would be an automobile mechanic.
I suppose
it is a trade. Sometimes, I found it a bit awkward because I didn't have enough
skill, but then eventually I learned. In 1963, I was transferred to Port
Lincoln. There, I had to work on everything. Rail cars and coaches. And
we rebuilt brake pans. What we've done there, we got four blocks and
tackles. We took him in a shot and we pulled the roof off of the brake
there. And pulled the whole thing, and we had the wooden machines there.[?]
The doors
we used to get them sent over to Adelaide, and they had to be specially made,
but the rest of it, we had to do it ourselves. So, that was
interesting. So that occupation still exists.
Well, they
closed the railways there, despite changes in technology and material, it
is still an occupation wherever they build carriages.
I think the
Victorian Railways are still run by the government, so they would still have
carriage and wagon makers. But they cut it right out in South Australia.
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