Take time out for your mates

By Cliff Graham

Iwant to pay tribute to a couple of true old school legend mates we’ve lost over the last couple of months. Paul (Blue) Wilton, Walter Nepier along with Gavin, an old ringer from Queensland I met many years ago.

Sometimes life gets that busy that we forget to take time out for our mates.

I admired Blue who was an old school, straight shooter cattle carter. He told it how it was and didn’t sugar coat anything - language just rolled of his tongue. He was always willing a belt someone if he thought they needed it and likewise he would give anyone the shirt of his back and was always keen to offer advice to anyone who would listen. Sadly nowadays it seems these are rare qualities to find anywhere, let alone on the road.

I admired Walter’s passion for the transport industry and we shared and swapped many like-minded ideas. These truckies will be truly missed and our conversations will never be forgotten.

This month I want to highlight my old mate Gavin who I met around 199293 delivering hay to a property called Monklands – north-west of Alpha in Queensland. After unloading we had the customary cup of tea and a snack. During this time, I see in the distance on the veranda an aged gentleman walking by and I ask my mate Martin, “Is that your grandad?” Martin replies, “No that’s Gav and knowing I was a bushy and always out for yarn called him over for a cuppa.

Upon introduction, I found Gav to be a quiet reserved type of bloke. Martin said Gav was born in 1900 so whatever year it was, that’s how old Gav was.

At 13 years old, Gav walked to Monkland and has lived and worked there ever since. Martin’s family inherited Gavin in 1965 when they bought the station.

The more I heard of Gav’s story the more questions I had for him and he opened up and shared his story. He didn’t say too much about his own achievements and return to Alpha then two weeks to Longreach with the mail unload reload with wool then back to Alpha.

He told the story of how they both went to Alpha show and saw a road train loaded with wool. He recalled how his father was in shock of how technology had advanced. Gav said, “He looked me in the eye and said ‘that bugger will probably be in Brisbane in the morning’. A tear welled in Gav’s eye as he remembered what his father had been through for years prior to this advancement.

I asked Gav, “What is the toughest thing you've ever had to endure in the Outback?”

He replied, “I never thought I'd see the day I couldn't carry my saddle back to the saddle shed from the horse yards”.

I had tears in my eyes as I slapped Martin on the shoulder and asked, “Are you recording this old bloke’s history?” but Martin told me that every fence on the property was built by Gavin as well as all the loading ramps at every set of cattle yards (years before trucks were invented) to load and bring the few missed weaners back to the homestead yards on a horse and dray (even if they had to be pulled up and tied to the dray with ropes) because it was impossible to walk a couple of weaners home on their own.

Gavin told me his father was a horse teamster who had the mail run from Rockhampton to Longreach and then carted wool on his wagon for the return trip back to Rockhampton. From Alpha it would take him two weeks to take wool to Rockhampton unload and load the mail

Martin assured me that his dad is starting to write a lot of things down which Gavin talks about so this history is not forgotten.

I could have stayed and kept listening to Gav but had to get on the road home. A few days later, talking to Martin he mentioned Gavin said he thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. Well I had to admit not near as much as I did.

Although I wanted to, I never got back to see Gavin again. He passed away before I made time.

I will never forget these above mentioned legends. Now more than ever with so much of the crap going on in the world we need mates that we can listen to and learn from and bounce off… even talk a bit of BS and have a laugh. Go find a mate today and have a yarn.