recollections of Keswick Island: the day we almost perished and I went blind

* a collection of stories and memories, in no particular order, from the life and times of John Clarke, who served as a policeman in the Australian Police Force, a great practical joker, he also had a great affinity with people and wildlife, was a champion swimmer, snooker player, loved golf, still loves fishing and is also an artist. I hope you enjoy his recollections - cheers, karin (his daughter)

- - - - -

We went on holidays to Keswick Island off Mackay, Qld, Australia - the island was leased as a pastoral lease by Father Leo Donnelly and friends of his.  The first time, we went with the Leightons from Port Macquarie and had a great time - it is a big island, 8000 acres, and we were the only ones on it.  We lived in a hut on the edge of a coral beach next to the channel dividing us from St Bees, which is another big island, about 1km across the channel.  One day, George Leighton towed me and the kids over to St Bees Island with the big aluminium half-cabin boat and dropped us there, while he went round the island fishing.  He was supposed to pick us up at 4pm.  Meanwhile, Sal (my wife) and Marie (George's wife) had gone to another area on St Bees Island to visit  Ernst and Musch who lived there on the Island.  Ernst came over to Keswick Island where we were staying, and picked Sal and Marie up.

George was delayed and didn't arrive back at 4pm to pick us up and I got worried as the water was getting higher and higher on the sandy beach where we were located and quickly being cut off, and also concerned because the big boat tended to break down a lot.  So at about 5pm, I put the kids (Karin, Melissa and Tim) in the little dinghy and started to row across the channel back towards Keswick Island.  At the same time the tide began to make, and we were being swept along the channel towards all these rips that were white water, and it looked as though we were going to miss Keswick Island.  If I had lost control of the dinghy, I'm sure we would have capsized in the rip and we all would not have made it.

Just then, George arrived, he had got keen on the fishing and fogotten the time lol.  Karin remembers the occasion vividly and could see how worried I was.  I explained to Karin that thing looked real bad and we might not make it back to Keswick Island, meanwhile I was rowing madly and trying to keep the boat steady.  I prepared her for the possibility that we may have to swim for it, and as she was quite a competent swimmer she would have to do her best to make it on her own, while I saved the little ones who couldn't yet swim.  Karin had never seen me so worried, but felt a deep strength surface and a determination.  I told her there was nothing more we could do now, but pray, and boy did we pray, and thankfully, George arrived just in time!

- - - - -

I (karin) recall also that Dad (John) went blind on the island for a period of around 3 days, it took a while to figure out what had happened, and it was a tremendously frightening time, we finally realised that Dad had touched a caustic plant species and then his eyes, and this caused a temporary blindness.  He did recover thankfully.  He would tell the story much better than I can.  My story about it is here if you'd like to read my version There are also the other chapters that I've written about our adventures on Keswick Island over two holidays, if you are interested you can read them by clicking here each of the white square thumbnails contains a story in sequence from the Introduction to Chapter 8

recollections of Port Macquarie: rescue on the bar

* a collection of stories and memories, in no particular order, from the life and times of John Clarke, who served as a policeman in the Australian Police Force, a great practical joker, he also had a great affinity with people and wildlife, was a champion swimmer, snooker player, loved golf, still loves fishing and is also an artist. I hope you enjoy his recollections - cheers, karin (his daughter)

- - - -

One early morning, I got a call that a boat was overturned on the bar (Port Macquarie) in big seas and I raced down to the boat shed, but the boat wouldn't start.  George Leighton was trying to start it.  I raced to the Post Office and rang our boat mechanic and then went to the headland and saw an overturned boat in these huge waves on the bar, with a bloke clinging to the motor.  I ran down the beach and started to swim out.  Another bloke from the Surf Club, John Dingle came out after me on a ski - about 500-600 metres out, we got to the boat but the bloke was gone.  The boat was stuck where it was, as the anchor had fallen out and anchored it right on the worst part of the bar.  I was freezing and buggered.  Anyhow, I kept diving and looking for the bloke, but he was gone.  After a while the jet Rescue boat came and picked me up.  turned out 2 blokes from Sydney and a dog got drowned and another little dog drifted up the river on a life jacket and was saved.  It was very traumatic.  I was a member of the Surf Club and they had a meeting at which John Dingle and I were nominated for a framed citation.  I eventually got a Letter of Commendation from the Royal Humane Society as did John Dingle, who also received a framed citation from the Surf Association.

recollections of Port Macquarie: in general

* a collection of stories and memories, in no particular order, from the life and times of John Clarke, who served as a policeman in the Australian Police Force, a great practical joker, he also had a great affinity with people and wildlife, was a champion swimmer, snooker player, loved golf, still loves fishing and is also an artist. I hope you enjoy his recollections - cheers, karin (his daughter)

- - - - -

When we went to Port Macquarie, we took our peacocks with us in the car, as well as some chooks and guinea fowl, but due to complaints from the neighbours, made to Sgt Plain, I had to give them away to Sea-Acres Tourist Park at Shelly Beach, Port Macquarie (now known as Sea Acres Rainforest Centre - click here to see their website)
Publish Post
We lived in the 'lock-up' at Port Macquarie (where the prison cells were attached to the house we lived in) and our yard was where the Police Station now stands, right on the River.

Sally (my wife) used to feed up to a dozen prisoners at a time, and got paid a few cents for each meal.  I think it was $0.50c for brekky, $0.70 cents for lunch and $1.00 for tea.  They used to get good meals, the same as what the family (us) ate.

Iin those days, there were only 5 Police Officers stationed at Port Macquarie on General Duties and 2 on Highway Patrol.  I had the phone from 5pm each day to 8am the next morning (on call every night) and would be called out to accidents, etc. every night.

It was very tough, as many nights I was up most of the night up the Cooperabung and Kundabung Mountains between Kempsey and Port Macquarie, doing terrible accidents and then had to work 8am-5pm during the days.  I used to get time off for this but when they brought in payment for overtime, they extended the shifts at Port from 8-12midnight to save paying me, and I then only had the 'phone after midnight, which wasn't so bad.

I joined a group of Jewy (jew fish) fisherman at Port Macquarie and spent a lot of time with Bunny Coates, Ron Whiting, Tom Clark and Garry Rae, fishing for jewies off the breakwall.  We used to catch quite a lot, between 25lb and 76lb - beautiful fish.

We used to play heaps of practical jokes at Port Macquarie - tacks in the Highway Patrol boots, wet toilet paper bombs in the high tree outside the Police Station door, released by string bungers let off in the toilet, etc, and heaps more.

I was on the volunteer Jet Rescue Boat as a driver and did 80 odd rescues on the Hastings River Bar and when we left Port, had a big send-off at the RSL and the Port Council presented us with an inscribed  briefcase in appreciation.

I started marine fish keeping at Port Macqurie and had 3 beautiful tanks of fish.  Once, one broke in the middle of the night and we were up all night cleaning up saltwater.

recollections about Tottenham: Karin gets the chop!

* a collection of stories and memories, in no particular order, from the life and times of John Clarke, who served as a policeman in the Australian Police Force, a great practical joker, he also had a great affinity with people and wildlife, was a champion swimmer, snooker player, loved golf, still loves fishing and is also an artist. I hope you enjoy his recollections - cheers, karin (his daughter)

- - - - -

I recall when Karin (my daughter) was about 2 years old, she put her ring finger in the door frame of one of the heavy doors in the Police house, when the wind slammed the door shut on hr finger!  Her finger was hanging by a thread of skin.  We rushed her to our Doctore Tamesvary, who sewed it back together and it healed perfectly!  Sally (my wife) had nightmares for years about Karin at the altar, holding her hand out minus her ring finger, for her husband to put on the wedding ring!

Keswick Island Holiday Stories by Karin

* a collection of stories and memories, in no particular order, from the life and times of John Clarke, who served as a policeman in the Australian Police Force, a great practical joker, he also had a great affinity with people and wildlife, was a champion swimmer, snooker player, loved golf, still loves fishing and is also an artist. I hope you enjoy his recollections - cheers, karin (his daughter)

- - - - - -

I (Karin) have written recollections of our Keswick Island holidays over 9 journals/chapters
Just CLICK HERE to read them, they all mention my father John, in one episode he goes blind, in others we set up shark traps, someone gets bitten by a bat, we find a turtle, i get my finger trapped in a giant clam, Tim wrestles a shark barehanded, etc... it was a fascinating adventure we shared on an uninhabited island on the Whitsundays in Queensland, Australia when I was about 10 years old

Watch the Turkeys

* a collection of stories and memories, in no particular order, from the life and times of John Clarke, who served as a policeman in the Australian Police Force, a great practical joker, he also had a great affinity with people and wildlife, was a champion swimmer, snooker player, loved golf, still loves fishing and is also an artist. I hope you enjoy his recollections - cheers, karin (his daughter)

- - - - -

When we were at Tottenham we had goats, guinea fowl, chooks, chicks, and turkeys. The turkeys had 15 chickens, some were striped and some were not. Karin was playing in the yard and came inside saying "watch the turkeys, watch the turkeys".  We went outside to find all the striped turkey chicks lined up on the lawn, wet and scrubbed with a laundry scrubbing brush, which was beside them. We gave mouth to beak rescusitation and saved half of them. Karin thought the striped turkeys were dirty!

Read more "dad and me an old photo journal"

My father Jack and West Wyalong recollections

* a collection of stories and memories, in no particular order, from the life and times of John Clarke, who served as a policeman in the Australian Police Force, a great practical joker, he also had a great affinity with people and wildlife, was a champion swimmer, snooker player, loved golf, still loves fishing and is also an artist. I hope you enjoy his recollections - cheers, karin (his daughter)

as this is a long post, I've marked the the funny or shocking stories in a different colour green

- - - - - -

My dad, Jack, used to tell great stories of his boyhood and early life at washing up time, and when Karin asked me to write them down I could only think of a couple and thought, what a shame that dad didn't write them down for us.

-  - - -

Dad worked from the age of 14 in 1921 when he left school.  As a boy, dad was in the Scouts and his Scout Master was one of the Macarthur-Onslowes (descended from Macarthur, the sheep man).  I recollect, Dad got the sack from the Scouts when he jumped through an oil painting the Scout Master had purchased and brought with him to the Scout Meeting!

- - - - -

Dad went to work at the grocery shop in Camden as a general hand, stocking shelves and delivering goods by horse and cart.  He was delivering eggs and groceries one day, when he had a race in the horse and cart with another delivery boy, when the horses bolted and Dad's horse tried to go through a narrow gate and crashed, there were smashed eggs and groceries all over the place.  Dad had to sit on the horse's head to stop it thrashing around, as it was all tangled in the harness.  The horse had to be destroyed.

- - - - -

Another time, Dad and one of the other grocery boys, set up a huge rotten potato abouve the soreroom door in order to have a joike on anohter grocery boy who was due to enter the storeroom - instead the Boss came in and copped the rotten potato on his noggin!

- - - - -

Dad later joined the Bank of NSW (now Westpack) and eventually retired early from the Bank in about 1961.  He then worked for Goldfields in Gold Fields House at Circular Quay for ten years.  After which he worked in the stores and stationery section of an insurance company for some more years, practically until his death at 81.

Dad was also a courier taking banking documents from bank to bank in Sydney (on foot).  As well as this, he gained employment as a Paymaster at on of the big companies.  Jack was never out of a job.


We moved 'round every 7 years or so, with the Bank  my father Jack worked in (now Westpac), living at West Wyalong, Katoomba and Kandos.  Dad was a really quiet and gentle man with a great sense of humour.  He served in the 2nd World War as a bombardier on bofors guns in Morotai and Balik Papan (Borneo).

There is a Memorial Plaque to Dad on the headland at Caloundra, which I had dedicated tohis memory near the Centaur Memorial.

- - - - -

My earliest memories begin at West Wyalong, where I went to Primary School  We lived in Gladstone Street.  I remember a rabbit plague when there were just rabbits everywhere, under every bush and tuft of grass there were rabbits.  We used to walk to school and hit the rabbits out of the way with a stick.  I recall seeing rabbit trappers with their horse and cart with rabbits hanging off it everywhere.  I later did a painting of this.

I also remember walking to school with an old tennis racquet beating grasshoppers (locusts) out of the way during another plague.

- - - - -

When i was big enough I ended up with a bicycle and I used to ride it behind Dad when he rode to work and I rode to school.  One morning we were riding in the main street when I spotted a bank note on the ground.  I skidded to a stop and picked it up yelling "Dad, Dad, I've found a ten pound note!"  He came back and told me to shush and whenwe got to Dad's bank we examined the note and found it was only a ten shilling (10/ -) note - still, not bad.  Dad put it in my bank account.

- - - - -

There was an open-air theatre at Wyalong and I used to go to the Saturday Matinee to see Gene Autry and Roy Rogers in old westerns.  I think it was threepence to get in!

- - - - -

Kennedy's Corner Shop was not far from our place and Mum tells me that when I was little she sat me on the counter and I pulled an expensive set of shop scales off the counter and smashed them on the floor.

- - - - -

Mrs Akehurst lived across the back lane and she had a ne'er-do-well son called George and a quarrian which could whistle heaps of tuns and talk - it was called Georgie.

- - - - -

I remember Dad used to work at the West Wyalong Cordial Factory (Marshall's) in his holidays.

- - - -

There was an old lady who lived in a shack down the end of Gladstone Street who wore rages and no shoes - us little kids used to follow her along the street singing 'Put your shoes on Lucy, don't you know you're in the city' - cruel.

- - - - -

A little girl, Janet Lloyd lived across the lane at the back.  I used to play with her.  She died of mengingitis when she was about 5.

- - - - -

We have a blue cattle dog for a while, but it bit Dad and was shortly after 'taken to a farm', he was 'Skipper'.

- - - - -

Bill Wright, the bald West Wyalong Barber and his wife 'Crick' lived next door and the Cattle family lived on the other side.  Little Johnny Cattle cut his finger off with an axe in the backyard one day.

- - - - -

The Stephensons lived across the road and one of their children was later a Matron at Wagga who Isabel my sister worked with.

- - - - -

I had a big birthday party at West Wyalong, where all the kids in my class came.  I ate a pink birthday candle and got sick as a result.

- - - - -

My Godparents were Betty and Harry Hodson who moved to Salt Lake City, Utah and became Mormons, also Laurie Carter - godmother.

- - - - -

Whenever I called into the Bank to see Dad, one of his workmates, Jim McDade always pretended to give me two bob, but he always put it back in his pocket - very funny!

- - - - -

I was in the Cubs for a while at West Wyalong and one night all the Cubs were throwing mud at each other and I copped a handful of mud in my eye and had to see the doctor who put a long stainless steel hook down my eye socket into my cheek and hooked the mud out.

- - - - -

I did well inthe swimming club at West Wyalong, and won the 25 yards 'Midgets Dash' sever times for which I soon had engraved egg cups.  We used to love going to the pool on hot days.  We had no car and mostly walked everywhere or rode bikes.

We left West Wyalong about 1950 when i was in fifth class and transferred to Katoomba.  I would have been 9 or 10