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.
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