Skatey...The life of Les Skate
Biography of Les Skate edited and prepared for publication by volunteer biographer
Lorraine Blythe on behalf of Eastern Palliative Care October 2019
Biography of Les Skate edited and prepared for publication by volunteer biographer
Lorraine Blythe on behalf of Eastern Palliative Care October 2019
Skatey The Life of Les Skate Well he was playing full forward and he’d done his bit. I was thinking, ‘We’re going to get beaten here.’ The next thing, on no advice from me, I saw Ian running from the goals, way I was thinking, ‘We’re going to get beaten here.’ down to where the ball was, and every time the ball was thrown in, up he went and Bang! Thumped it away! And then the time ran out and we won by two points! Oh, it was drama after drama. Yeah it was. I remember, I ran out on to the oval, and… Johnny May, who was quite a big boy, came running at me and I jumped into his arms! … I’ll never forget that match. Holidays in our later years In more recent years Joan and I have taken many organised tours to many different places around Australia. Often, we went with a group of friends. Once, we went to Cairns on a train that was called Holiday Train. We stayed on the train during the day and at midday we would stop somewhere along the way for a meal. We’d jump back on again, and by night we’d be at another city or town where we were accommodated for the evening. Eventually we got to Townsville. Then our destination was Thursday Island. We flew out of Townsville with a company that had two old war time DC3 twin-engine aeroplanes that had been mainly used for carting troops and stores around during the war. They’d done them up and they used them for tours that started at Townsville. They were called Gooney Birds. We flew firstly out to Weipa, on the gulf. We stayed there overnight then we headed for Thursday Island. But there was no airport there so we landed at Herron Island. We were taken from there on a fishing boat across the strait. Now it was a very hot day, that day, and I got a bit squeamish. When we arrived at Thursday Island there were these beds out on the veranda. The two pilots had to go and have a sleep, so I had a lay down too. In our group on this trip, there were eight of us, including Joan’s sister Pat and her husband, Ted. The others went off and enjoyed their visit to the church and so forth, which was all part of the tour. I came good, and I remember going up and looking at the cemetery up on the hill. 56
Skatey The Life of Les Skate In our group on this trip, there were eight of us, including Joan’s sister Pat and her husband Ted. They put on a big meal. There was a beautiful assortment of fruit, which you’d expect up in the Islands I suppose. When that part of the trip was over, we went back across the strait on a ferry. It was pretty rough going across … we were out on the ocean then. We came back into the Gulf and we unloaded at a small port there. We were driven by coach out to the airport and loaded onto the plane and eventually took off. As part of the flight, the plane had some mail and other things to drop off at the mission station up there, which was Edward River Mission Station, so we landed there. It happened that during the war Ted had flown these DC3s. He had been a wireless operator and had also trained trainees, flying in these planes all over Australia. Whilst we were waiting to take off again, we received word to say that the plane had blown a piston, and we wouldn’t be able to take off. Ted, my brother-in-law … I suppose with hours of flying he could hear every sound, said, ‘I knew there was something wrong. I thought we’d done a piston!’ He hadn’t wanted to alarm us! The second one of their planes was out on a flight delivering food to other missions. So, they radioed him and he called back in. It was a very hot day, not a good day for motors to be running. He looked at us all and said, ‘There’s no way I can take off with all of you.’ So we thought, ‘Oh well we will be drawing straws to see who camps with the dogs tonight!’ But they served us a meal, a great big barbeque with fish and chops and steak thrown on it. And there was Jackie with the cigarette butt hanging out of his mouth and all the ash dropping on the barbeque! I thought, ‘This mightn’t go down too good!’ We started to get a little bit worried about what we were going to have to put up with, there being no proper accommodation at all really. Eventually the bloke took all the details, and weighed everything. It was well over weight. But he said ‘I’ll be right once I get up there, I can go right up to the lighter air.’ And he did. We got up there and he got us back to Cairns. I was very happy to get back on land again! That was quite an experience ‘I knew there was something wrong. I thought we’d done a piston! 57
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<strong><strong>Skate</strong>y</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong> Life <strong>of</strong> <strong>Les</strong> <strong>Skate</strong><br />
In our group on this trip,<br />
there were eight <strong>of</strong> us,<br />
including Joan’s sister Pat<br />
and her husband Ted.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y put on a big meal. <strong>The</strong>re was a beautiful<br />
assortment <strong>of</strong> fruit, which you’d expect up in the<br />
Islands I suppose. When that part <strong>of</strong> the trip was over,<br />
we went back across the strait on a ferry.<br />
It was pretty rough going across … we were out on the<br />
ocean then. We came back into the Gulf and we unloaded at a small port there. We were<br />
driven by coach out to the airport and loaded onto the plane and eventually took <strong>of</strong>f. As<br />
part <strong>of</strong> the flight, the plane had some mail and other things to drop <strong>of</strong>f at the mission<br />
station up there, which was Edward River Mission Station, so we landed there.<br />
It happened that during the war Ted had flown these DC3s. He had been a wireless<br />
operator and had also trained trainees, flying in these planes all over Australia. Whilst we<br />
were waiting to take <strong>of</strong>f again, we received word to say that the plane had blown a piston,<br />
and we wouldn’t be able to take <strong>of</strong>f. Ted, my brother-in-law … I suppose with hours <strong>of</strong><br />
flying he could hear every sound, said, ‘I knew there was something wrong. I thought we’d<br />
done a piston!’ He hadn’t wanted to alarm us!<br />
<strong>The</strong> second one <strong>of</strong> their planes was out on a flight<br />
delivering food to other missions. So, they radioed<br />
him and he called back in. It was a very hot day, not a<br />
good day for motors to be running. He looked at us<br />
all and said,<br />
‘<strong>The</strong>re’s no way I can take <strong>of</strong>f with all <strong>of</strong> you.’ So we thought,<br />
‘Oh well we will be drawing straws to see who camps with the dogs tonight!’<br />
But they served us a meal, a great big barbeque with fish and chops and steak thrown on<br />
it.<br />
And there was Jackie with the cigarette butt hanging out <strong>of</strong> his mouth and all the ash<br />
dropping on the barbeque! I thought, ‘This mightn’t go down too good!’ We started to get<br />
a little bit worried about what we were going to have to put up with, there being no proper<br />
accommodation at all really. Eventually the bloke took all the details, and weighed<br />
everything. It was well over weight. But he said ‘I’ll be right once I get up there, I can go<br />
right up to the lighter air.’ And he did. We got up there and he got us back to Cairns.<br />
I was very happy to get back on land again!<br />
That was quite an experience<br />
‘I knew there was something<br />
wrong. I thought we’d done a<br />
piston!<br />
57
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