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After 18 months , six of which I spent in Ipswich Hospital with a bone infection contacted on the farm, I was all "tweaked" out and I couldn't see any future pulling tits. I decided it was time to bid farewell to Cedric just when he was about to increase my wages to one pound a week. I was desperate now to roam further afield and with my farm knowledge I assumed I could easily find a job. Back once again with my mother, nothing had changed. My mother told me that her brother Billy O' Brien was the foreman of a road gang up near Clermont in western Queensland. With the money from the farm I took myself to that very place. I found Uncle Billy and his wife at the road camp 40 miles out on the Charters Towers road. Billy didn't know I was coming and he really didn't know me that well. As a result he didn't have a job for me which caused a dilemma. He solved that by getting me a cowboy's job on the now extinct Barcome Station.  The conditions on Barcombe were not very good and after a short time I left and returned to the road camp . Uncle Billy wasn't real happy and it was a teary young lad that curled up on the tarp mattress that night. It was during that fitful sleep that salvation arrived. During the night I could hear the movement of heavy vehicles and in my half slumber I imagined them as passing by the road camp and took little notice. Dawn came and with it a rise in the temperature and feeling the warmth of the outback sun I ventured a glance from under the blankets. There before my eyes were the semi-trailers emblazened with the words "CONEY FAIR AMUSEMENTS". I leapt out of my tarp bed and with Uncle Billy by my side we approached the wondrous and opportune sight. While I waited, Billy had talks with a group of men and by the way they kept glancing in my direction I knew they were talking about me. Very soon I was called to the group and told there was a job for me if that was okay. Well, it was and the look of relief that showed on Billy's face stayed with me a long time. I hope you enjoy the verse, Ode to Uncle Billy. |
