Lindsay
I was born at 23.59hrs. on the 9th of October 1958 in Calne, Wilts, U.K. I was the youngest of 3, having a brother and sister. My father left taking David and Lesley while my mother was on night shift; not the friendliest way to leave. My father sold the house, actually owned by my mother’s parents, to the Air Force. My mother wasn’t aware that she could have fought the sale and we left them to it, moving to Marlborough, Wiltshire.
My mother went to work in a children’s convalescent home there, taking me with her. My grandfather picked us up 3 months later, taking us home to Southborough, Tunbridge Wells, in Kent. We stayed for a while and then moved to Crystal palace in London. My mother had a job as companion (and watchdog) for wayward teenaged girl.
We stayed there for a year. The girl’s father bought a farm near Marden, Kent and we went there for a few months, Then my mother went completely mad and we moved in with Tony Caselton in the butcher’s shop on High St, Marden. He and his two sons had fun bullying and starving me while Mum was working.
Mum finally came to her senses and got us out of there to my Grandather’s. We lived at Lyndhurst, Victoria Rd, Kingsdown, near Deal in Kent. We were happy there but, at the request of one or both grandparents, purely owing to Joan’s ill health, we had to leave there.
At roughly 4 years of age I went to a boarding nursery school in Maidstone while my mother worked at Oakwood hospital. That didn’t work out too well – I wound up in hospital suffering malnutrition – so we returned to Marden. I went to Marden Public school at the age of 5; I have a memory of kissing a girl here. I wonder what her name was? I was mistreated quite badly by Caselton and his boys, though I can’t remember any details.
Arrangements were made, in secrecy, to move to Australia to my Uncle. My Grandfather came to pick us up while Caselton was at the market. We went to Rickmansworth to my Great Aunt’s house to hide while waiting for departure. We spent about 3 weeks there and then left for Australia as assisted migrants.
My memories start on the trip to Australia; the detail of the preceeding paragraphs was supplied by my mother. I have only the vaguest memories of my life prior to travelling to Australia. I do remember my Grandfather and his house, flashes of the boarding nursery, and occasional memories of life with Caselton.
Landing in Australia was when I woke up from a long (9 year) sleep. We arrived on the 31st of October 1967 on a Qantas V-Jet 727, the type currently owned and flown by John Travolta.
We were met by my Uncle and Aunt and two cousins, Glen and Susan, and driven to Berowra. This was to be our home until my mother had found work; she was after something away from the city.
I attended Berowra Public School for the remainder of the year, learning what “Pommie” meant. Not that the kids were mean or cruel, far from it, it was just the way you referred to an kid from England.
My mother found what she was after that Christmas and travelled to “The Rookery”, a sheep property some 28 miles (45 kilometres) south of Cobar NSW, a small (pop. 3,500) mining town. I followed a couple of weeks later with my Uncle and his family. The property consisted of 60,000 acres (25,000 hectares), numerous sheep, a dozen horses, a dozen working dogs, the boss, a jackaroo, my mother and myself.
Being so far from the nearest town meant that I couldn’t attend regular school and we sure as heck were not going to go the boarding school route. I “attended” correspondence school for Year 4. This schooling is midway between normal school and School of the Air. I would be mailed my month’s lessons, would work through them under the watchful eye of my mother or whichever dog was available, and would post the results back to Sydney. This type of schooling meant that getting through things quickly allowed frequent early marks and taking a day off to do something important, like going for a ride, was easy.
The was also a trip to Sydney for a week, staying with a family and atending their children’s school, towards the end of the year. I was 10 and travelled alone by air. The trip from Cobar to Dubbo was by small 6 seater plane and from Dubbo to Sydney was by larger 30+ seater. The trip back was the same.
That year had an enormous impact on my life. I learnt to ride, muster, be independant, make do and live with myself. I also learnt about shearers and shearing, sheep and all their woes, drought, dust, rain, mud, flies and snakes. I even learnt how to drive a three speed column shift Holden Ute.
After that year we moved into town and I attended the local Catholic school for Year 5. I went there because the kids of the bloke my mother was living with went there; I had no interest in religion. While there I learnt about Nuns, religion, discipline and communion. The latter I discovered by attending church services with the rest of the school and simply following along when the other kids filed up to the alter. I had no idea I wasn’t supposed to do so…
My mother gave me the option at the end of that year to contiunue at Catholic school or switch to Public school. As I knew that Year 6 was presided over at the Catholic school by the Mother Superior, and I had received a sample of her preferred discipline earlier, I opted to switch. Year 6 was good but I remember almost nothing of it, which probably means I stayed out of trouble.
Then High school. During the process of being taught all sorts of things necessary to adult life, such as music appreciation (deconstruct “American Pie”) and art, I discovered a knack for mathematics and science. Oh, and I also discovered girls. I played soccer, badly, and enjoyed our trips to Dubbo to take part in the State Competition. We never made it past the first round, but we had fun.
There were two low points in high school. One was when I burnt out my bedroom by leaving a lit candle on a cardboard sheet above a kerosene heater. We got a nice modern lounge room out of that, but things were uncomfortable for a while. The other was when the whole of year 4 (now called Year 10) went on a Central Australia coach trip and I had to stay. Financial reasons, not disciplinary. That low point was also a high point funnily enough as I had uninterrupted access to my favourite teachers – Mathematics and Chemistry/Physics – for over three weeks.
Somewhere in Year 3 or 4 (9 or 10) we moved out to our new home, about 8 miles by road from town. We lived in what was to be the workshop but eventually became the house. It had power but no running water and no toilet. Well, it did have a toilet but that consisted of a “thunder can” – a tin can with a lid that needed to be emptied each week – more frequently if you had curry or visitors. Not my favourite job.
In Year 5 (now Year 11) we were visited by two people. One was a recruiter for the PMG, soon to be Telecom Australia. The other was a recruiter for the Royal Australian Air Force. I applied for both – there was no way I way going to be working in the mines.
While working through Year 6 (Year 12) I received an invitation to attend the RAAF recruiting office in Sydney. At almost the same time I received an invitation to commence an apprenticeship with Telecom Australia. After some debate and discussion with my mother I took up the apprenticeship. It was confirmed and definate, while the RAAF was still a maybe. The only problem was that the apprenticeship started almost immediately, July, which meant missing the Higher School Certificate exams. Ah well, that’s life.
To Sydney. Travelling from Cobar by train – which you could do in those days – to Sydney in July meant travelling over the coldest and highest part of NSW outside of the Snowy Mountains at night in a Red Rattler – an ancient carriage with open windows and no heaters. It was a trip I will probably never forget. Being a country boy I was not prepared for the temperature. Arriving in Sydney at Strathfield I was greated by a woman who bought me a cup of coffee and took me to the boarding house in which I was to stay. At that point I could have married her, even though she was probably twice my age; I was 17.
My apprenticeship was largely uneventful, other than having a front tooth broken in a fight and almost being kicked out of Telecom for taking too many days off. Early on I met my future wife at a netball game and later at a rehersal being held for a musical society in which my best friend was involved. My pickup line was corny as, but still makes us giggle. Leaning nonchalontly on a post I said “Well, do I get a name or do I stand here looking at you all night?” I later stole her handbag to make sure she didn’t forget me. It worked. Karen was almost 16 and I was either almost or just 18.
We were both involved in the Maroubra Musical Society, her backstage and me in lights and sound. I have always had an interest in technical things since coming to Sydney.
A couple of years later we split for a while, but that didn’t last very long. An intermediate girlfriend turned out to be not my type, and I certainly wasn’t hers; she was very city and hated my home town. A mutual friend suggested that I get in touch with Karen again when I was living in a flat by myself and I did, leading to her moving in with me. Some ripper fights, some great laughs, and a number of years later we were engaged. It was announced by Karen’s father at her 21st. I had asked him for permission first but never actually got to ask Karen so the announcement was a source of surprise for her at the time. I think it was the point where her parents actually started to tolerate me.
Three years later and our first child arrived. Life changed.
Our lives have remained intertwined. We have done pretty well everything together, even to joining the NSW Rural Fire Service; I beat in her by 6 months. While our plans have not always worked out we have nonetheless remained happy in each other’s company and have three kids who have grown into young adults worth keeping alive. It was touch and go with them for a while…
Those kids have also joined the NSW Rural Fire Service and are each individuals, clever and thinkers. If everything else I have done fades I am glad to have them to leave to the world.
