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Doc
Keeper of the Scrolls
2010 Posts
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 Posted -
17/05/2004
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16:36
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VERBATIM TRANSCRIPTION OF LESLIE GRAHAM MACDONALD TAPES
Recorded and transcribed by Stanley Graham. Strictly copyright. No part of this manuscript may be reproduced by any means, nor transmitted, nor translated into a machine language without the written permission of Stanley Graham.
Tape identification File Number
Tape 1. Yellow. Track 1.(Completes track) 024\lgstory.004
In 1902 [May], the Boer War ended. I remember my two uncles with some of their friends riding across our home paddock to pay us a visit dressed in their Light Horseman’s uniforms with their emu feathers flying, their rifles and all their accoutrements. They did seem a brave lot. But there was one sad thing, that was that one uncle never returned. He died of black water fever on the boat on the way home. It was shortly after this that we left Eumalga.
We will now return to Eulomogo. It was shortly after the school incident that we lost our favourite dog, Browny. He developed a habit of chasing the trains. One day as we were coming home from school, he used to come and meet us every day by the way and sit outside the school waiting for us,and chase rabbits on the railway track. on this particular day, a goods train was passing and Browny chased it. He must have tried to get hold of the wheel, and having got hold, he couldn’t let go. Anyhow, he was thrown under the train and cut to pieces. I never remembered what happened to Tip, I don’t seem to remember him after we left Eumalga. Possibly he died or Dad sold him, anyhow, we didn’t have him any more.
One of our favourite pastimes while we were living in this house was to have sing-song parties. People used to come from the surrounding farms and we’d all congregate in the big living room and everyone had to do something. Dad used to call it the “sing a song, tell a yarn or do a recitation party.” He always used to sing the same song, I forget the name of it but it was something about “My boat lies on the other shore and all I want’s my Mary dear and I’ll be off to Baltimore.”
It was during one of these parties that I saw for the first time a snake being killed by having its head cracked off like a whip. We were sitting out on the veranda and it was just going dust when one of the girls screamed and pointed, and there, crawling slowly up towards the house was a black snake. Father turned to go for his gun and a young chap, I forget his name, said “No, it’s alright, leave him alone, I’ll fix him.” He quietly got up, walked down off the veranda, walked round behind the snake, got hold of it by its tail, swung it round his head and then cracked it like a whip and its head went flying off into the garden.
About this time we had a visit from Aunt Maggie. She was now a widow, her husband had been dead some few months and she had with her Vera the only child. She was still a very young woman and very attractive and for the time of her stay in the house we were never short of visitors. There was young fellers coming from miles around on all sorts of pretences but at the back of it, they all wanted to have a look at Aunt Maggie and, if possible, take her out somewhere. There was a young chap called Alf Wilson who fancied his chance with Aunty. One Sunday morning I saw a damn good fight between him and another lad named Salter. When it was all over, we boys were wondering what it was all about and Jim came over and said “well, don’t you know? They’ve been fighting over Aunt Maggie. Alf thinks he’s got a chance and young Salter thinks he’s got a chance but if they only knew it none of them have got a bloody chance at all, the schoolteacher took her away this morning in the sulky.”[Rochester?]
Father had, by this time, finished sinking the dam and putting in the embankment across the valley and he was out of a job. Just at that time there was a development scheme started at Elomogo on the railway, they were putting in a marshalling yard. He got a job with a horse and dray carting muck away. He was at this a few months and got to know the Superintendent in charge and this led to him getting the contract on the Dubbo to Coonamble branch line which had just started. Somehow he got hold of a number of horses and drays and engaged drivers and got the job as a contract job removing the soil from the cuttings and building the embankments.
We left Eulomogo and went to live in Dubbo [1903. 10 years] so that he would be nearer to his work. We went to live at a place called ‘The Peppers’ on Fitzroy Street which is on the north side of the town at the end of a long weary street running from the Showground, out through the cattle stockyards and into the country. Before the building of the railway this had been a very prosperous quarter but when the sale yards were situated on Fitzroy Street and the loading stage for the railway a bit further on, the three prosperous hotels closed down immediately.
Shortly after we arrived at the Peppers, Mother and I were at home on our own one day when she came in from the back with her mouth wide open and she couldn’t speak. I didn’t know what was the matter with her. I didn’t know what to do but she pointed in the direction of another house which was about a quarter of a mile away and I dashed off over there to see the lady who lived there who didn’t know us at the time, in fact we didn’t even know her name. Her name was Mrs Brogan and I told her that Mother had lockjaw, it was the only thing I could think of telling her to describe it. Anyhow, she said straight away “I’ll come with you.” So she came over and had a look at her and she said to me “Well son, she hasn’t got lockjaw but I don’t know what she’s got either. So the best thing we can do is send for the doctor.” So she said “You stay here with her and give her a drink of water if she wants a drink of water but don’t try to do anything else for her and I’ll send me husband for the doctor.” So she went back home and her husband went for the doctor and about an hour afterwards Dr Birkett arrived. He took one look at her and said to Mrs Brogan “Get me some water so I can wash me hands.” So he washed his hands and he just put his two thumbs in her mouth and did something and her jaw snapped shut. He said “You’ll be alright now. You yawned and dislocated your jaw.”
That meeting with Mrs Brogan was the beginning of a very long and happy friendship. They had no children although they’d been married some years. They’d a wonderful big orchard and they used to milk a few cows and they grew a bit of wheat but not very much. He was more interested in playing cricket than earning a living. As a matter of fact, I think they had a private income. We used to very often go over and help with the picking of fruit and he used to let us have the run of the orchard, we could have what we liked out of it. There were only certain trees that we were barred from and of course these were the trees that we wanted to get into and sample the fruit off. There was a wonderful big mulberry tree there. We spent many a happy hour in this mulberry tree ostensibly picking mulberries for mulberry pie but stuffing ourselves with fruit until we were sick. He also had a number of beehives and we used to help look after these hives and occasionally get a bob or two for our labours. In fact, we got so friendly that at one time, later on, there was a rumour that there was an affair going on between Stan and Mrs Brogan. Whether that was true or not I don’t know. I never ever saw anything.
About two miles from our home there was the racecourse. Whilst Father attended the races regularly when he was at home he barred us from going. Now we were very friendly with a trainer named Langley. His son Cherry and Stan and I very often went to the races when the Old Man was away from home. On one particular occasion I had decided to go to the races on me own. Father was away. I got in on some pretext or another, I know I didn’t pay because I had no money to pay with. But I got into the grandstand and was enjoying meself watching the races and I looked down the road and saw Father riding up. I thought blimey, what am I going to do now. So I watched him and he rode up and got off his horse and tied it up to the hitching rail and started to walk straight towards the grandstand. I went further and further up to the top of the grandstand and I saw him coming up from the bottom but he hadn’t looked up and he hadn’t seen me. At the top there was an opening about three feet from the ground and it would be about four feet high to the roof. So I thought Well, I’ll get through here and hang on. But after a while I got so I couldn’t hang on any longer and I let go. I dropped about twenty feet to the ground and landed on me left leg. I don’t know, it did something to me thigh, I don’t know what it was but me leg has always been a bit shorter since and I also turn me ankle over.
I don’t know how I got home but I did do and he never knew I was at the races and I told him that I’d fell out of a tree. They believed it but for a long time I couldn’t walk at all. Then eventually, when I did get going, I was gammy on that leg and I’ve been gammy ever since.
They used to hold a pigeon shoot on this racecourse. We spent many an hour their during the pigeon shooting because all birds that dropped out of a certain radius were for anybody that liked to take them and we used to go and wait for the birds that came over the fence and we used to take them home for pigeon pie.
But after a while we got the idea of breeding pigeons and selling them to the pigeon club. In those days they used to get a shilling apiece. Any birds that got away, they came back and you had them for nothing. We did quite well at it. We had about twenty or thirty breeding birds, they used to have four chicks a year so we used to have anything up to sixty or seventy birds a year which wasn’t bad going for school kids.
Stan and I were supposed to be partners in this venture but we couldn’t agree so it was decided that we’d split the birds up and he’d have one half and I’d have the other half. We did this but as usual, an argument arose and I claimed a bird which he said was his. I said it was mine and we had a fight over it and on this particular occasion I licked him. He said to me “I’m going to have that bird back.” I said “You’re not getting it back.” He said “I’ll take it from you.” I said “You won’t.” and I run into the lavatory and shut the door. Now the lavatory was one of those old pits and it was built about fifty yards away from the house. I got in there with the pigeon and sat in there quite comfortable and he was shouting for me to open the door. I said “I won’t open it.” He Says “Well I’ll bloody well make you open it.” so he went off and after a while he came back. He said “Are you going to open the door?” and I said “No.” I heard a bang and a bloody hole come in the door just above me head. He said “The next one will be a bit lower down. Are you going to open the door?” I said “No. I’m not going to open the door.” Anyhow, there was another one come through a bit lower down than t’other and by this time I was down on the floor. He let off another one that went through the door. I don’t know whether it was three or four he let off altogether but eventually he gave up and I was looking at him through a crack and I saw him walking away.
I let go the pigeon and I dashed out and I saw the bottom of an ink bottle, one of those old stone ink bottles. I picked it up and threw it at him. After I’d thrown it I could see it was going to hit him and I panicked and shouted to him to look out and instead of ducking he turned round. It hit him just under the jaw, in the throat just under the jaw. I dashed out to him and he was bleeding like a stuck pig and I thought I’d killed him. I dragged him down to where we had a five gallon tin of kerosene and there was a pump on it and I got him under this pump and I pumped kerosene onto him. What the hell I thought that was going to do I don’t know, anyhow, it didn’t stop the bleeding, it seemed to make it worse so I wrapped a towel round him and headed off over to Mrs Brogans. She came over and had a look at him and said there’s nothing we can do for him, we’d better take him to the doctor. So they got the buggy and pair out and they whipped him off down to Dr Adams. He stitched him up and he said to me “How did it happen?” I said that he was on the roof and fell head first and caught himself on something jagged at the bottom. He said it was bloody lucky because if it had been half an inch further up it would have cut his jugular vein open and he would have been dead before you got him here. We took him home and put him to bed and I said to Mrs Brogan “What am I going to tell Mother when she comes home?” She said “Well, you leave it to me and I’ll tell her something. What time do you expect her home?” This would be about five o’clock. So she said “I’ll be here when she comes then. I’ll tell her something. Don’t you worry too much.” Well, I don’t know what she told Mother, she must have told her some sort of a tale but I didn’t get a hiding. It was the first time I had done something and not got a hiding and that, of course, further endeared Mrs Brogan to me.
It was whilst we were living at the Peppers that I first learnt to swim. The method of my introduction to the water was when Father took us along and told us to get undressed and he picked me up and threw me in. I went down and when I came up I was dog-paddling. I couldn’t swim but I kept meself up by dog-paddling and he sat on the bank undressed and ready to come in if I was in trouble and said “Come on, get your way back into the bank and you can get out.” So I struggled back to the bank and he pulled me out and he said to me “Now you watch me. I’m going to go in and I’m going to swim slowly across the river and I want you to go in and try top swim across the river to me and swim the way I swim not the way you were trying to swim.” I said “What about if I drown?” Father said “You won’t drown, I’ll come for you if you get into trouble.” So anyhow, he dived in the river and crawled across and he shouted me to come in so I jumped in and I started to crawl. Of course, I started sinking and then I found to my amazement that I didn’t sink, I was alright. I got about half way across the river and I started to panic and I turned round to go back again and I forgot about crawling or anything else and I started to sink. Anyhow, he came in after me and dragged me out and he said “Well, that’ll be enough for today.” We kept on at that for about a week and I wasn’t a good swimmer but I could swim reasonably well. That was the beginning of our days on the river. Many a time we went swimming instead of going to school. We knew we’d get into trouble for it but we used to think well, if we go to school we’ll probably get the cane and it will be monotonous and if we go swimming we’ll have a good time this afternoon but we’ll get a hiding when we get home. So it always turned out that we went swimming.
Another great excitement was when the river was in flood. Somebody’d come and say the rivers running a banker and we’d be off like a shot to try and swim it. Well, Stan and Jim could get across easy but I was quite a while before I was able to make it. It was more from fear than from lack of ability but I remember one time we went down and they jumped in and swam across. I was frightened, the river was running very strong and there was an old cow there. I got hold of this cow by the tail and drove her to the river and made her cross and I followed hanging on to her tail. When she got out the other side she run away so we couldn’t get her to swim back so I had to swim back. I found out that when I had to do it I could do it quite well. Of course, by this time, I was getting to be a pretty good swimmer because we were at it almost every day and Father used to make us go with him in summer and have a swim first thing in the morning. It was no trouble at all.
It was about this time that I first really broke the law. I was mad on bicycles. Most of the other kids I knew about my age had bicycles and Stan had just got one. I decided that I must have one. So I went to a bicycle shop in the town and asked them about the price of bicycles and all that sort of thing. They told me all about it and they showed me a bicycle, it was called a ‘Speedwell’ and it was nine pounds odd. You had to pay a pound deposit and you paid the rest off at so much a week. So I decided that I’d have this bike and I’d bring the deposit down. He said I would have to have me Father’s signature before I could get the bike because I was only a boy and they weren’t allowed to sell things to me on time payment. So I said “Alright, I’ll get me Father’s signature if you’ll give me the form that I’m going to have it on.” and he said “Right, you take this form with you and get his signature, then you come back, bring a pound with you and the first week’s payment and you can have the bike.” So off I went.
I had the problem of getting hold of twenty five bob. So I went to Mrs Brogan and told her that Mother had sent me over and that she was a bit short of cash and could she lend her thirty shillings. Mrs Brogan said “Yes, of course.” So she lent me this thirty shillings and I hared off back to town and presented this form with what was supposed to be me Father’s signature, I’d signed it meself, and got the bike. When I got it home I had to tell another story and I really forget now what I did tell them but it was some cock and bull story about how I got hold of this bike, but I said that Alf Long, a chap we knew, gave me the money to pay for it.
So I had the bike for quite a while, Father was away, nothing was said and then one day a man turned up at the house. When they enquired what he wanted he said he’d come to see about the payments on the bicycle that I’d bought. I hadn’t paid for it for some weeks, in fact I hadn’t paid anything after the first payment. So Mother didn’t know what to do about it and he said “Well, I think the best thing that we can do is for me to take the bike away and then I’ll see Mr MacDonald when he comes home if you’ll tell him that I want to see him.” So Mother said “Alright, we’ll do that.” He took the bike away and it was left until Father came home.
Well, eventually he did arrive home. I was in fear and trembling as to what was going to happen because I hadn’t had a beating from Mother over it and I thought when Father gets to know about this he’ll half murder me. I went to bed at night, I don’t think I slept that night I was so worried about it and the next morning was Sunday morning. I got up and was mooching about the house and at about nine o’clock he said to me “Get dressed. So I said to him “What do you mean, get dressed.” He said “Never mind about that, get your best things on.” So I got dressed and he said “Come along with me.” We set off down the street and we kept walking, we went past the showground and kept on going. I wondered all the time where the hell he was taking me. So anyhow, we eventually landed up at a big house on the south side of the town where a man called Dulhunty lived.
Now Mr Dulhunty was an alderman and he was also a magistrate. We went in, he took us into the lounge and he sat down and Father told him this story about what I’d done. He said “I’ve come to tell you this because eventually it’ll have to be reported to the police unless something can be done now to prevent the cycle shop from reporting it and having to go to court.
3,976 words.
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LESLIE GRAHAM MACDONALD TAPE (04)
