Aussie Rogue. 1st edition 2010; ebook Text by Raymond D. Clements eisbn

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Angela Hardy
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2 Aussie Rogue 1st edition 2010; ebook Text by Raymond D. Clements eisbn Published by Internet: Text Copyright Raymond D. Clements All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, copied, stored or transmitted in any form without prior written permission from the publisher. *** Interested in publishing your manuscript or selling your ebook on itunes,ibooks, Amazon, Google, Barnes & Noble, Borders and bangkokbooks.com? Contact us at or visit *** 2

3 Chapter One The Early Years Aussie Rogue 3

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5 5 Aussie Rogue

6 I started off in life on 30 th January 1946, the same year the Holden car came off the assembly line. You could say I was a 1946 model. To hear Mother tell of my birth, it seemed I was in a big hurry to be born (ready to hit the road I say); an easy birth with no com- eldest, then Valda. Next were the twins Noel and Noelene, Me, then another set of twins Elizabeth and Helen, then Cheryl and When you re born into a big family, you learnt to share and you could never be lonely. You always had playmates. the big gold mine out at Mount Morgan. Most of the gold that came out of the mine paid for the creation of the oil company, British aged to buy a little farm down on Horse Creek. We had a happy life there for a while. My parents loved to go to the dances on the weekends and sometimes midweek it was the main entertainment in those days. They also went to the pictures, hiring a babysitter to look after all of us kids when they went out. I remember the 6

7 Aussie Rogue discipline when Connie was over and us kids could run riot until we burnt ourselves out and collapsed into bed. Connie was not much into talking; mostly she would sit in the front room and listen to serials on the radio. She never once told our parents we played up. As the years went by, the mine became worked out the gold and copper ore ran out. Dad could see that there was no future for and we sold our little farm and moved to Mt. Isa, and into a 15 foot square tent. After a while, we moved to Happy Valley, still in the tent, but with the added luxury of a shed made from oil and supports were of bush timber that Dad cut down with an axe and dragged to the camp with the Holden. For water, Dad had a 44 gallon drum in the back of the Holden, and he would drive out to the drive it home, and then repeat with the two other drums we had at the camp. That was the water supply for our new home in There were a lot of other families living like us there too, in sheds and homemade huts, all trying to make money in the mine bag that was put in a pine dynamite box that served as our fridge. Mt. Isa was a town set up for the miners. Not far from the town and mine road there were barracks for the single men, and near the mess hall and cookhouse there was an open air movie theatre with free access for the miners and their families. There were no a blanket with them that would spread out on the sand to watch the show. Some people even took their cats and dogs along to the shouting over and above the movie all part of the entertainment we thought! We even took our pet goat to the pictures once! The goat had a short life it got into the food cupboard at home when we were all out once and made a bloody mess, with milk powder, 7

8 on the goat s part as when Dad got home and saw the mess, he took it on a short drive down near the river and ended its short career as a thief he cut its throat. My brother Noel helped dad with the execution. Dad skinned the goat and butchered it up into nice mutton chops and legs for baking in the oven. My sisters didn t want to eat any of their pet goat but they soon overcame their sadness and grief enticed by the smell of frying chops and thick brown onion gravy poured over the top. I lined up eagerly for my share. I had my tenth birthday in Mt. Isa and my Aunty Dot sent me a card with 10 shillings inside. I bought a bowie knife with my money and carved my name on a lot of river gum trees before my Mt. Isa in those days. We loved to swim in the rock holes in the Leighart River, although Mum always told us not to, said we might drown. It nearly happened one day to Cheryl as she got into deep water and was too young to be able to swim properly. Valda and me and the others managed to get her out safely though most of us kids could swim by the time we were seven or eight, well, we could doggie paddle across a creek anyway. I learnt to swim the hard way my Uncle Billy pushed me into a deep water hole off a diving board. I surfaced spluttering, kicking and clawing at the water, but managed to make it to more shallow water all on my own. I was very angry because I could have drowned and no one In those days swimming was called the Australian crawl, now it s called Freestyle. The schools all had their children learn to swim and they supplied buses that were paid for by the government. Us kids would all go and swim with the school even though we already knew how to, mainly because it got us out of the classroom and into the water. The instructors weren t much fun, no playing or diving allowed; do what you re told or else! They were crabby bastards, like most of the teachers in those days. If you should show a bit of spirit they would try their hardest to break it out of you, usually with a wooden rod or ruler, sometimes by slaps around your ears, 8

9 Aussie Rogue the last being a reminder that there s a bigger punishment coming if you don t crawl and snivel and knuckle under. If you bailed-up to these critters, you got sent to the headmaster and he would bring out the cane. He would make you hold out your hand and whack very hard usually three times on each hand, and even though your hand would swell up and it was bloody sore, you couldn t cry in front of the bastard because if you did they would think you were licked. My frequent visits to the headmaster resulted in my school days not being very happy for me, but those bastards never broke my spirit I ve been further around the country and the world than any of those critters ever had. Rather surprisingly I wasn t top of the class. Those that was still After a year of being in Mt. Isa, my parents started to argue mainly due to too much drinking, partying and wasting money. All their friends were doing the same; too much grog and mine town parties, like all mining towns around then. So we upped and left, moving to again for blue metal for Townsville City Council at Bole Quarry. We were going to start again in another new town, in our tent out a long walk to school and back, close to six miles each way! The school s name was Central State School, but we didn t last long as we were transferred to Belgium Gardens State School, much that walk when we were shifted back into temporary accommoda- the suburb of Garbutt near the aerodrome, an old American and Australian airbase. So we changed schools again, this time going to Garbutt State School. This lasted for about six months until we were given a housing commission home, which my Dad said we d pay off when he was 75 and then he d drop dead! Although anywhere), I moved schools another three times. In all I went to 13 different schools during my childhood. None of them helped 9

10 me with my education; I was so far behind due to moving schools so often that I can t say I learnt much at any of them! I think it was left fulltime education. Chapter Two My teenage years 10

the little boy 1 a good boy 1 then you give 1 is about me 1 was to come 1 old and new 1 that old man 1 what we know 1 not up here 1 in and out 1

the little boy 1 a good boy 1 is about me 1 then you give 1 was to come 1 old and new 1 what we know 1 that old man 1 in and out 1 not up here 1 good for you 1 down at work 1 with his cat 1 it was new