John Collier

[John F Collier]

Hi Fred just got in from a day out, I've often thought the smaller towns were like those in the westerns I'm a bit of
a carry on film fan so I'm in tune with your thinking, my ride up the Arterial (A127) was 1953 and it was still pretty
quiet, today it's a madhouse, I've worked the A127 from Southend to Hornchurch as a BT cable jointer & O/H lines man
I covered the area for nearly 30 years, the cycle paths are still there to this day The hedgehog joke was brilliant
Thanks for the post, all the best. John.

[John F Collier]

Hi J, I'm not worried just a bit annoyed with myself that I've been someplace but can't identify it, maybe it will
come to me one day. All the best. John.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

HI John.
One place not mentioned here so far is Bowen just down from Mackay, I was there a few times in the 50s to pick up sugar, it had a long wharf the town was only a few houses on stilts, and of course a few pubs. You wouldn't recognize Bowen today on Google as it is one of the biggest coal loading ports in Queensland, don't know if they still export sugar. We went swimming of the wharf one day until the wharfies told us about the snakes that swam around there plus sharks and the odd saltwater crocodile. In those days all the north Queensland ports were much the same, they all had a 14 foot rise and fall, one minute loading with derricks the next sliding bags of sugar down a chute.
Cheers Des

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[John F Collier]

Hi Des, Thanks for the info I can't recall the name Bowen but where the snakes were swimming we were told about the
salt water crocodiles and sharks, I thought it was an evil place (wild life wise). I did say in a previous reply that we berthed
at the Abattoir, near Brisbane but I never got to see the town, after thinking about it I think we did move to another berth
at Brisbane. I can remember a long isolated walk into a town and the high street was busy and lots of lights, very hot and
humid, I find some things really stay with you and others are a bit vague, But I will only ever tell it as I remember it to be.
I remember one place where there was a very long walk with only a café with a juke box at the end,I never went any further
as there didn't seem to be anymore buildings, it was very hot, dry and dusty, so that was one to forget. All the best, John.

[Captain Kong]

I wrote about Bowen in the Adelaide Star story in Seafaring Stories thread. big battle town wrecked.
also the Abatoir in the Brisbane River, that was Borthwicks. where we stampeded a few thousand head of cattle to save them from the hammer.
Brian

[John F Collier]

Hi Brian, Thanks for the heads up, I am still finding my way around the site and have a long way to go, there are some things
I can't find or don't know how to use yet, I started with the computer late in life and I'm just coming to terms with it now. I
will read your story about Bowen if I can find it as it sounds very interesting. Cheers, John.

[Captain Kong]

Hi John
just go on the Forums page, scroll down to SWINGING THE LAMP forum, then go into the SEAFARING STORIES THREAD.
tHERE ARE QUITE A FEW STORIES ON THERE SO SCROLL THROUGH FOR THEM
cHEERS
Brian

[John F Collier]

Thanks Brian, I'll give it a go. Cheers, John.

[Neil Morton]

Hi John and welcome I hope you enjoy our site. I'm with Taff on this one, I believe the port you refer to is or was a one horse town called Bowen. You speak of snakes and there are or were plenty in the mid fifties. Do you recall a pub with bat wing doors like a western cowboy movie ?If you do that will be Bowen. I went to a rodeo there when I was pantry boy on the FSNCo Huntingdon. Cheers mate.

[Captain Kong]

That Pub in Bowen with the bat wing doors was wrecked by a big battle between the OZs, the crowd off the Trevethoe and the Adelaide Star.
The Gaol got wrecked, I escaped and I got a cut and Black eye.
State Troopers were flying in from Townsville and Mackay.
Its in the story.
Cheers
Brian