The years 1947-1953 were the most significant of my life. From my first job as a dairy farm worker at 10 bob a week, until my enlistment as a soldier in the Regular Army, those years would provide the pattern for future endeavours. This is an account in verse of the first six years of my working life - a life that took me from the sad house at 9 Potts Sreet East Brisbane to Government House in Sydney to be installed as a Member of the Order of Australia. To give the reader an overview of my whole working life see the poem Just an Ordinary Man, which covers the many and varied aspects of the boy from Potts St.These are the years in which I learnt to take every day as it comes and take the good with the bad. It was also the time when I learned to adapt to whatever situation I found myself, be it a lack of money, shelter or food and to deal with those situations. I am aware of those who would say that being a side-show worker at 15 years old was no place for a boy and the lifestyle would be a recipe for disaster. Well, I can assure them it was a much better situation than the one I left. Each one of the events chronicled here is at least 95% authentic and only to preserve the metre has any fiction been included. There are names and places that will be familiar, but remember that the event took place some 50 years ago and many of the characters are no longer with us. There is a degree of nostalgia in these verses and one or two of the early pieces may contain a little sadness, the remainder are of "humorous" content. So please join me in a celebration of receiving, SIX OF THE BESTDUDLEY C. PYE A.M, J.P. |
