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 Helping out…The Victorian floods of 2011 In 2011 there were catastrophic floods up in the Loddon area. Water came down from the Campaspe and because the Murray was already flooded, it couldn’t take the water. So, it spread out across the land and stayed inland and ended up getting into the Loddon River. This river and its tributaries then ran back into the Murray a long way further down, (perhaps two to three hundred kilometres further down) towards Swan Hill. They didn’t want Swan Hill getting flooded so in order to avoid this they more or less sacrificed the farming area of Benjeroop. All the water was directed down into an area that had periodic floods, but nothing like this. It became like a delta to several smaller rivers and was left to take its own course. So, it backed up, and backed up, till it flooded the Benjeroop and Murrabit West areas. The floods at Benjeroop February 2011 After a couple of months of the area being inundated, the water receded. It had been well up over the tops of the fences, the boats had been sliding across the tops of them. When it dried out enough they started looking for volunteers. 62
Skatey The Life of Les Skate I hadn’t heard that much about that particular area, but I knew Charlton very well. It had been badly flooded too by the Avoca River. I was more or less set to go there when I saw an article in The Weekly Times. It was written by the daughter of a gentleman named Lindsay Schultz. He was a farmer and a feed merchant. He was also the chief flood warden of Benjeroop. Luckily for him, his bit of land was on high ground. But he was right in the middle of it. His daughter Kelly wrote about how much Lindsay had put his heart and soul into rescuing people and trying keeping the place viable. I had been up in that area in my younger days and I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll give him a ring.’ In the meantime, my brother Geoff, who had done a lot of work with fire and rescue groups, was preparing to go to Charlton. When he heard I was thinking of going to Benjeroop, he said, ‘Well, I’ll come with you, but I’ve only got a couple of weeks.’ So off we went. We joke a bit about this now … we could just hear Lindsay and his helper Billy thinking, ‘What have we got here?’ when they saw these two old fellows turn up. I was eighty-two and Geoff was not much younger. Anyway, we proved that wrong. Geoff had his caravan and I stayed in an hotel on the first night, but I knew I couldn’t keep paying for that. Lindsay was right on the Murray and he had a fully equipped big houseboat and he offered it to us to use. That was good. It became my accommodation for the time I was there, off and on for about five months. As soon as we’d got there, I’d asked, ‘Have you got anything for us?’ ‘You can start tomorrow,’ he said. He drove us all around the place and showed us four or five houses. We started the next morning. The first was the house of a chap called Jack Challis. Jack was a shearer-come farmer. So, we got stuck into it, started wrecking and pulling it down. In one day, we had all the dirty stuff out … oh it was a terrible, shocking job to do. When the water and mud, and the dead frogs and God-knows-what, got down behind the plaster, it was just putrid. Anyway, we got it all shovelled out and got it dried. About a week later we had all the new plaster back in. So we got stuck into it, started wrecking and pulling it down. In one day we had all the dirty stuff out…oh it was a terrible, shocking job to do. 63
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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 />
I hadn’t heard that much about that particular area, but I knew Charlton very well. It had<br />
been badly flooded too by the Avoca River. I was more or less set to go there when I saw<br />
an article in <strong>The</strong> Weekly Times. It was written by the daughter <strong>of</strong> a gentleman named<br />
Lindsay Schultz. He was a farmer and a feed merchant. He was also the chief flood warden<br />
<strong>of</strong> Benjeroop. Luckily for him, his bit <strong>of</strong> land was on high ground. But he was right in the<br />
middle <strong>of</strong> it.<br />
His daughter Kelly wrote about how much<br />
Lindsay had put his heart and soul into<br />
rescuing people and trying keeping the place<br />
viable.<br />
I had been up in that area in my younger days and I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll give him a ring.’ In the<br />
meantime, my brother Ge<strong>of</strong>f, who had done a lot <strong>of</strong> work with fire and rescue groups, was<br />
preparing to go to Charlton. When he heard I was thinking <strong>of</strong> going to Benjeroop, he said,<br />
‘Well, I’ll come with you, but I’ve only got a couple <strong>of</strong> weeks.’ So <strong>of</strong>f we went. We joke a bit<br />
about this now … we could just hear Lindsay and his helper Billy thinking, ‘What have we<br />
got here?’ when they saw these two old fellows turn up. I was eighty-two and Ge<strong>of</strong>f was<br />
not much younger. Anyway, we proved that wrong. Ge<strong>of</strong>f had his caravan and I stayed in<br />
an hotel on the first night, but I knew I couldn’t keep paying for that. Lindsay was right on<br />
the Murray and he had a fully equipped big houseboat and he <strong>of</strong>fered it to us to use. That<br />
was good.<br />
It became my accommodation for the time I<br />
was there, <strong>of</strong>f and on for about five months.<br />
As soon as we’d got there, I’d asked,<br />
‘Have you got anything for us?’<br />
‘You can start tomorrow,’ he said.<br />
He drove us all around the place and showed us four or five houses. We started the next<br />
morning. <strong>The</strong> first was the house <strong>of</strong> a chap called Jack Challis. Jack was a shearer-come<br />
farmer. So, we got stuck into it, started wrecking and pulling it down. In one day, we had<br />
all the dirty stuff out … oh it was a terrible, shocking job to do. When the water and mud,<br />
and the dead frogs and God-knows-what, got down behind the plaster, it was just putrid.<br />
Anyway, we got it all shovelled out and got it dried. About a week later we had all the new<br />
plaster back in.<br />
So we got stuck into it, started wrecking and<br />
pulling it down. In one day we had all the<br />
dirty stuff out…oh it was a terrible, shocking<br />
job to do.<br />
63