Skatey...The life of Les Skate

Skatey
The Life of Les Skate
We lived there till we moved down to Croydon. Anyway, then the shearing took over and I
was to go away back up to where Pop used to do his contracts, up around Deniliquin. I
went up there and shore there for a few years.
Les and the old T- Model Ford which he found in a creek and rebuilt just enough to get him to his
shearing jobs
Once I got married, (I’ll cover that a bit later) I found shearing a bit closer, up around
Charlton. I used to go up there for a week or two weeks at a time, then come home. Joan,
my new bride and I, lived at Croydon then. I built our house there. I had never built a house
in my life. But I’d done odd jobs around the farms for people. What I used to do of an
evening, after the builders had knocked off, I’d sneak around and see what they’d done
and how they’d done it.
After the builders had
knocked off, I’d sneak
around and see what they’d
done and how they’d done it.
Anyway, we had quite a nice home there eventually. It
was a struggle. But I was getting better at shearing
and shearing prices were good. At that time, it was
the wool boom, the early fifties. That was when we
were married and built the house. I could earn,
without any trouble, I could earn four times as much
as the basic wage. It was hard work but you got paid
for what you shore. So, I’d bring that money home and we’d invest it in the house. Put a
floor down in a room instead of walking through the door and falling through! We reared
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