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 By the time I got to, I think it was eighth grade, Kerang I suppose having the family High School in Victoria, (about 20 kms away from around me I got a bit of selfeducation. Barham) was taking students from the school. They had a little bus run out there. I don’t know where Mum and Pop got the money from to send me there. Not that it was very expensive or anything but you had your costs. But I did go there for two years and the first year I was pretty good. New South Wales was always a year ahead of Victoria and I went there and I breezed through what they called in Victoria, The Merit. The next year, might have been Proficiency or something like that, I found that pretty hard. You got Algebra and French and they weren’t my thing. Maths and Geography, luckily, I could understand. I’m glad I did because in later years I got into the building trade and I could then see where all that sort of stuff come from. During school years I’d say, I was about nine, I was pottering around with Pop’s tools and the saw jumped. Put a little cut in my hand, nothing much. My sister Val and I were always wrestling and mucking around. I remember out on the back lawn this day her fingernail got in this cut and that’s what caused blood poisoning. The red line started to go up my arm. In those days for infection you used what they called hot foments. You got a bread and butter poultice … hot! (or there was one for when you had congestion on your chest.) But it was probably the bread and butter one, straight out of the boiling water. I thought ‘Uh oh somethings happening alright!’ And up comes this blister. It was like half an egg. We pierced it and that didn’t do any good and then the poison got into that. And up comes this blister. It was like half an egg. The red line was creeping up my arm and I got this big lump under my arm. They put me in the hospital, more to monitor it really. They didn’t have anything to use. They started ringing around and were told there was a serum up at Cohuna, which was fifteen miles away on the Victorian side. On an old sandy road. They had to get it quick. Well in about fifteen minutes he was there and back! 100 mph up a sandy road. Now a relative of Pop’s family had this flash Ford car. A ‘38 model. It was a car but you put the hood back and it was wide open. He used to do 100 mph out on the big plains chasing kangaroos. He had made this documentary and it’s been filmed all around the world. Tommy Board was his name. So, Pop got straight onto Tommy. Well in about fifteen minutes he was there and back! 100 mph up a sandy road. Anyway, that saved me. But it was a long time before it healed up. The burn had taken the flesh right down to the bone. It was all juicy and that. And all they used to do, because they didn’t have the right balms and things I suppose, they’d just put the gauze on it and wrapped it up. The next day they’d just rip the gauze off and the scab would all come off. This went on for ages and ages before it finally healed up. 6
Skatey The Life of Les Skate When I was in hospital there was this Miss Martin at the school. She boarded at the hotel. She taught the little ones. Stan Brennan was another teacher at the school. Gee those names come back to you! He boarded at the hotel too. So, they became a couple, they got together. It was very nice. But this Miss Martin and I had something going … I don’t know what it was. She was so easy to talk to and I felt she cared for me. Of course, I was going fairly well academically at that stage, perhaps she was just giving me good marks! They used to come to the hospital at least a couple of times a week to see me and bring me chocolate. Yeah Miss Martin was the number one teacher. It was wartime, and everyone was knitting scarves for the servicemen. Khaki of course. You knitted them with meat skewers. Like your largest size knitting needle plus a little bit. They were used in the butcher shop. The butcher would have a great big bit of meat, like a great big chop. He’d cut all the meat off down to the bone, and then he’d get the first bit and turn it all around and then get the other bit and wrap it all around tightly. Then he’d get two skewers and stick them through both ways. And they were the knitting needles. So, yes, I learnt to knit in hospital I knitted quite a few scarves. I was three months off school. At school I had a nice little girl friend, Jocelyn Hickey. Her father owned the picture theatre and I thought I might get a free picture show now and then. But I never did! Oh well … Schooling to me was a bit of a bore. It was just something you had to do. Oh, I tried to learn and I wasn’t too bad in my early years, but I think I got distracted … maybe chasing the girls! Family chores, family play…and pocket money! I got along well with all my brothers and sisters. There were never any worries there. You just went along and you had your share to do, and you just did it. Things like during those years to supplement our food program, I would go down to the Murray River of an evening, catch a couple of Murray cod, and bring them home. We also had a roll down net into the river, (this wasn’t legal in those days but everyone did it anyway.) You’d have a piece of meat in the net and you caught these Murray crays. You’d pull it back up and you might have twenty crays. You’d take them home, and in those days, you had the old copper which you washed in and you bathed in. You did everything in the old copper. You got it boiling, (you won’t like this) but you’d tip all the crays in and you’d cook them. Beautiful they were … The other thing I remember from those days, around when I was nine or ten years old, happened one Christmas. The infantile paralysis thing was on, what was it? ... the polio. 7 I got along well with all my brothers and sisters. There were never any worries there.
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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 />
By the time I got to, I think it was eighth grade, Kerang<br />
I suppose having the family High School in Victoria, (about 20 kms away from<br />
around me I got a bit <strong>of</strong> selfeducation.<br />
Barham) was taking students from the school. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
had a little bus run out there. I don’t know where<br />
Mum and Pop got the money from to send me there.<br />
Not that it was very expensive or anything but you<br />
had your costs. But I did go there for two years and the first year I was pretty good.<br />
New South Wales was always a year ahead <strong>of</strong> Victoria and I went there and I breezed<br />
through what they called in Victoria, <strong>The</strong> Merit. <strong>The</strong> next year, might have been Pr<strong>of</strong>iciency<br />
or something like that, I found that pretty hard. You got Algebra and French and they<br />
weren’t my thing. Maths and Geography, luckily, I could understand. I’m glad I did because<br />
in later years I got into the building trade and I could then see where all that sort <strong>of</strong> stuff<br />
come from.<br />
During school years I’d say, I was about nine, I was pottering around with Pop’s tools and<br />
the saw jumped. Put a little cut in my hand, nothing much. My sister Val and I were always<br />
wrestling and mucking around. I remember out on the back lawn this day her fingernail got<br />
in this cut and that’s what caused blood poisoning. <strong>The</strong> red line started to go up my arm. In<br />
those days for infection you used what they called hot foments. You got a bread and butter<br />
poultice … hot! (or there was one for when you had congestion on your chest.)<br />
But it was probably the bread and butter one,<br />
straight out <strong>of</strong> the boiling water. I thought ‘Uh oh<br />
somethings happening alright!’ And up comes this<br />
blister. It was like half an egg. We pierced it and that<br />
didn’t do any good and then the poison got into that.<br />
And up comes this blister. It<br />
was like half an egg.<br />
<strong>The</strong> red line was creeping up my arm and I got this big lump under my arm. <strong>The</strong>y put me in<br />
the hospital, more to monitor it really. <strong>The</strong>y didn’t have anything to use. <strong>The</strong>y started<br />
ringing around and were told there was a serum up at Cohuna, which was fifteen miles<br />
away on the Victorian side. On an old sandy road. <strong>The</strong>y had to get it quick.<br />
Well in about fifteen minutes<br />
he was there and back! 100<br />
mph up a sandy road.<br />
Now a relative <strong>of</strong> Pop’s family had this flash Ford car.<br />
A ‘38 model. It was a car but you put the hood back<br />
and it was wide open. He used to do 100 mph out on<br />
the big plains chasing kangaroos. He had made this<br />
documentary and it’s been filmed all around the world. Tommy Board was his name. So,<br />
Pop got straight onto Tommy. Well in about fifteen minutes he was there and back! 100<br />
mph up a sandy road. Anyway, that saved me.<br />
But it was a long time before it healed up. <strong>The</strong> burn had taken the flesh right down to the<br />
bone. It was all juicy and that. And all they used to do, because they didn’t have the right<br />
balms and things I suppose, they’d just put the gauze on it and wrapped it up. <strong>The</strong> next day<br />
they’d just rip the gauze <strong>of</strong>f and the scab would all come <strong>of</strong>f. This went on for ages and<br />
ages before it finally healed up.<br />
6