by A B Facey
The next morning everyone was up early. Mrs Bibby and I left for Wickepin in the sulky at about nine o’clock. Charlie and the policeman went to have a look at the cows.
It was eleven miles from Bibby’s to Wickepin and the trip took about two and a half hours. When we arrived we went straight to the Post Office to arrange my fare to Narrogin. The postman had arrived and would be leaving on his return trip to Narrogin at one o’clock. I took the pony for a drink, tied him up and gave him a nose-bag. We always carried a nose-bag with the pony’s dinner in it when we went on trips that took a few hours each way. Mrs Bibby and I had some lunch, and at one o’clock I got on board the mail coach and away I went to Narrogin.
21
POLICE WITNESS
At Narrogin the coach was met by Constable West and he took me to Bushallas Hotel where he introduced me to a Mr Jack Lander. He was the settler who had had trouble with the cattle herder. Constable West said, ‘Now, I have arranged for you both to stay here at police expense. You will both share the same room. Will that be all right?’ We both agreed, then the Constable said that they wanted us at the Police Station at nine o’clock the next morning. He said, ‘Goodnight, sweet dreams, and see you tomorrow.’ Mr Lander said, ‘I think we better have our dinner. The gong went just before you arrived.’
So we went to have our meal, the first ever in a hotel for me. I was nervous, especially when we sat at the table. I’d never seen so many spoons, forks or knives for one person and didn’t have any idea which one to use first. Then a waitress came with a list of what we could have to eat. I was stumped – I couldn’t read or write. Then I had a brainwave and decided to have what Mr Lander ordered. The waitress luckily showed him the list first and so I got through that ordeal. The food was lovely, and I copied Jack (he told me to call him Jack, he didn’t like ‘Mr’) in using the knives and forks.
After the meal we went for a walk around Narrogin, returning at about nine o’clock, when we went to bed. This was another strange experience. That bed was something. I couldn’t remember ever having such a lovely bed. Now I didn’t have any night-shirt or pyjamas – on the farm I always slept in my undershirt. Jack had pyjamas. When he undressed and put them on I told him about me not having any and that I didn’t remember ever having slept in them. When I was a little boy over in Victoria all we slept in was long nightgowns. Jack said, ‘Never mind. Hop into bed in your undershirt, if that’s what you are used to. You’ll sleep all right.’ So I did. In fact I no sooner put my head on the pillow than I was asleep.
In the morning Jack was up when I woke and had already been to the bathroom and had a bath. He handed me his dressinggown and said, ‘Here put this on and go and have a bath. It’s nice.’ I hadn’t used one of these either. I also wasn’t used to having taps over the bath. On the farm, having a bath was an ordeal. You had to put the water in an empty kerosene tin and warm it over the fireplace, then you poured it into a bath tub.
After breakfast we walked around Narrogin for a while, then a few minutes before nine o’clock we went to the Police Station. Constable West was there and took us into a room and told us to wait. He said he would come and get us when the line-up was ready. Jack said that what he thought would happen would be that they would line-up six or eight men of the same size, and we would have to pick out the one that was responsible for the cattle stealing trouble. He continued, ‘We have to be sure that it is the man. No use saying “I think”, you must be sure. The police will line them up where we can see them clearly but the men won’t be able to see us.’
After a few minutes more, Constable West appeared at the door of the waiting-room and said that they were ready and for me to come first. He took me into another room along a passage. From there I could see seven men all dressed alike, standing side by side on a platform about two feet from the ground. Constable West said, ‘Have a good look at these men. Have a good look and don’t say anything until I ask you.’ He made a signal to the Sergeant in charge of the men and the Sergeant called out an order. The seven men turned right and stood like that for a few seconds, then another command was given and they all turned right again, this time with their backs towards me. Then another command was given and they turned right again so that their right sides were towards me, and finally they turned right once more and were facing me again. ‘Now,’ said the Constable, ‘now can you see the man who came to you, just after you fired the two shots to frighten the cattle off Mr Bibby’s crop?’ I said, ‘Yes,’ at once, ‘the third man from the end on my left is the man that I saw that day on horseback.’ The Constable said, ‘All right, come with me.’
We went back to the waiting-room and I was told to stay there until Jack returned. A few minutes later Jack and the Constable came back and we were both taken to the Inspector’s office. The Constable told the Inspector that we had made our positive identification and had both picked the same man. We then had to sign a statement to that effect.
Now I was in more trouble. I couldn’t read or write and the police were surprised at this. I told them that I had been trying to write my name, but up to now I hadn’t been able to do it well enough for an important statement like this. The Inspector said, ‘You make a try at it. Take your time.’ I did. He said, ‘It’s not the best. Now make a cross there.’ He pointed to a special place on the paper. I did this too and he wrote my full name under the cross, then signed his name under mine and said, ‘That is just as good.’ Then he added that I should keep on trying to sign my name and that if I kept at it I’d get it in time.
Now our trouble was to get home. Constable West said, ‘We have to get this lad back to his place of employment somehow.’ He asked the Inspector if we would be required at the Court that day and the Inspector said, ‘No, we will charge the prisoner with cattle stealing, then outline the evidence against him to the Justice of the Peace. If he pleads not guilty and I think he will, we have sufficient evidence to have him sent to trial straight away. He will be committed to the next sitting of the Criminal Court at Perth.’
Jack had his horse and light spring-cart at Narrogin, and he said he could take me back to Bibby’s on his way home if that was all right by the police. They agreed and paid Jack the fare that would have been paid if I had gone by coach to Wickepin – one pound. Jack was happy with this. So we agreed to have an early lunch and leave about eleven thirty. Jack arranged with the Tea Rooms to prepare some sandwiches to take on the road with us.
We started on our way home. Jack’s horse was a beauty. He was only young and full of life, and when we started he wanted to go. Jack had to hold him back because we had a long way to go. It was roughly thirty-three miles to Bibby’s place by road from Narrogin. As we travelled along, Jack asked me why I hadn’t been to school at any time, since I was school age. When I told him he said, ‘Didn’t anyone try to help you? I was surprised when you tried to sign your name at the Police Station.’
Jack was quiet for the next few miles, then I broke the silence by saying, ‘I think I could write my name better than I did only I was very nervous. The Inspector couldn’t believe his eyes. I don’t think he was too happy.’ Jack said, ‘No, he wasn’t. That’s why he made you make a cross and then he witnessed both to make sure it was a legal document. He wrote under your terrible writing that you were unlearned and a junior and uneducated.’ Then Jack said, ‘I’ll tell you what I’ll do. If you would like me to, I’ll send you a couple of books that I have. They will help you to read and write. They’re what I had when I was going to school. I’ll send them to you by mail. You should get them by next week and when you do ask Mrs Bibby to show you how to understand and copy the letters in all the forms as they appear in the books.’ I said that this would be wonderful and thanked him.
The horse was still jogging along at a good bat. Jack let him walk up all hills and then sent him trotting along the down sides and on the flats. We had covered nearly half of the journey home but hadn’t noticed on account of being so interested about my schooling.
/> When we arrived at the twenty-five mile mark we stopped near a creek, took the horse out of the sulky, gave him a drink and then put the nose-bag on him for his meal. Jack and I sat on a log and ate our sandwiches. This man was one of the nicest and most understanding I had ever met. He told me he was from Scotland and that his father was financing him to become a farmer. He was twenty-four years old and hoped that when he got properly settled on the land he would build a house and get married. He told me that he was engaged to a lovely girl. She was willing to come over from Scotland to marry him as soon as he could make her a home. He also told me that his mother and father were living in Perth and that his father was a businessman. Jack had put two years in at the School of Agriculture to learn how to grow wheat, and also learn all he could about stock and generally equip himself with as much knowledge as possible to be a successful farmer. He told me that the hardest thing was the loneliness. He said, ‘The only time I see anyone is when I go to town for provisions or over to another settler’s place. Sometimes I make up an excuse so I can call on another settler just to have a friendly chat.’ He asked me how I managed. ‘You haven’t had much of a life, always being with middle-aged people and no other children to play with and be with. Don’t you get lonely?’ I told him that I had at first, when I had to go out to work so young, but I was used to it now and I didn’t feel lonely. There were always the birds and the animals in the bush. ‘They are like music to me.’
We arrived home at the Bibby’s late that evening and Charlie and Mrs Bibby were waiting. They expected me home that night and we found a meal waiting. In those days a cup of tea or a meal was always on for a visitor. The Bibbys were pleased to meet Jack and after we finished our meal, they invited him to stay the night. Jack said he should go home that night, but he was very tired, and providing he could get away early next morning he would be glad to stay. I was also very tired. The two days had been very exhausting. I had travelled sixty-four miles by horse and sulky as well as the coach and the cart. Travelling in a cart can be very monotonous and tiring. Next morning we were up early and Jack left for his home.
22
GOODBYE
While I was away Charlie had started chopping and burning down timber and scrub on another piece of land that would be cropped in the next cropping season. He wanted to get one hundred and sixty acres ready for burning and clearing, so for the next month or so we would be very busy. The land we were getting ready didn’t have many big trees on it. The timber was small but there was a lot of it. We had to chop most of the trees off at ground level. I could use an axe very well by then and we got along fine.
I had my fourteenth birthday while we were doing this work. Nobody bothered about it.
The first week in September my brother Eric came to see me. It was on a Sunday morning, just after my birthday. He told me that our mother had written to him telling him she had shifted from Kalgoorlie to Subiaco and would like us boys to visit her. She had said she would love to see us (especially me as I was the baby of our family). She said in her letter that she had two children to the man she married after our father died – one boy and one girl and their names were Jack and Mollie.
I asked Eric what he thought about going to see them and he said that he and Roy were going down to Subiaco at the end of the month. He asked me to go with them. I said I would have to see what Mr and Mrs Bibby thought about it. I reminded him that she hadn’t been much of a mother to us. (What Grandma told me came to my mind: ‘Watch your money, Bert. Don’t let her know how much you have, for she will find some way of getting it out of you.’) Eric said, ‘I think she may be trying to make up for what she did to us when we were younger. Anyway, we are going to see her. You think it over and make up your mind. If you decide to come we will be leaving Wickepin by mail coach on the last Monday of this month.’ He left after a few more minutes.
He and Roy were still working doing contract work for settlers in the Wickepin district. They were both much older than I. Eric and I never got on, but Roy and I were like twins – we always got along fine. After Eric left, I wondered why our mother suddenly wanted to see us. Did she have a guilty conscience after all this time? Or did she hope to get money from us?
When we finished our midday meal, I told Charlie and Mrs Bibby the reason for Eric’s visit. Eric hadn’t been to see me since I started work over four years ago at Cave Rock. The Bibbys were very quiet when I told them. Then Charlie said, ‘What do you think of the idea?’ I said, ‘I don’t know what to think. I’d like your opinion on it. I’m not very happy about it.’ Charlie looked at Mrs Bibby and then he said, to my surprise, ‘She is your mother, Bert, and you can only have one mother. No matter what she has done in the past, she is still your mother. You must make up your mind about this. If you want to go and see her it is okay with Mrs Bibby and I. We would like you to help us with the burning and chopping down but we should have enough done by the end of the month for me to be able to finish all right.’ I said, ‘I’ll think it over and let you know in the morning.’
Next morning at breakfast, I told them that I had decided to go and see my mother. I said, ‘I haven’t seen her for nine years and she may have changed. When I did see her nine years ago it was only for a few minutes.’ It was then that Mrs Bibby said, ‘I think we missed your birthday Bert. It was in August, wasn’t it?’ I said, ‘Yes, it was the thirty-first – I was fourteen.’ She said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry. We forgot all about it. We were going to give you a birthday party. Oh, I’m sorry.’ I said, ‘That’s all right. I’ve had the last six birthdays and nobody has remembered them so don’t worry. In fact, I’m glad you forgot it if you were going to give me a party. That would have made me scared. I wouldn’t have known what to say or do.’
I told them from then on, until I went, I was going to work on Sundays as well, to get as much as possible done. Charlie said, ‘If you do, I will pay you an extra five shillings a week for working on the Sundays.’ He then said, ‘You have made a wise decision, Bert. I would have been disappointed with you if you had decided not to go.’ So that was settled. I worked long hours every day to do as much as I could for these lovely people.
I received the school books from Jack and they were just the very thing that I wanted. I could learn to read and write with the books as a guide. One was all about how to write capital letters and small letters and how to put them together to make words. Now I had something to do at night. From then on I put in two hours every night before I went to bed. Mrs Bibby was very helpful and wrote the letters for me to copy. In three weeks I could write my name quite good. So good that Mrs Bibby remarked, ‘You’d have no trouble signing your name now, Bert.’ I must have written it over a thousand times in the next week or so.
I finished working for the Bibbys on the last Saturday in September 1908. About four days before that, Charlie rode into Narrogin. He had some important business to attend to and he wanted to do it while I was there as he didn’t like Mrs Bibby being alone. She was a very timid person at night when alone. Charlie arrived back on the Thursday evening before I left on the Saturday. He gave me some good news. He had seen the Police Sergeant at Narrogin and was told that the cattle stealer had confessed to stealing the cattle and to passing bad cheques. The Sergeant told Charlie to tell me that I wouldn’t be wanted as a witness. The man would be sentenced by a Perth judge in due course. This was good news as I was feeling a little scared at the thought of appearing in court. Charlie also said that tests had shown that the two cows had died from York Road Poison.
So I finished work for these lovely people. That Saturday evening Charlie paid me in full and I asked Mrs Bibby would she drive me over to Uncle’s as I would like to see Grandma before I went to see my mother. She agreed to do this. I said that I would stay at Uncle’s place on Sunday night, and Aunt Alice would drive me to Wickepin on the Monday morning so I could catch the mail coach to Narrogin as arranged by my brothers.
Next morning Charlie asked me what I was going to do in the long
term. I said I didn’t know until I saw my mother. In her letter to my brothers she had said she would like me to stay with her until I was older and she told them to be sure to bring me with them. Charlie said, ‘All right Bert, but if you don’t get along with her you can always come back to us.’ I said goodbye to Charlie, and Mrs Bibby drove me over to Uncle’s. I took my rifle and a tin trunk with what clothes I had in it, and strapped the travelling rug and blanket that I had to the trunk.
On our way to Uncle’s place, Mrs Bibby told me about the trouble that they were having paying their way. She said that they were depending on the crop they had in to see them through and that the crop badly needed rain. I had been too busy thinking about my trip to Perth and learning to write to be bothered about the weather. Then I remembered we hadn’t had any rain since August. I cheered her up as best I could and said, ‘The rain will come, don’t worry about it.’
We arrived at Uncle’s at about eleven o’clock. Grandma was so pleased to see me. Uncle Archie and Aunt Alice were also pleased to see me and made Mrs Bibby very welcome. They asked her to stop and have some lunch with them. My cousins and I watered and fed the horse, then, after I had answered about a thousand questions about what I was doing and where I was going, we were called to lunch.
Mrs Bibby had lunch with Grandma, Aunt and Uncle and I had mine with my cousins. Bill wanted to know all about my rifle and I promised to show him after lunch. They all wanted to know more about where I was going. When I told them they said how lucky I was to be going to the big city. I told them I was frightened and didn’t know why my mother wanted to see me after all this time.
