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Derry McPhail has died. Sudden heart attack.
He was on holiday in Vancouver and was taken ill just before he and Maria were getting on a ferry. He had some chest pain. He lost consciousness quickly. He could not be revived. I regret his passing. I regret not spending more time in his presence. I had the chance and did not take it. I liked being with him. Like him I did not think he would die. He was after all younger than me. He appeared to be healthy. He was a large powerfully built man who had never smoked or drank. He had no vices. He ate healthy food. His nickname was Bear and most people called him Bear. This was because he looked like a Bear. I have never liked nicknames and called him Derry which was his real name. I felt this was both more respectful and more affectionate. He was Emeritus Professor in Geology at the ANU. He was a PhD. I believe his Doctorate was in The Movement of Gold. He was the smartest man I knew. When I was with him I always felt I was in the presence of a very smart person. He did not always advertise this though. He was a modest man and respectful of others. I never discussed this with him but I felt in a way that he lived his life on two planes - one when he dealt with ordinary people like me - and another plane where he lived within himself and dealt with his own thoughts and maybe on this plane also dealt with other equally smart people. I did ask him once if he had got his job because he was such a good teacher. He answered no and said it in a way that gave me to understand that for some reason I should not push the subject further. I took this as an indication of his modesty. I asked him once if his own father was a large man like him and he replied that he was adopted. I then asked if he was interested in finding out if he had siblings etc and he again said no leaving me to understand that it would be better if I did not question further. I'm sorry I did not push him further because I believe he had indigenous Canadian genes in his makeup. He was a very nice man. He was nice to everyone. He was not superior in any way. He was well liked by everyone. I cannot believe that there was anyone who actively disliked him. He could make anyone feel at ease, And he made everyone feel at ease. Including me. I loved him for this. Once we both went to the opening to the Arboretum in Canberra. He only went because of me. The ANU had a small stand handing out brochures and pamphlets etc advertising the ANU's wares and seeking paying students. He could not resist going up to the young girl manning the stand and offering her encouragement. She was all on her own and not getting many takers. You could see by the look on her face that she appreciated his attention. He was this kind of person. Very encouraging. He was an Ice Hockey Fan and played all his life. He was a mainstay of the Ice Hockey competition in Canberra. He was often away from home either playing or organising Hockey Games. He played me a video of how Ice Hockey developed. He watched it with me with intense interest even though he must have seen it many times before. I only knew him because he was the father of my sons spouse. He was Canadian who came to Australia for work - first at Monash and then at ANU. He worked at Princeton prior to Monash. This indicates the intellectual circles he moved in. I doubt I would have come into contact with him if it was not for my son. Still I was glad that I did come into contact with him. I liked the time I spent with him and would have liked to have spent more time with him. Even if he was a different class to me. He more or less treated me as an equal. At least I think he did. In the late 50's Moyhu was a thriving place. There were 3 general stores. There was a butchers shop. There were 2 garages that repaired both cars and farming equipment and sold petrol etc. There was one Police Station. There was one Lands Department Depot. There was one Railway Station. There was one Hotel. There were two Milk Factories. There was a River Trust Depot. There was a transport company. There were two sawmills. I had one relative working at one Milk Factory and one uncle worked from time to time at one sawmill. All these organisations employed people. The prosperity of the place was due to the fact that the Government set the price of milk. Everything else flowed from this fact. I was once in Moyhu at 5.30 on a winters afternoon just on dark. This was unusual because we would normally be home milking at this time. We must have been late for some reason. I witnessed something that struck me as what sophisticated town people did and it has stuck in my mind. I saw the Receptionist/Secretary of one of the machinery garages finish up for the day. She put a cover over her typewriter. She cleaned up her desk. She put on her fashionable looking overcoat. She walked around and said goodnight to everyone else. She then walked up the street to one of the other stores to get her ride home for the night. It was quite a long walk. She lived in Edi. It was the act of her walking that reminded me of how different my life was to hers. She walked in semi darkness and the noise of her walking reverberated through the misty night air. The clip clop of her high heels on the asphalt and the unhurried way she walked struck me as sophisticated. Extremely sophisticated. She had finished her job for the day. She had all the time in the world. She was going home to relax. She didnt have to hurry. She had nice warm clothes. She was young and attractive. She had a weekly wage. She had a good life. I instinctively knew it. In a way I hated my life. I had to go home and milk in the dark and cold. It would be hours before I could eat. I would be hungry until then. My life was always insecure. Always close to poverty. It was always a struggle to make money enough to live. Work was never ending and certainly never enjoyable. This girl seemed to have a much better life than me. She lived effortlessly. There was a great divide between town and country even on this small level. This example highlighted it. I have just been told that Ray Mckenzie has died. Ray lived in Moyhu in the 50's and I saw him a lot. Ray McKenzie was my fathers first cousin. His mother and my grandmother were sisters. They were both Porters. I loved my Grandmother and I felt she loved me. I once stayed at her place for a week and it was a week of bliss. She lived in a Housing Commission House and was thankful for it. My mother always thought this was something to be ashamed of and I knew I should never mention it in mixed company. My father always bought her milk and cream when he visited and on this day I was so excited about staying with her even though he was warning me severely to watch out for the glass containers when I was getting out of the Ute I still managed to hit them with my feet as I swung them out the door and knocked both bottles out onto the ground where they both smashed. It was like watching a cartoon. I was powerless to do anything else. My feet just hit the bottles and I was helpless to stop it. My father made me walk in and apologise for breaking them but of course she said it was OK. There was a milk bar just up the road she explained. My father and mother both had a close relationship with the younger Porter sister. The relationship was made less simple because my fathers mother was much older than her sister and my fathers aunts children were much younger than he was. He was much much older than his cousins. His aunt was not much older than him. Also for some reason my own mother was close to Rays mother. Almost best friends. The two Porter siblings seemed to be from different eras and did not have a lot in common. To my mind they were very different. My grandmother was a more serious person. She did not indulge much in gossip. She did not speak disparagingly about others behind their back. Her mind was on higher matters. This was in large part why my mother didnt like her. My mother felt much happier when in the company of the younger Porter sister. She never felt comfortable in the presence of her mother in law. Ray was more or less my contemporary. He was about 10 years older than me. He had three older siblings and two younger siblings. One of his siblings was younger than me. I felt he was almost my contemporary. I looked up to him. I liked being with him. But I knew he did not have a good reputation with everyone. He was always friendly to me. He was always happy to see me. He once lifted me off the ground by my head after I asked him. He would always do what you asked him to do. But Ray was friendly with everyone. There weren't many people he didnt like. He was nice to everybody. But of course not everyone liked him. Some people treated him with contempt. I was warned by my mother not to get too friendly with him. It is not easy to describe him without resorting to cliche. He did not do well at school. He left school at the first opportunity but this was not unusual for the time. He worked at various jobs. He was for a time a Policeman and I was surprised when he left the Police Force because I thought he would have been good at it. He had uncles on his mothers side who were high up in the Police Force. He came home and lived with his parents until he got married. He made his living as a driver in his later years. He was not always good with money. Once he had his car repossessed and this was a great talking point within the extended family. He tried but did not succeed at lots of sports. He entered lots of country gifts. He took part in boxing matches. He tried basketball. He played football. He had a go at virtually anything. The verdict of the extended family was that he was wasting his time mainly because he didnt win any of what he entered. This sentiment was always passed on to me. Unless you win you are making a fool of yourself. At one point in the late 50's an event happened to him that had long lasting effects. Because Moyhu was a thriving place it had a good football team. Every young person wanted to play football and competed to get into the team. Ray was no exception. Early in the season Ray was not named in the team but he was named 19th man. There were several young men who were considered good candidates and Ray was the first who made it into the team albeit as 19th man. Ray was both excited and pleased. He celebrated getting picked. When someone between thursday night and saturday pulled out of the firsts Ray expected to go into the team as he was 19th man. But on saturday they brought someone else into the firsts and left him as 19th man. Ray objected to this and refused to play. He requested a clearance to the team 20 miles up the road. As far as I know only one person supported him and that was his father. Everyone else thought he was being stupid and said so. This highlighted the problem with Ray's life. He wasn't the type of person who people automatically respected. Ray was the type of person who people did not care if they hurt his feelings. His feelings were for some reason always considered unimportant and could be ignored. In any extended large family there are always individuals who are looked down on and Ray was one of these people. It was my mothers fear that I would turn out to be one of these people. I was frequently lectured about this. My mothers great concern was that I would bring shame on the family. When Ray refused to play for Moyhu they played dirty and held up his transfer for as long as they could. This was pure bloody mindedness but entirely typical of them. Finally after appealing to the League he had his transfer and went and played with King Valley. Moyhu kept their satisfaction intact but in reality King Valley obtained a loyal servant for the next 50 years. Ray played with them for a long time and when he retired from playing he became a loyal unpaid servant. The next year when King Valley played Moyhu for two quarters Ray played on his brother Bill. Bill was more talented than Ray and was expected to play all over him. Bill was an up and coming star. The Moyhu crowd took an intense interest in the clash between the two brothers and made much derogatory comment to Ray about his lack of talent. But on the day Ray shaded Bill. He played so well Bill had to be moved off Ray in the last quarter. This did surprise people. I know because I was there and I witnessed it. I don't think anyone from Moyhu congratulated Ray after the game. I'm sure they didnt. But Ray would tell you if you asked him. Probably went on a bit too long about it but why not. In 2017 the first game played by King Valley after Ray died the team played with black armbands out of respect for Ray. This is only fitting. Ray deserved it. Ray always reminded me of Bob Hawke. He had the same looks and talked the same way. His mouth moved the same way. For the past 6 weeks it has been my privilege to be responsible for 3 kangaroos. These 3 Kangaroos are orphans that have been raised by an animal welfare person - Shirley - who lives in Benalla. They are all survivors of traffic accidents. They are all approximately 14 months old. They had the run of Shirley's house until recently when she moved them outside in order to get them used to being released into the wild. She has brought them to me to allow them to integrate slowly into the landscape at our place. We have both open and treed country.
Of the 3 one has more or less moved into the landscape and has only been home twice. Of the other two - one I call little Skip - has stayed close to home and comes home most nights. The other one comes home every 3 or 4 nights. Skip likes to go with him but seems to lose him after a day or so. All three were still being bottle fed when they arrived and all three still like a feed when they come home. The first thing they demand when they arrive is a bottle. For a few days we could sometimes see them moving around in the open country exploring the place. Since then they have moved into the overgrown areas and keep themselves under cover. When they arrived we had a small section at the back door enclosed because Shirley wasn't sure how they would react if they were just set free. After 2 days we took down the shade cloth barriers and allowed them to go free. They coped remarkably well. They didnt panic or run off. They slowly had a look around. They saw the trees and gravitated towards them. They seemed to blend into the landscape very easily. They looked very much at home very quickly. One night early on some local Kangaroos came into the yard and had a good look at them. It is possible seeing that we have only seen one kangaroo since then that she immediately integrated with them. I believe that this kangaroo is a female. The two that still keep in touch are males. This makes sense as females would be accepted much more readily than males into the wider mob. I would love nothing else rather than have a pet Kangaroo that lives inside the house and lies on the sofa next to me keeping me company and talking to me occasionally as we watch TV. But this was not the intention when Shirley raised them by hand. The object was always to re introduce them into the wild. So we have a balance to aim at. They may always be aware of our presence and always see us as a benign force in their lives. But hopefully they will live most of their lives in the bush. The only worry I have is the road. We live on a gravel road with not much traffic but there are a heartbreaking number of kangaroos killed on this road. The human beings who live around here are immoral creatures who have little concern for the native wildlife. This is a sore point with me. Some farmers believe it or not have licences to kill 100 kangaroos a year. No one cares if they kill kangaroos with their cars. We shall see. Little Skip indicates that he would like to come inside but so far I haven't let him. He puts his head through the door and jumps inside but I quickly usher him out. In my short time with these little Kangas I have come to some conclusions. 1. I don't think they readily distinguish one human from another. All humans look alike to them. 2. I'm fairly sure they recognise each other. They are pack animals. But we humans can be in their pack also. I'm fairly sure of this. 3. They live in the moment. They don't think about the next 20 minutes or the last 20 seconds. They live in a constant bubble. 4. They are without guile. They are innocent creatures who trust everything until they panic and then they panic completely. Afterword. All 3 kangaroos have departed from our immediate area. We have a neighbor with a large dog - a cross between great dane and greyhound. This dog is very large. It is a friendly dog and likes chasing animals. It has several times wandered here and discovered we have Kangaroos. On one occasion it came it saw them and chased them but they managed to get away. The next time it came it saw a mob about 2 kilometres away and immediately went into a wild flap and ran until it caught the mob. It then chased them until it separated a young kangaroo from the mob and then chased it until it caught the kangaroo and killed it. He didnt so much attack the young kangaroo meaning to kill it - only to catch it. But of course it broke the kangaroos neck. The dog is so big and so strong it is impossible to get it to stop. It can jump a fence a metre high without any problem. Even 2 metres would not cause it any problem. It can run flat out for 5 or 6 kilometres. The little Kangaroo that was killed was not one of my kangaroos. But my little kangaroos having been chased away are not likely to come back. Why would they trust me enough to come back? Now what are we to make of this? I once visited a neighbor when Jess was alive and I asked her where her dogs were because Jess always liked to say hello. She just said 'Oh they are away in the bush bashing roos". No further explanation was necessary. Farmers do not give any importance to the deaths or otherwise of native animals. If the dog had killed a sheep instead of a kangaroo it would have been a big thing. Much more concern would have been shown The dog would most probably be dead by now. As it is the dog is looked on with sympathy. Some people would even call it heroic. I think this sums up all conservative voting australians. I grew up embedded in a society where these values were prevalent. |
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