Horse and dray

Living in the Dorrigo district in the 1950's was some what exciting as a child even though there was no money. Going into Dorrigo was a big event in my life. My old man had a Hudson Terra plane car and it had leather upholstery. Dad had two trucks both Bedfords and later a Ferguson te20 tractor. I remember steam was used in the bush and the sawmills. When you cannot afford wheels for a farm trailer a sled was fashioned out of bush poles to either be towed by the tractor or horses. We used to get the sled and tow it to the top of a hill and let it loose with us on board for a quick ride down the hill. How we survived those times I don't know. Then another game was to climb small trees and they would not be able to hold the weight and would bend over and we would let go some times they broke and we came crashing down. Riding small calves was a good past time as well, many a bruise would appear, if you were to have that many bruises today you parent would be accused of child abuse. There was a big timber dray at the front of the house was there for many years the wheels would have been six feet in diameter or more. Latter on in years I worked with pit ponies underground till they decided that it was too cruel for the horses but they truly loved the work. If you put on three skips the horse would hear the second chain rattle as it took the load and it would not pull it, when the third skip was unhooked they would pull the load. They could work in the dark as if they could see, it was amazing and they were treated with kindness anyone who miss treated them would be sacked.

Scouts

When I was a scout leader I got to take the scouts on outings to different places like the usual fire station and police station so some ingenuity into where to take them next. My mate had this lolly shop and made boiled lollies. He agreed to let us visit and he meet the group at the door and laid down the law do not touch the lollies and he said it with solemn face and all the seriousness he could prevail. He mixed up a batch on the tables with all the colours of the rainbow and drew it threw the dies and into the cutting machine and the lollies came out at about a thousand a minute. He then mixed up a batch in the groups colours all the time with questions coming quick and fast. When they cooled down with a glint in his eye said they were so good and showed restraint and they could help them selves to what was on the table, all bedlam was let loose in those next few seconds. The rumble was over in short of a minute. Then he said he would make a lolly pop on a stick for the leader ME it wasn't the usual lolly pop cause he used a broom handle for the stick and the lolly was over a meter on diameter. Huge it was But what do you do with a lolly pop that big. The following week I had a game at the hall and there was a special surprise for the winner of the game. The game was won and out came the big lolly pop and a hammer. The lolly pop was put on the floor and struck with the hammer and even to my surprise it shattered into a million bits and there was a scramble that followed. They were fun times......