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Wool Shed Kitchen - Copyright 2021 Maxwell Jefferies
Max's Blog
from the
shed floor
from the
shed floor
30th October 2024
My Life Story - episode 8 - High School, firewood cutting, a new woodyard & ice skating.
My Life Story - episode 8 - High School, firewood cutting, a new woodyard & ice skating.
History, heritage, biography.
Some images expand on click.
Some images expand on click.
________________
Stay tuned for Episode 9 - The girl next door, Graeme's wedding and stock-car racing.
This is were my life changed forever.
Have an awesome day! Cheers, Max.
Stay tuned for Episode 9 - The girl next door, Graeme's wedding and stock-car racing.
This is were my life changed forever.
Have an awesome day! Cheers, Max.
Blog Posts
Previous Index Next
Previous Index Next
Wool Shed Kitchen - Copyright 2021 Maxwell Jefferies
Max's Blog
from the shed floor
from the shed floor
I hated high school!
I had no friends, kept forgetting what class room to attend next, endured stupid subjects like geometry and algebra. But I did like tech drawing, woodwork and metalwork. Even sports was stupid to me. I played hooky a lot and went bush with my dad cutting firewood.
I had no friends, kept forgetting what class room to attend next, endured stupid subjects like geometry and algebra. But I did like tech drawing, woodwork and metalwork. Even sports was stupid to me. I played hooky a lot and went bush with my dad cutting firewood.
I was in the bottom class for high school, and was the bottom student in the class. The first year of high school, our home-room class had 4 new teachers straight out of uni. One was awesome so, of course, they took him out of our class into a more advanced class and left us to rot. The day I turned 14, I was outta there for good.
Me (Max) aged 15.
The images below are of Cyril Jackson Senior High School, which was only two blocks from our Fisher Street house, just near the Ashfield Primary School. No airconditioning, and it sure wast hot in summer.
My sister, Elvie, was into Rock 'n' Roll, so I grew uo with Elvis, Buddy Holly and all the late 1950's music on records in our lounge room. I had a small crystal radio and listened to it while in bed, or on trips somewhere. I was all primed for the 'British Invasion' when it hit Australia in the 60's.
My parents had a great portable radio which came with us on holidays, at the beach, in the shed or at work cutting firewood in the bush. This National radio also had short wave reception and we could pickup the BBC and Radio Australia.
I'm almost too embarrassed to mention it, but I had a subscription for the MAD Magazine. They had free posters inside, like my favourite, RAT FINK. I wasn't a total loss though, I also subscribed to Popular Science Magazine.
My dad had been looking for a vacant block to commence another woodyard, and found one in Maylands, on Whatley Cresent, just shy of Caledonian Avenue, facing the Perth to Midland railway line. This had an old timber house attached, so we moved in. At this time I was working full time with my dad cutting firewood, and we were now cutting along Scarp Road, just east of North Dandalup.
Towards the end, we were cutting in the Dwellingup State Forest and were licensed to remove dead timber for firewood. These images are typical of the area, but we found ourselves going further south to find enough wood. I enjoyed working in the jarrah forest, but the distance we were travelling became too great, and Dad secured a job with a bitumen paving company, then with the Bayswater Shire repairing potholes. I stayed with wood cutting for a while, driving a 2 ton Dihatsu truck, but finally gave up and started working with my dad doing bitumen driveways around the back of Morley and Noranda, suburbs of Perth.
When I started working for my dad, we were cutting in the Mundaring State Forest, all around the back of Mundaring Weir. Depending on the area, we would access through Sawyers Valley, Mundaring or Kalamunda.
We would cut the log into 10inch slabs, split it into blocks with an axe, load it by hand onto the truck, drive it home to the woodyard and unload it by hand. 8 tons per load, 6 days per week. In the summer, we would get up around 3.30 or 4 am, to be ready to start cutting at first light to avoid the heat in the afternoon.
While I was still at High School, my brother Graeme worked with Dad for a while, with his long-time friend Allan, whose family lived next door to our sawmill house. His family bought our service station next door. Graeme later bought a flat-bed Bedford truck and started working for TNT in Welshpool delivering around Perth, with occassional country trips. He basicly stayed with TNT for the rest of his working life, in one position or another, including radio control of all deliveries for a time.
The home-made gantry crane hoist was used to drag out the logs next to the truck for cutting. It would hold the log off the gound to make it easier to cut. It was a beast of a thing. It was an old flat head V8 and was awesome to plough through the scrub and blackboys (grass trees). To get a big log moving, the front would come about a metre off the ground.
The first chainsaws in WA were by McCullock, and we had three. We used Oregan blades with multiple chains throughout the day. They were very noisy and we never wore ear muffs, so I have finished up with tentinitus, a ringing in my ears, for the rest of my life. And my dad was far worse with his hearing. These chainsaws vibrated so much that, by the end of the day, your hands and fingers would be quivering for hours.
Allan cutting up an old dry jarrah log.
Graeme and Allan camped in the Mundaring bush for a few weeks cutting wood, with my dad carting two loads a day to the woodyard.
When we cut our last section near Dwellingup, Graeme and I camped out again for several weeks cutting and splitting wood from sun up to sun down, and even a few times at night with gas lights. Our Uncle Trevor would cart two loads a day for us on the long trip to our woodyard in Maylands. He had an International 8 ton tipper truck.
When we cut our last section near Dwellingup, Graeme and I camped out again for several weeks cutting and splitting wood from sun up to sun down, and even a few times at night with gas lights. Our Uncle Trevor would cart two loads a day for us on the long trip to our woodyard in Maylands. He had an International 8 ton tipper truck.
Keeping the drinks cool in a 44 gallon drum filled with water.
8 tons ready to go.
On freezing winter mornings we would set a blackboy (grass tree) alight to get warm to start the day.
This image is of our Maylands Wood Supply yard at the end of winter, almost empty of wood. Towards the end of summer, the yard pictured here would have been full of split jarrah firewood 3 metres or more high. The factory in the background was a small engineering firm. Pictured is: Graeme, Peter (my best mate), Elvie and Steven. Graeme's jeans show a typical days dirt on them from cutting firewood. This Ford Cortina Mark 1 was purchased new by my sister, Beth, then I bought it off her for my first road car.
Graeme had a very nice FE Holden. (Notice the swan on the hood, it was legal back then!) Back in those days, once a year we enjoyed a 'cracker' night, (Guy Fawkes Night) when you were allowed let off fireworks. One of them was the 'penny bomb' which was about 50mm in height and loud, but would not take your fingers off. One time I was out with Graeme in his FE, driving around the neighborhood throwing out penny bombs along the street. It was cold and I had put the window up. When a good spot came along, I lit the cracker and tried to throw it out, forgetting the window was up. It bounced off and landed on the floor. Our ears were still ringing an hour later!
A few months after we moved into the house in Maylands, a family moved into the rundown ex-shop and attached house next door. Six kids! (A seventh child, Ted, came later). Pictured is: Nancy, Ann, Kerry, Victor, Martin and Lyn. This photo was taken just before they moved in next door to us.
The old shop house they moved into was on the corner of Whatley Cresent and Caledonian Avenue, which intersected at the rail line on a crossing. It was the scene of numerous accidents, with some crashing into the front of the shop, where the loungeroom was.
We mostly used a 36 inch bar on the chainsaws, but one had a 48 inch bar. The last area we cut was in the Nanga State Forest, an isolated section which had burnt when Dwellingup was burnt to the ground. In this small area, a fire was started by lightning strikes and it burnt so hot everything was killed, including beautiful big, straight jarrah trees that were 8 foot diameter at the base. Our 48 inch saw blades just cut through from both sides to fell a tree. It was such good wood, you just had to rest your axe on a block to split it for transport.
"On Thursday, 19 January 1961 a large number of lightning strikes occurred, in an area stretching from Dwellingup in the north to Manjimup in the south of Western Australia, with further strikes on the following day. Little or no rain fell at the time, but in view of the fuel loads that existed, heavy rain would have been needed to extinguish the lightning strikes. At Dwellingup there were 9 strikes on Thursday and a further 10 on Friday. Due to these other fires, very little support could be provided to Dwellingup from other areas in those critical two days. For more information visit the Dwellingup Trails and Visitor Centre.
Despite this massive multiple fire situation, Dwellingup forces had almost controlled the 9 strikes on Thursday, before the next 10 strikes outflanked much of their established firelines. Fire crews were recalled to Dwellingup on Saturday after the Torrens 10 fire crowned and spread very rapidly with intense spotting. Three more strikes were reported on that day. With so much smoke around the region, the tower-based fire detection system became almost useless.
On Sunday the weather eased, but by this time the fire size had increased to 45,000 ha and the perimeter was estimated to be 100 km, giving suppression forces a huge task. On Monday good progress was made with fireline construction, but the Wells fire broke away. On Tuesday the weather worsened again, with the temperature exceeding 40°C and winds swinging north west at increasing strength. A severe evening thunderstorm caused a massive southerly spread that resulted in catastrophic damage to property at Dwellingup, Holyoake and Nanga Brook. Fortunately no lives were lost due to very experienced fire crews and competent managers. However, towns were beyond salvation.
The fire was eventually brought under control on Wednesday after heavy rain fell and the weather cooled considerably. Final fire size was about 150,000 ha. Of all the towns destroyed in the 1961 fires, only Dwellingup was rebuilt." Source: Dwellingup website.
Despite this massive multiple fire situation, Dwellingup forces had almost controlled the 9 strikes on Thursday, before the next 10 strikes outflanked much of their established firelines. Fire crews were recalled to Dwellingup on Saturday after the Torrens 10 fire crowned and spread very rapidly with intense spotting. Three more strikes were reported on that day. With so much smoke around the region, the tower-based fire detection system became almost useless.
On Sunday the weather eased, but by this time the fire size had increased to 45,000 ha and the perimeter was estimated to be 100 km, giving suppression forces a huge task. On Monday good progress was made with fireline construction, but the Wells fire broke away. On Tuesday the weather worsened again, with the temperature exceeding 40°C and winds swinging north west at increasing strength. A severe evening thunderstorm caused a massive southerly spread that resulted in catastrophic damage to property at Dwellingup, Holyoake and Nanga Brook. Fortunately no lives were lost due to very experienced fire crews and competent managers. However, towns were beyond salvation.
The fire was eventually brought under control on Wednesday after heavy rain fell and the weather cooled considerably. Final fire size was about 150,000 ha. Of all the towns destroyed in the 1961 fires, only Dwellingup was rebuilt." Source: Dwellingup website.
The Premier Ice Rink was on the corner of Stirling and Bulwer Streets, East Perth. It was an old movie theartre converted to an ice rink - pretty rough, small, but a great atmosphere, with loud 50s, 60s music from the jukebox. As a regular, I occassionally got to sweep the ice with one of the broom-like sweepers, and also volunteered once in suppling the rented iceskate boots to the patrons.
These tube skates are what I skated on at that time.
In my mid teens I got into ice skating in a big way. Every Friday and Saturday night, plus sometimes Saturday or Sunday afternoon sessions, as well as ice hockey practice at 7am Sunday, and the game Sunday evening. My sister, Beth, often drove me to the venue, or I walked from the East Perth train station. Occassionaly, if I had no money left, I had to walk home to Maylands along the railway line. (Photo example only.)
Our team was only small and only affiliated with the leauge for a short time. Mostly we made up two teams and played against each other.
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