George Simpson (1896- ) - Blacksmith. Recorded 05 May 1979. Part 3/3

GEORGE SIMPSON 
Recorded 5 May 1979 
Part 3/3 

0:40   
Father worked at sawmill, Millfield  

0:46 
Wilson Holmes employed him to look after the boiler room and engine. 

0:56 
Recalls timber carted by Holmes' 10 horse teams. A load a day was brought in from Millfield to Cessnock 

1:30 
Wilson Holme brought in the timber and Gould Bros. did the distributing. They had a saw mill at Ellalong. They had a 10 horse team. George used to shoe the horses. 

2:10 
Ernie Metcalfe lived on the Wollombi Rd - he drove the horse team for Gould Bros when they had the mill at Millfield. He also drove the team for Gould Bros at Ellalong. The timber was used for house building. It was a full day's work to bring a load in. The horses were kept in neighbouring paddocks with good feed and were rugged in winter. 

4:50 
Timber used in pits came from bush - it was bush timber. Sawn timber was used for skip repairing. Props for underground were all bush timber. 

5:14 
Bush timber was cut by axe and saw. Today chainsaws are used "Work's not hard now". The money had doubled or tripled. Sleepers in the past had to be passed by the government - it had to be squared with a broad axe. 

6:07 
Recalls changes in living standards - butchers and bakers all used horse drawn vehicles. http://www.coalandcommunity.com/horses.php 

7:10 
Finished school at age 13 - most left when they had a job. "what I lost in education I gained it in hard work" - "I got a certain amount of education being in business" 

8:19 
Recollection of Lockouts/strikes - the contract system affected production. Machines and day wages determine the nature of work today. Today (at the time of the interview)   a young man, just over 21, gets paid $300 a week. In George's day, he wouldn't get $30 a week.  

10:49 
Recalls building first house - it cost him $650. 

11:16 
Recalls building house when retired. Values have risen. 

12:08 
Recollection of Cessnock Railway Station. 

12:11 
Bob McFarlane - station master. 1912 onwards George's boss, Nuttall welded together all the interlocking gear in the signal boxes from Cessnock to East Greta. 

14:08 
Harry Wexler built the new Cessnock Station in about 1923 or 25. He was a building contractor. 

15:26 
Jack Moran was the fettler/ganger. Scanlon and Bill Whips, Bill Wyburn were fettlers. Harry Bewes. 

16:40 
George did all the work for the gangers who worked on the railways that went from Kalingo to Millfield and Pelton. George Miller and McGlashin were contractors. 

16:52 
The line to Bellbird was built before George was working. It was extended on to Pelton - Work duties involved George working on the horse and drays. 10 or 11 horses and drays were working. George worked on the shoeing and repairing the drays. The tools were sharpened or fixed. 

19:46 
Herb Atkinson was employed by the railway and George worked with him. He was a big man. 

21:15 
The ganger in charge was Jack Moran's boss was Charlie Williams. 

22:00 
Ben Rene, the policeman came on Sunday morning. 

22:15 
Recollection of fatal rail accident in about 1918 - possibly a drunk on the line. "Ben was putting this bloke in a chaff bag". 

23:56 
Mick Moran  

24:09 
"Bluey" Blanch was the fighter  

24:30 
Tom Doyle - the first ganger on the railway. He was before Jack Moran and he built the railway. The constructing ganger. Tom Doyle and Sam Unwin married two sisters. 

25:40 
"One was a lady and the other was always dressed in black, and looked like a real old witch". 

26:16 
He used to own three racehorses. "Span Out" was one of them. "Specialist" was another. He bought another for 50 pounds and sold him for 300. 

28:42 
Recalls winning 3 races at Barraba 

29:36 
Recalls "pulling up" horse during race  

31:05 
Disqualified from racing for 6 months  

31:28 
Tammy Brown was his jockey, his brother was Bill Brown   

32:03 
Bob and Nib Brown who "used to bookie a bit" and the eldest, Arch Brown. 

32:55 
Once known as "The Bush King" - betting on horse races is "no good" - "you can't win".  3340 Races were classed as "No.9 meetings" - there were races at Barraba, Pokolbin. 

34:02 
He did work for Dan Tyrrell, J.Y. Tulloch, Maurice O'Shea, McDonalds, E.P. Capper & Sons. 

35:17 
George used to go over to Millfield to pick grapes as a boy and walked home.     

35:25 
"Katorba", Audrey Wilkinson's vineyard

35:33 
"Meluna", was Capper's vineyard. E.P. Capper had a flourishing store in Maitland - http://www.maitlandmercury.com.au/story/1141779/our-citys-history-peopleflocked-to-cappers/ 

35:43 
Location of Capper's vineyard - De Beyer's Road 

36:55 
Eric Roberts - he bought Audrey Wilkinson's 20 acres. 

37:54 
Audrey Wilkinson – Katorba (see below) 

38:13
Bill Fletcher bought it from Wilkinson.  

39:33 
Billy DeBeyer, Mr Joass. Draytons, Flemings. 

40:12 
Billy Phillips used to work in the goods shed on the railways. He bought Billy Wilkinson's next to Meluna. At this point in the interview - George thinks he is a bit confused between Meluna which belonged to Wilkinson and Katorba which belonged to Cappers. 
 
41:44 
Fatty Phillips worked alongside George - Peter Phillips was on the early buses - Old Doctor Lindeman. 

43:38 
J.Y. "Joe" Tulloch used to be on the Council and Lindeman was the engineer on the Council 44:09 Recollection of J.Y. Tulloch's sulky - "he had a hooded sulky with rubber wheels" - "many of them were like hansom cabs - they were perfect". Tulloch started off with nothing and now Reed Investments are millionaires. 

45:11 Keith Tulloch - J.Y's son.  

Tape duration: 45:21