WEBVTT - Take my advice, I'm not using it. Part 1

0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:04.840
<v Speaker 1>One occasion, I took a suitcase full of sticks. It

0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:08.320
<v Speaker 1>was so jam packed with tire sticks that you couldn't

0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:10.159
<v Speaker 1>get a bloody t shirt on top of it and

0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:13.600
<v Speaker 1>close the case, so it was just wrapped in plastic

0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:16.439
<v Speaker 1>wipe down with methos so the smell wouldn't get out.

0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:20.880
<v Speaker 1>There were two bags left on the carousel, one of

0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:25.000
<v Speaker 1>them was mine, and standing around the carousel were I

0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:29.920
<v Speaker 1>think twenty possibly more, but twenty year Commonwealth Police in uniform.

0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:33.680
<v Speaker 2>I'm Andrew Rule. This is Life and Crimes, and today

0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:36.599
<v Speaker 2>we're going to talk to Rod Helstead, a fellow that

0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:40.280
<v Speaker 2>I would call almost a friend. We met around twenty

0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:43.120
<v Speaker 2>years ago or a little bit less, when we were

0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:46.600
<v Speaker 2>introduced by mutual friend Billy Gray. Billy Gray, of course

0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:50.000
<v Speaker 2>was from Aubury, originally up that way, but he started

0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:53.360
<v Speaker 2>working in newspapers at the bought a mail. Ye we

0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:55.880
<v Speaker 2>bought a mail, and in fact, so did you.

0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:56.680
<v Speaker 1>Briefly.

0:00:57.440 --> 0:01:01.560
<v Speaker 2>That was a brief stopover in a long and colorful career,

0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:06.080
<v Speaker 2>Rod Helstead. And you realize that even back in the

0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:09.040
<v Speaker 2>early two thousands, and thought you might sit down and

0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:13.320
<v Speaker 2>write your memoirs. And we discussed this possibility and finally

0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:17.959
<v Speaker 2>you've delivered. It's been published, hellelujah. It has been published

0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:21.480
<v Speaker 2>by a major publisher. It would be Ellen number correct.

0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:22.880
<v Speaker 2>And it is.

0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:26.920
<v Speaker 1>Called it's called take My Advice. I'm not using it.

0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:28.160
<v Speaker 1>It's a very accurate type.

0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:32.680
<v Speaker 2>It's a very accurate title. Now, Rod, who are you?

0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:33.520
<v Speaker 2>You're flogging your book?

0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:34.800
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, I am flogging the book.

0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:36.480
<v Speaker 2>But you've got some funny stories to tell us.

0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:38.720
<v Speaker 1>I got a lot of funny stories. It's been an

0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:42.760
<v Speaker 1>up and down life without bringing a tear to the eye.

0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:44.680
<v Speaker 1>I've heard a few people along the way, not least

0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:48.720
<v Speaker 1>my two kids and my ex wife, yes, and various others.

0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:51.720
<v Speaker 1>I've done the best I could to make amends. I

0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:56.560
<v Speaker 1>decided to get sober or I was impelled to get

0:01:56.640 --> 0:01:59.960
<v Speaker 1>saber twenty six years ago. In fact, twenty six years ago,

0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:02.880
<v Speaker 1>two weeks ago. It was suggested to me not long

0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:05.800
<v Speaker 1>after I went into AA by Barry Humphrey, who and

0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:08.280
<v Speaker 1>he doesn't mind you, well, didn't mind his name on you.

0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:09.520
<v Speaker 2>He now be fine.

0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:12.440
<v Speaker 1>Now he's a good blake too. He came up to

0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:14.640
<v Speaker 1>me after a meeting one day and he said, tell me, right,

0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:18.400
<v Speaker 1>have you ever thought about writing your memoir? Interest in

0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:22.359
<v Speaker 1>stories to tell, and I said, I have, Barry, but look,

0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:24.720
<v Speaker 1>when I write it, I want to get it exactly right.

0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:26.920
<v Speaker 1>Is that give you a word of advice there? He said,

0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:30.200
<v Speaker 1>don't get it right, get it written. And that's stuck

0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:32.280
<v Speaker 1>in my mind. It really stuck in my mind. And

0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:36.399
<v Speaker 1>then I got sober and I started building businesses and

0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:39.640
<v Speaker 1>making a few bob and concentrating on that, and the

0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:43.079
<v Speaker 1>book was in the back of my mind, and eventually

0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:47.560
<v Speaker 1>was about four years ago. I sold one business that

0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:49.880
<v Speaker 1>I kicked off and I thought, well, I got a

0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:51.320
<v Speaker 1>loose end. I'll write the book.

0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:53.120
<v Speaker 2>Finally got around writing the book that.

0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:56.359
<v Speaker 1>We discussed all those years ago. Yeah, yeah, I met

0:02:56.400 --> 0:03:00.280
<v Speaker 1>you with the Billy. I reckon it would be about

0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:04.000
<v Speaker 1>was when I was working for WTFN in Melbourne and

0:03:04.240 --> 0:03:07.640
<v Speaker 1>Bill flew down for it, and I reckon that. I

0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:10.760
<v Speaker 1>reckon that would have been around about fifteen years ago.

0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:14.000
<v Speaker 2>Without doubt, before I came back to the welcoming arms

0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:16.680
<v Speaker 2>of the herald Son. So finally you've written this book,

0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:18.919
<v Speaker 2>and I have to say to explain to our listeners

0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:22.839
<v Speaker 2>that it's not really about the joys of AA, it's

0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:26.840
<v Speaker 2>about the life you led before that. So what happened

0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:29.280
<v Speaker 2>in your life when you were young and younger.

0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:32.200
<v Speaker 1>Look at the stadium the beginning. The old man was

0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:35.400
<v Speaker 1>a stocking station agent in Gannadhar. And I was an

0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:38.000
<v Speaker 1>adventurous sort of a kid. We didn't have TV and

0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:41.120
<v Speaker 1>you know all the implemented telephones and all the rest

0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:43.160
<v Speaker 1>that they've got these days. You made your own fun,

0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:45.560
<v Speaker 1>of course, So you know, Marmon sends us up to

0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:47.520
<v Speaker 1>pork Bone Hill with a box of matches and a

0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:50.640
<v Speaker 1>packet of sausages and say, behme by dark. You sort

0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:54.160
<v Speaker 1>of learned to survive. Really, I mean, I don't mean

0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:56.480
<v Speaker 1>survive she send us off, You know what I mean.

0:03:56.960 --> 0:03:59.240
<v Speaker 1>It was an adventurous life. Anyway, the old man said

0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:01.520
<v Speaker 1>to me. I wanted to go to the saaliliards and

0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:05.120
<v Speaker 1>work with him in school holidays. He was at he was, yeah,

0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:08.600
<v Speaker 1>he was, and a bloody good salesman. Anyway, I went

0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:11.720
<v Speaker 1>to the sailiards and I got into the sheep trucks

0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:15.200
<v Speaker 1>and open gates, and the sheep are doing what they do,

0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:17.719
<v Speaker 1>you know, and all over me. And I'm bloody loving it.

0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:19.760
<v Speaker 1>And I got paid. I got paid a pound a day.

0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:22.880
<v Speaker 1>Bloody good money for a kid. Anyway, one day, when

0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:25.200
<v Speaker 1>I was about ten, he said to me, yes, and

0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:27.320
<v Speaker 1>he said it's time for you to work with cattle.

0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:28.920
<v Speaker 1>Do you want to do that? And I said, yeah, sure,

0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:30.960
<v Speaker 1>no problem. So he said, I'm going to have to

0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:32.640
<v Speaker 1>steer around the race here to you. I want to

0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:35.000
<v Speaker 1>hold onto this gate to the pen, and when the

0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:37.400
<v Speaker 1>steer comes up, you go hoo ah hoo ah, and

0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:39.360
<v Speaker 1>it'll go into the pen. And I said, yeah, right,

0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:41.960
<v Speaker 1>no worries. And then this bloody thing came around the

0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:43.920
<v Speaker 1>corner and faired incoman. I thought it was a Spanish

0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:47.520
<v Speaker 1>fighting bull. It was huge, I thought it was anyway. Anyway,

0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:49.719
<v Speaker 1>it's trotted towards me, and I thought it was galloping

0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:54.120
<v Speaker 1>at me, and I'm going to hourrah rah, And I

0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:56.719
<v Speaker 1>got one foot on the bloody race of the that

0:04:56.839 --> 0:04:59.520
<v Speaker 1>so I get shitting out of the way and holding

0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:01.640
<v Speaker 1>the gate. And anyway, the thing turned and went into

0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:04.479
<v Speaker 1>the pen, and I closed the gate and slid the

0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:07.720
<v Speaker 1>bolt across, and I looked at the old man and

0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:11.240
<v Speaker 1>he had this look on his face of absolute pride

0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:15.080
<v Speaker 1>and confidence, and I saw it. It was an exchange,

0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:18.720
<v Speaker 1>you know that book that passes between people. And I

0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:21.600
<v Speaker 1>realized years later on he was able to put into

0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:25.240
<v Speaker 1>words when I got into AA, what was that fifty

0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:29.520
<v Speaker 1>forty years later? I realized in that moment that I won.

0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:33.120
<v Speaker 1>I had courage, I could stand aground. Two, I could

0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:36.000
<v Speaker 1>work in a team the old man. Three that I

0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:39.560
<v Speaker 1>could follow directions, and four it's a really good idea

0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:41.719
<v Speaker 1>to have Plan B. Hence the foot on the fence,

0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:45.000
<v Speaker 1>get out of the bloody way, the very nice your

0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:48.240
<v Speaker 1>life has been. Yeah, so that's what's dedicated on that.

0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:53.159
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And that's I have an adventurous spirit. And what

0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:56.240
<v Speaker 2>happened next, Well, we moved to Aubrey and I went

0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:59.440
<v Speaker 2>to high school and I had no interest whatever in school,

0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:02.120
<v Speaker 2>A lot of interest in the mates and playing footy

0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:05.080
<v Speaker 2>and living that sort of life, you know, fifteen sixteen

0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:06.359
<v Speaker 2>years of age, going down.

0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:09.479
<v Speaker 1>To the pub. The old record who played for Melbourne

0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:12.159
<v Speaker 1>years and years ago. Ireca had a pub in Aubrey

0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:13.960
<v Speaker 1>and we used to go in there. Actually it was

0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:16.120
<v Speaker 1>before he owned it. We used to go in there

0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:18.200
<v Speaker 1>and buy Oh I did, because I look the oldest.

0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:20.600
<v Speaker 1>I'd go in there and buy. You could buy five

0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:24.320
<v Speaker 1>cans of VB for a dollar twenty cents each, and

0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:25.880
<v Speaker 1>I used to buy them for the boys, and we

0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:27.599
<v Speaker 1>used to go to the gardens to have a drink.

0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:29.520
<v Speaker 1>And yeah, it was. It was a really good life.

0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:32.560
<v Speaker 1>It was terrific life. We didn't hurt anybody, we didn't vandalize.

0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:35.720
<v Speaker 1>We just lived our lives. I had no interest in school.

0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:38.680
<v Speaker 1>I got good passes in maths and English, and I

0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:41.040
<v Speaker 1>couldn't wait to get out. And the old man got

0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:42.320
<v Speaker 1>me a job in the bloody bank.

0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:46.120
<v Speaker 2>Did it four walls? It was national and you're not

0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:49.000
<v Speaker 2>your cup of tea? No, it was had four walls.

0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:50.840
<v Speaker 2>I had to be outside. How long did it last?

0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:53.800
<v Speaker 1>The bank lasted two weeks in Aubury and I resigned

0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:55.960
<v Speaker 1>and I managed and said, you can't do that. Your

0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:58.000
<v Speaker 1>father got you other job. So they sent me to

0:06:58.080 --> 0:06:59.600
<v Speaker 1>Sydney and I had six months up.

0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:03.200
<v Speaker 2>There in the bank in Sydney. Yeah, right in Sydney. Well,

0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:06.360
<v Speaker 2>you know it was in this a turning point.

0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:10.000
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, what Aubrey actually was a turning point. My job

0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:12.480
<v Speaker 1>for two weeks was to carry this suitcase full of

0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:16.520
<v Speaker 1>used banknotes with a guard who carried a gun. We'd

0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:18.720
<v Speaker 1>take it up the raid fifty meters to the your

0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:22.160
<v Speaker 1>fifty yards, then to the Commonwealth Bank and we take

0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:24.760
<v Speaker 1>it down into their cellar and they would then take

0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:27.280
<v Speaker 1>the money and they'd count it and stamp holes in

0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:29.200
<v Speaker 1>it and send it off the Reserve Bank. It was

0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:31.760
<v Speaker 1>just old notes that were no good anymore. So I

0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:34.680
<v Speaker 1>spent the two weeks ago, the two times I carried that,

0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:37.520
<v Speaker 1>I'm thinking, how can I make this mine? How can

0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:39.520
<v Speaker 1>I can I pinch it?

0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:42.640
<v Speaker 2>I say so, you had an inquiring mind with a

0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:46.120
<v Speaker 2>slightly criminal ban, Yeah, which is only natural when you're

0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:47.160
<v Speaker 2>carrying use banks.

0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:50.040
<v Speaker 1>Well, yeah, it's pretty tempting. It very probably you know,

0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:54.960
<v Speaker 1>thirty thousand pounds or something like thirty thousand dollars in it. Yeah, dollars.

0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:57.160
<v Speaker 1>It was nineteen sixty six.

0:07:57.240 --> 0:07:59.840
<v Speaker 2>Yes, conversion. So of course you didn't do that.

0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:03.400
<v Speaker 1>No, No, I didn't. I didn't, but it was interesting.

0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:04.440
<v Speaker 1>The thought occurred to me.

0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:08.160
<v Speaker 2>I'm not a thief, no, but I read that amount

0:08:08.200 --> 0:08:08.760
<v Speaker 2>of money.

0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:12.560
<v Speaker 1>Certain institutions a fair game, like banks, the tax office.

0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:15.040
<v Speaker 1>Tax tax biker isn't listening now.

0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:17.560
<v Speaker 2>It probably is, Yeah, it probably is. I take that back,

0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:20.240
<v Speaker 2>Take that back. I would immediately we all pay tax

0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:24.000
<v Speaker 2>around here. So you went to Sydney to work in

0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:26.000
<v Speaker 2>the bank, and what happened there.

0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:30.960
<v Speaker 1>Well, I I just drank. I got under the booze

0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:33.920
<v Speaker 1>did Yeah. I had one day out in the time

0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:35.520
<v Speaker 1>I was there, I had one day at the races

0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:40.199
<v Speaker 1>and I won forty dollars, which was double my weekly salary.

0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:42.720
<v Speaker 1>And my mate and I decided we're going to the

0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:45.240
<v Speaker 1>cross for a drink, and we had to walk past

0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:48.679
<v Speaker 1>the Curability Hotel and so we called in for a

0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:51.280
<v Speaker 1>quick one and there were there are about seven or

0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:54.360
<v Speaker 1>eight blakes in there. Yeah, and I've been a lair

0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:57.720
<v Speaker 1>I am, I said, shout the bar. Yeah, you'd always

0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:01.000
<v Speaker 1>wanted to say it, and you were what seven day? Yeah,

0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:05.400
<v Speaker 1>and when you know media beer was twenty cents.

0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:06.280
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's cheap.

0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:09.760
<v Speaker 1>So I thought I won forty bucks. And the Republican

0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:11.760
<v Speaker 1>or the barman came back and he said that'll be

0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:14.959
<v Speaker 1>seven dollars eighty and I said, I got all, yeah,

0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:17.920
<v Speaker 1>could it possibly be there's only seven blakes in here.

0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:21.520
<v Speaker 1>They're all drinking seven ounce of beers and they're nursing those. Oh,

0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:23.960
<v Speaker 1>he said, they're not drinking those anymore. He said they're

0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:26.400
<v Speaker 1>all drinking skinners now. With the Scots chase.

0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:31.880
<v Speaker 2>That was less than one. Yeah, that was don't big note. Yeah,

0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:35.000
<v Speaker 2>don't big note. I didn't land it. No, take my advice.

0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.120
<v Speaker 2>Take my advice. I'm not using it. So you get

0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:41.280
<v Speaker 2>to the racis And I loved it part. I ran

0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:43.480
<v Speaker 2>the gamal in at school. I ran the Melbourne cup

0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:46.040
<v Speaker 2>book at school. Yeah, make good money out of it

0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:48.200
<v Speaker 2>and what have you. But it wasn't for me the

0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:51.040
<v Speaker 2>bank life. And I decided to hitchhike over to Western Australia,

0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:53.560
<v Speaker 2>did you And what was the aim of that?

0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:56.640
<v Speaker 1>Well, my mate's father knew somebody over a great bowl

0:09:56.640 --> 0:10:00.360
<v Speaker 1>of gold mines out of cal Girley. He organized job

0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:02.760
<v Speaker 1>for for Phil, and Phil told me that he could

0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:04.439
<v Speaker 1>get me a job too. I said, yep, I'm in.

0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:07.880
<v Speaker 1>And so I hitch liked over. Well, not in the

0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:12.520
<v Speaker 1>minds as a geologist assistant. Oh okay, So yeah, traveling

0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:15.240
<v Speaker 1>trailing out in the country that nobody ever been to before. Yeah,

0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:18.480
<v Speaker 1>good stuff. I remember Dennis the geologist. He was an

0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:21.160
<v Speaker 1>odd one. He was one of twins. They used to

0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:23.760
<v Speaker 1>take it in turns to stand for the local seat

0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:26.439
<v Speaker 1>in the state parliament. They never have got any votes,

0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:29.200
<v Speaker 1>but you know, it was a boring sort of a blake.

0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:31.320
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, nice enough so you've got the job.

0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:35.080
<v Speaker 2>You've got that, you got there safely, got the safe adventures.

0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:38.000
<v Speaker 1>But sixteen rides three and a half days, did you

0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:40.839
<v Speaker 1>roll a car or something. I've rolled a number of cars,

0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:44.360
<v Speaker 1>but on that trip, And how long have you been

0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:46.199
<v Speaker 1>working in the bush? And I was only over there

0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:49.360
<v Speaker 1>for about six months. And there are lots of things happened,

0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:52.720
<v Speaker 1>lots of you know, yeah, there were. There were a

0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:56.200
<v Speaker 1>lot of funny moments. There was a very nasty moment

0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:58.880
<v Speaker 1>where a black by the name of Steve was driving

0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:01.599
<v Speaker 1>the years and Scotty and I were the passion is

0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:03.560
<v Speaker 1>in it and he was bush bashing and I said

0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:06.720
<v Speaker 1>to him, better slide down flat country in West Australia.

0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:08.439
<v Speaker 1>But there are rocks everywhere. I said, you can't see

0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:11.160
<v Speaker 1>where you're going. He said, it'll be right. And the

0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:14.400
<v Speaker 1>next thing, three goats emerged and he drove at them

0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:18.480
<v Speaker 1>and we were Scotty and I were sort of thinking, well,

0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:21.320
<v Speaker 1>that's a kind of weird thing. And he accelerated and

0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:25.000
<v Speaker 1>ran over one of them, and we Scotty went off

0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:27.640
<v Speaker 1>his trolley. He said, pull the car up, got out

0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:30.400
<v Speaker 1>and he put the gate out of its misery and

0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:33.040
<v Speaker 1>then he was going to use the knife on this fellow. Steve.

0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:34.920
<v Speaker 1>I had to grab him and hold him. And I

0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:37.000
<v Speaker 1>mean I was big and he was small, but he

0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:39.679
<v Speaker 1>was going to have this fella. And we went back

0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:42.400
<v Speaker 1>to camp and we got in the ute and I said,

0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:43.480
<v Speaker 1>we'll go straight back.

0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:45.199
<v Speaker 2>To strain the relationship.

0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:48.240
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so we told the boss we'd never never worked

0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:50.200
<v Speaker 1>with this bike again. Didn't tell him why. I just said,

0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:53.400
<v Speaker 1>we will never work with this fellow again. He turned

0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:56.840
<v Speaker 1>out to be a thief, Steve and got his just desserts.

0:11:57.360 --> 0:12:01.800
<v Speaker 1>Another mile mannered Michael with the glasses, came from a

0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:04.920
<v Speaker 1>family of doctors, sat at the HSC three times so

0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:06.600
<v Speaker 1>I could get the marks to become a doctor, and

0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:08.880
<v Speaker 1>his family incessed to be a doctor. And he just

0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:10.880
<v Speaker 1>said no, I've had enough. And he got over to

0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:13.000
<v Speaker 1>Western Australia and worked in the camps with us, and

0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:15.920
<v Speaker 1>he we didn't know, but Michael was the everyweight boxing

0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:18.680
<v Speaker 1>champion of his own and he just took this boke apart.

0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:21.760
<v Speaker 1>And I know it sound like I'm promoting violence, and

0:12:21.880 --> 0:12:26.040
<v Speaker 1>I'm not, but there are certain moments in time where

0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:28.719
<v Speaker 1>nothing but a good clip on the air, We'll do.

0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:30.880
<v Speaker 2>The job and that's what happened. Yeah, we're going to

0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:34.920
<v Speaker 2>certainly to touch up. What was your next adventure after

0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:40.840
<v Speaker 2>working in six months with a murderous killing.

0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:46.000
<v Speaker 1>Lunatic. I thought I got onto a tip for shares

0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:48.880
<v Speaker 1>and I rang. My man said, by these shares, theseus

0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:51.760
<v Speaker 1>they're going to list in the next few days. And

0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:54.720
<v Speaker 1>they did. They listed in Queensland and West Australian company.

0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:57.560
<v Speaker 1>They were twenty cent shares listed to thirty cents and

0:12:57.600 --> 0:13:00.840
<v Speaker 1>they rapidly went to forty dollars or something. Oh and

0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:02.840
<v Speaker 1>then I was told by the geologist that I was

0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:05.319
<v Speaker 1>with when we discovered this stuff, and he said, look

0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:07.840
<v Speaker 1>it's a dud. So I rang. The old man said

0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:10.640
<v Speaker 1>cell and then I resigned and I thought, I'm going

0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:12.800
<v Speaker 1>back to aubury. I'm going back to a motsa. And

0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:14.800
<v Speaker 1>when I got back, the old man said, now he said,

0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:17.640
<v Speaker 1>we made nothing. He's a stopbreaker. Mate in Sydney he

0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:20.120
<v Speaker 1>went to school with didn't buy him because he hadn't

0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:23.680
<v Speaker 1>seen the prospectus. And that taught me a big lesson.

0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:27.160
<v Speaker 1>Take your chances. Take your chances. If you're going to

0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:30.240
<v Speaker 1>wait for proof, you'll never have a back a winner.

0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:33.640
<v Speaker 2>True. Yeah, good point. That is an interesting story because

0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:38.280
<v Speaker 2>I mean the arithmetic, twenty cents each turning into forty dollars,

0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:41.200
<v Speaker 2>it's a massive several thousand percent.

0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:44.000
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Yeah, so he only had to put a grand

0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:46.800
<v Speaker 1>in and you never ever work again.

0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:49.920
<v Speaker 2>Never work again, yeah, staggering. Yeah, that didn't happen.

0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:51.880
<v Speaker 1>Well, I didn't work again for ten years anyway.

0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:54.760
<v Speaker 2>No, I saw, Well, that's sort of why in a way,

0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:57.880
<v Speaker 2>that's why we're here, the descent of young Rod into

0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:01.240
<v Speaker 2>the pit of sin city. So you end up back

0:14:01.280 --> 0:14:01.800
<v Speaker 2>in Sydney.

0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:05.000
<v Speaker 1>I ended up back in Sydney, and I did come

0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:06.680
<v Speaker 1>back and work for the Board of Mail for a year,

0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:07.760
<v Speaker 1>but that didn't work out.

0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:11.120
<v Speaker 2>Now I cent recalled reading the book. I read an

0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:14.440
<v Speaker 2>early version of it that in Sydney at one point

0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:17.360
<v Speaker 2>you'd worked in a pub there and you didn't realize

0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:19.760
<v Speaker 2>you got involved in a card game and you didn't

0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:21.960
<v Speaker 2>realize it was read and you lost them.

0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:24.200
<v Speaker 1>I wasn't a part of it was Bloody Mary's Wine, but.

0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:26.200
<v Speaker 2>Bloody Mary's wine. But when was that?

0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:29.280
<v Speaker 1>That was early days. We had a game of cards

0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:31.680
<v Speaker 1>in my house that I was sharing with a couple

0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:34.280
<v Speaker 1>of other blakes, and one of the bouncers from Bloody Mary's.

0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:37.440
<v Speaker 1>A guy called Mike had the fastest hands you've ever

0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:39.760
<v Speaker 1>seen in your life. I remember in one night he

0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:43.320
<v Speaker 1>placed a candle on the bar and lit it, and

0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:46.240
<v Speaker 1>he had one of those bowl wine glasses on a

0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:50.240
<v Speaker 1>stem with the bowl, and he looked at both and

0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:54.880
<v Speaker 1>in the fastest thing, he flicked his fingers at the

0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:58.360
<v Speaker 1>flame of the candle. He didn't actually touch it, but

0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:00.640
<v Speaker 1>he sucked the air out from under beneath the candle

0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:04.280
<v Speaker 1>and put it out, and in the same motion cracked

0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:07.200
<v Speaker 1>the edge of the bowl of the wine glass and

0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:09.400
<v Speaker 1>break the stem and caught the ball.

0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:10.560
<v Speaker 2>Did he?

0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:14.200
<v Speaker 1>I mean, that's incredibly fast. He was a role he

0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:16.680
<v Speaker 1>partly a little blake, but he was a karate guy

0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:19.440
<v Speaker 1>and he really knew his stuff, and he was he

0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:22.320
<v Speaker 1>could shuffle cards. He could shuffle cards, could he? And

0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:26.640
<v Speaker 1>as well as do karate as handy lad? And what

0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:28.760
<v Speaker 1>was his name? Mike?

0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:29.320
<v Speaker 2>Mike?

0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:32.640
<v Speaker 1>I imagine he'd be dead by now, but who knows, knows?

0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:33.120
<v Speaker 1>Who knows?

0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:37.520
<v Speaker 2>Is he much older than you, probably about ten years older.

0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:40.760
<v Speaker 2>He may may be just hanging on. So Mike got you,

0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:42.440
<v Speaker 2>got you into a game of cards.

0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:45.480
<v Speaker 1>Mike and he managed to beat it, did he and

0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:47.880
<v Speaker 1>a number of other blakes in the in the game,

0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:52.240
<v Speaker 1>and Gus, who loved to play cards, said no. He said,

0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:54.880
<v Speaker 1>I think he played one or two hands and he said.

0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:58.000
<v Speaker 2>I'll sit out, thinks Oh, And Gus could see Mike

0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:00.480
<v Speaker 2>kneeling from the bottom of the deck and I couldn't, okay,

0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:04.800
<v Speaker 2>And he got me for five hundred. Oh, it was

0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:07.800
<v Speaker 2>quite a few, bob. And what happened then? You couldn't

0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:09.600
<v Speaker 2>really you couldn't pay him because I didn't have the

0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:13.560
<v Speaker 2>five hundred. And he put up a proposition. Yeah, he

0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:15.440
<v Speaker 2>put a proposition up. And what was that that?

0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:18.720
<v Speaker 1>We relieved the wine bar of it's the night's taking.

0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:21.160
<v Speaker 2>So robbed the joint and how did that work out?

0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:26.040
<v Speaker 1>Well, nobody got charged. We did it, and the police

0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:29.200
<v Speaker 1>arrived with the way we did it. He said, look,

0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:31.160
<v Speaker 1>I'll mark you. I'll whack you.

0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:33.520
<v Speaker 2>You know, you open the back door, it's dark, I

0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:36.280
<v Speaker 2>step in, whack you the safe sape and you're about

0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:37.120
<v Speaker 2>to put money in them?

0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:40.520
<v Speaker 1>And I said, yeah, right. So he put these.

0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:44.160
<v Speaker 2>Three coins, two bits in between three, and he's whacked

0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:46.480
<v Speaker 2>me and it sort of marked me a bit.

0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:48.960
<v Speaker 1>I said, don't get serious. So he's gone whack, And

0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:52.400
<v Speaker 1>I said, so he's gone three or four, really good

0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:57.120
<v Speaker 1>heart and up and I've got blood run down And

0:16:57.320 --> 0:16:59.040
<v Speaker 1>I then lay on the floor for a couple of

0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:01.200
<v Speaker 1>minutes and I got up and I'm groggy, and I

0:17:01.240 --> 0:17:04.480
<v Speaker 1>call the police and they arrived, and I realized I

0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:07.840
<v Speaker 1>could be charged still out of this matter. Yeah, I choose,

0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:10.080
<v Speaker 1>I could have left it out of the book, and

0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:12.120
<v Speaker 1>I could choose not to talk about it now.

0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:14.280
<v Speaker 2>But you can't do it.

0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:17.800
<v Speaker 1>You can't. Well, yeah, but you can't edit your life

0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:20.639
<v Speaker 1>if you're going to be fair income and want people

0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:23.000
<v Speaker 1>to believe you, if you're going to put yourself up

0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:26.080
<v Speaker 1>as the past a boy for andy drugs, yes, then

0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:29.440
<v Speaker 1>how can you deny your own bad behavior? Well, that's

0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:29.960
<v Speaker 1>very true.

0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:32.800
<v Speaker 2>This is a good point, and at this point you're

0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:36.320
<v Speaker 2>only really putting yourself in, yeah, rather than naming.

0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:40.520
<v Speaker 1>Mike, and I didn't put anybody in. The police used

0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:43.000
<v Speaker 1>to drink in our bar, yes, And two of them arrived,

0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:45.640
<v Speaker 1>one who hated me and one who liked me. Vaughan

0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:47.800
<v Speaker 1>liked me, and the other big I can't remember his name.

0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:50.840
<v Speaker 1>He didn't like me at all. And so the blaker

0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:52.800
<v Speaker 1>didn't like me, is questioned me, and what's your part

0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:55.600
<v Speaker 1>in this? And what did you do? You set this up? No,

0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:57.480
<v Speaker 1>I don't know what you're talking about. I'm groggy. I

0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:01.160
<v Speaker 1>can't I've got no memory, blah blah blah. And Vaughn said, yeah, well,

0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:04.480
<v Speaker 1>pretty open and shutcase to me. Yeah, you're right to

0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:06.879
<v Speaker 1>get home, Rod, And I said, well, I'm a big groggy,

0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:08.959
<v Speaker 1>said I We'll give you a ride. And the other

0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:11.480
<v Speaker 1>boy said your kid, nuja. He said no, I'm not.

0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:16.000
<v Speaker 1>And Vorm was a senior. So got And what was

0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:19.679
<v Speaker 1>the net take of the It was I think it

0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:22.360
<v Speaker 1>was about fifteen hundred.

0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:24.600
<v Speaker 2>But he wanted his five hundred that you.

0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:28.959
<v Speaker 1>Which will left seven fifty eighth? Yeah, and me painting

0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:31.960
<v Speaker 1>the five hundred, well left me with two fifty, but

0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:34.399
<v Speaker 1>he very graciously said no, we'll split it down the middle.

0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:37.440
<v Speaker 2>Ah. And what happened then, what happened with Mike.

0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:39.480
<v Speaker 1>I was all pretty innocuous. It was just running a

0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:40.760
<v Speaker 1>wine bar and doing stuff.

0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:40.960
<v Speaker 2>You know.

0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:42.800
<v Speaker 1>I moved on to other things. That's when I got

0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:44.680
<v Speaker 1>into the other dealing game.

0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:47.920
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so that was sort of the first real criminal act.

0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:51.000
<v Speaker 2>Was that. Now you mentioned Mary Bloody Mary's one bar

0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:52.320
<v Speaker 2>and whatsuburb.

0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:56.040
<v Speaker 1>Camping down camping down, Yeah, just down from RPA Hospital.

0:18:56.400 --> 0:18:59.280
<v Speaker 2>And so you've been pretty good at working it. You

0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:02.359
<v Speaker 2>were bit of a barman sort of. Oh yeah, I've

0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:04.399
<v Speaker 2>done a lot about talk to it, talk to people.

0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:06.560
<v Speaker 1>Yeah yeah, and I've done a lot of and I

0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:08.480
<v Speaker 1>pull a bloody good beer and I don't spill anything

0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:11.919
<v Speaker 1>into the drip tray into my session. You wouldn't be

0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:14.040
<v Speaker 1>able to fill a thimble. The stuff very good.

0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:15.560
<v Speaker 2>And what happened next.

0:19:15.840 --> 0:19:18.560
<v Speaker 1>I ran into an old mate that I played footy

0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:22.040
<v Speaker 1>against in Aubrey, Paul mack Now did God bless him?

0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:24.439
<v Speaker 1>And Paul said, listen, can you do something for me.

0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:26.000
<v Speaker 1>I've got a business. I want you to run it

0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:27.680
<v Speaker 1>for me. I want to take a trip to Mexico

0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:30.320
<v Speaker 1>when I have a holiday. And I said yeah, yeah, sure.

0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:32.480
<v Speaker 1>What's what's the business And he said, well, I sell

0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:34.240
<v Speaker 1>marijuana and I said, yeah, I can do that. I

0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:36.600
<v Speaker 1>didn't think twice. I said yeah I can do that.

0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:40.679
<v Speaker 1>I've been smoking for about a year. And so he

0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:43.120
<v Speaker 1>went and he gave me a couple of numbers of

0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:47.960
<v Speaker 1>contact in Melbourne and the headman in Sydney, who in

0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:51.080
<v Speaker 1>the book called gator non diplum. But I'm not going

0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:52.880
<v Speaker 1>to tell you his real name because.

0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:55.879
<v Speaker 2>It might be it's a marine type animal.

0:19:56.280 --> 0:19:57.680
<v Speaker 1>It could be something like that.

0:19:57.800 --> 0:19:59.960
<v Speaker 2>Although there are no gators in Australia, but I'll get

0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:03.720
<v Speaker 2>there is an alligator river. So yeah, contact your man

0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:07.679
<v Speaker 2>had gone to Mexico. Yeah, he went to Mexico to

0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:10.000
<v Speaker 2>buy things. No, No, he just went for a holiday.

0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:13.840
<v Speaker 2>And I I said, I'll run it and I'll make

0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:16.760
<v Speaker 2>something and I'll keep something for you. And I met

0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:18.960
<v Speaker 2>this guy and my mate Paul told him that I

0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:20.399
<v Speaker 2>was going to call him. I met him on the

0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:24.119
<v Speaker 2>corner of New South d Raid outside Raised Bow police Station,

0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:27.680
<v Speaker 2>which is an interesting starting point, it is, and we

0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:30.760
<v Speaker 2>we knodded at each other. I hopped into his car.

0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:33.600
<v Speaker 2>We went to the.

0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:36.600
<v Speaker 1>Pub in what's the pub in Double Bay, The Golden Sheath,

0:20:37.200 --> 0:20:39.360
<v Speaker 1>The Golden Sheath. We went the Golden Sheath.

0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:41.280
<v Speaker 2>Called the Golden Sheet. It could begin also.

0:20:42.400 --> 0:20:46.080
<v Speaker 1>And I've had some funny times in there. And we

0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:48.560
<v Speaker 1>remember the guy Robert G. Barrett Rode.

0:20:51.200 --> 0:20:55.399
<v Speaker 2>Had some interesting times once or twice. He was a

0:20:55.520 --> 0:20:56.200
<v Speaker 2>very funny man.

0:20:56.280 --> 0:20:58.600
<v Speaker 1>He was a very funny man. He took bloody good drink.

0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:01.280
<v Speaker 2>It took the mickey out of the literally establishment. He

0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:04.320
<v Speaker 2>came down to Writer's Festival in Melbourne, which is very

0:21:04.359 --> 0:21:07.800
<v Speaker 2>seriously po faced and all that, and he turned up

0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:13.040
<v Speaker 2>with I think possibly two very sort of glamorous women

0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:15.080
<v Speaker 2>who didn't have a lot of clothing on, and he

0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:19.520
<v Speaker 2>took them both of this. That's absolutely shocked them.

0:21:20.920 --> 0:21:22.800
<v Speaker 1>I was. I was in the in the back bar

0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:25.080
<v Speaker 1>with the Gator and a few other blokes one day

0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:29.360
<v Speaker 1>and then through the double doors burst Robert G. Barrett

0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:33.720
<v Speaker 1>with probably different ones, but two girls run under their charm,

0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:37.600
<v Speaker 1>and he ballowed out right boys the Puddigan start, I'm here.

0:21:38.400 --> 0:21:40.240
<v Speaker 1>It was like that he was funny man and he was.

0:21:40.400 --> 0:21:43.119
<v Speaker 1>He was a bouncer on the illegal casino doors.

0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:47.000
<v Speaker 2>Yeah yeah, that's that's been a butcher and he could

0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:48.480
<v Speaker 2>blue yeah yeah.

0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:50.840
<v Speaker 1>Big time. But he didn't look for anything. He was

0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:53.080
<v Speaker 1>just very happy. He knew what was.

0:21:53.119 --> 0:21:55.760
<v Speaker 2>They were funny books. Yeah, yeah, they were funny. They

0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:58.320
<v Speaker 2>weren't bad really yeah, and they have been filmed since

0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:00.879
<v Speaker 2>yeah I should Yeah.

0:22:01.160 --> 0:22:03.720
<v Speaker 1>Anyway, we got on the terms there a Gata and

0:22:03.760 --> 0:22:07.639
<v Speaker 1>I and we sort of became mates, and then I

0:22:07.680 --> 0:22:11.480
<v Speaker 1>started running large amounts of smoke over with tire sticks

0:22:11.520 --> 0:22:12.480
<v Speaker 1>and just for.

0:22:12.400 --> 0:22:15.040
<v Speaker 2>The benefit of our listeners, and I don't want to

0:22:15.200 --> 0:22:18.040
<v Speaker 2>cause any trouble. And also we can edit this. But

0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:22.080
<v Speaker 2>data is a non diplome for a bloke who has

0:22:22.119 --> 0:22:25.119
<v Speaker 2>got a nickname, and he is a very significant figure

0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:28.520
<v Speaker 2>in Sydney crime or in fact in Australian crime. Yes,

0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:31.240
<v Speaker 2>and he's one that people like me and others have

0:22:31.359 --> 0:22:32.600
<v Speaker 2>heard of for decades.

0:22:32.720 --> 0:22:35.080
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's true, that's true. That's right, Okay.

0:22:35.080 --> 0:22:37.240
<v Speaker 2>I just wanted to make that clear to our listeners.

0:22:37.240 --> 0:22:40.600
<v Speaker 2>And we're not talking about Mickey Mouse Stuffy, No, No,

0:22:40.640 --> 0:22:42.800
<v Speaker 2>we're talking about a very serious man, very serious.

0:22:42.800 --> 0:22:45.640
<v Speaker 1>And I've got to say I liked him a real

0:22:45.760 --> 0:22:48.920
<v Speaker 1>lot back then and I still like him. I haven't

0:22:48.920 --> 0:22:51.399
<v Speaker 1>seen him for a long time, but I remember.

0:22:51.800 --> 0:22:53.840
<v Speaker 2>But does he like you? That's the problem.

0:22:54.720 --> 0:22:57.480
<v Speaker 1>Last time I saw him, Yeah, last time I saw him,

0:22:57.640 --> 0:23:01.399
<v Speaker 1>he was getting involved in other stuff and outside of smoke.

0:23:01.960 --> 0:23:04.760
<v Speaker 1>And I said to him, this isn't for me, mate,

0:23:05.280 --> 0:23:09.280
<v Speaker 1>I'm out, and it's a trade you don't walk away from.

0:23:09.720 --> 0:23:11.400
<v Speaker 1>But I looked him in the eye and I said,

0:23:11.440 --> 0:23:14.680
<v Speaker 1>I'm out. I'm finished, are we right? And he looked

0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:17.080
<v Speaker 1>at me for a long time and then he smiled

0:23:17.119 --> 0:23:20.200
<v Speaker 1>and he said, yeah, mate, we're right, and I believed him,

0:23:20.320 --> 0:23:22.000
<v Speaker 1>and I've never had a moment's worry since.

0:23:22.760 --> 0:23:26.160
<v Speaker 2>And yeah, so you had to sort of make the

0:23:26.200 --> 0:23:27.480
<v Speaker 2>formal exit.

0:23:27.640 --> 0:23:30.160
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, the exitent. Well, I wasn't just going not turn

0:23:30.280 --> 0:23:33.840
<v Speaker 1>up and I wasn't going to promise to do something

0:23:33.840 --> 0:23:36.720
<v Speaker 1>that I didn't do. I mean I always fulfilled the task,

0:23:37.359 --> 0:23:40.480
<v Speaker 1>which was being the middle man between the buyer and

0:23:40.520 --> 0:23:41.360
<v Speaker 1>the seller.

0:23:41.280 --> 0:23:44.160
<v Speaker 2>And so just described to listen to what that would

0:23:44.200 --> 0:23:46.440
<v Speaker 2>involve on a given Wednesday or whatever it might be.

0:23:46.560 --> 0:23:50.200
<v Speaker 1>Well, and that term that's just reminded me my old

0:23:50.200 --> 0:23:51.840
<v Speaker 1>man said to me when I went to West Australia.

0:23:51.840 --> 0:23:53.399
<v Speaker 1>He said, I got two things for you. One was

0:23:53.440 --> 0:23:55.600
<v Speaker 1>thirty bucks, was a lot of money. And I said,

0:23:55.600 --> 0:23:57.320
<v Speaker 1>what's the other thing? He said a word of advice,

0:23:57.359 --> 0:23:59.120
<v Speaker 1>He said, the well's full of buyers and sell has

0:23:59.160 --> 0:24:02.320
<v Speaker 1>become the agent middle Often you'll get paid both ways.

0:24:03.080 --> 0:24:06.000
<v Speaker 1>And I did, and I became a very very good salesman.

0:24:06.400 --> 0:24:10.199
<v Speaker 1>And so would you travel to places like Griffith by No, No, No,

0:24:10.240 --> 0:24:13.000
<v Speaker 1>I didn't travel anywhere. Stuff. I picked it up in Sydney.

0:24:13.000 --> 0:24:17.879
<v Speaker 1>It was all organized, mostly imported from Thailand. And Afghanistan

0:24:18.280 --> 0:24:23.199
<v Speaker 1>and elsewhere, those buddhisticks and hash hash oil, and I

0:24:23.240 --> 0:24:25.359
<v Speaker 1>would then take a couple of times. I picked it

0:24:25.440 --> 0:24:27.879
<v Speaker 1>up at the airport at the customs, i should say,

0:24:28.320 --> 0:24:33.199
<v Speaker 1>and they were two loads of one was tire sticks,

0:24:33.560 --> 0:24:36.879
<v Speaker 1>the other was hash oil, and they we required my

0:24:37.080 --> 0:24:40.240
<v Speaker 1>utility to transport both players. Why were you a good

0:24:40.359 --> 0:24:41.000
<v Speaker 1>choice for this?

0:24:41.560 --> 0:24:44.399
<v Speaker 2>Did they already have people at the customs who were

0:24:44.440 --> 0:24:47.920
<v Speaker 2>on side that were being bribed or were you able

0:24:47.960 --> 0:24:51.800
<v Speaker 2>to just sort of disarm them with they did?

0:24:52.040 --> 0:24:54.719
<v Speaker 1>Certainly with the stuff with the hash oil in it.

0:24:55.200 --> 0:24:57.320
<v Speaker 1>That was a large box. And when I went to

0:24:57.320 --> 0:24:59.320
<v Speaker 1>pick it up, they said, you said, I was just

0:24:59.359 --> 0:25:01.439
<v Speaker 1>in a bloody p the box paid me, buddy fifty

0:25:01.440 --> 0:25:03.400
<v Speaker 1>bucks to come and pick this up. Can I get

0:25:03.400 --> 0:25:05.840
<v Speaker 1>it done? I'm in a hurry, And they said, you

0:25:05.920 --> 0:25:08.720
<v Speaker 1>just wait to turn. And they've emptied the box all

0:25:08.760 --> 0:25:11.720
<v Speaker 1>sorts of goodies, you know, and some wooden things which

0:25:11.760 --> 0:25:14.000
<v Speaker 1>they took a drill and drilled into see if there's

0:25:14.000 --> 0:25:16.720
<v Speaker 1>anything in it other stuff. They if it could be

0:25:16.800 --> 0:25:21.119
<v Speaker 1>opened it, They opened it and they completely emptied the box.

0:25:21.560 --> 0:25:23.480
<v Speaker 1>And they said, all right, well you can go now.

0:25:23.520 --> 0:25:25.000
<v Speaker 1>I said, well, I'm going to put it in the box.

0:25:25.040 --> 0:25:28.240
<v Speaker 1>I'm only paid the body transport it. So I said,

0:25:28.280 --> 0:25:30.080
<v Speaker 1>you can put it in the bloody back in the box,

0:25:30.240 --> 0:25:32.879
<v Speaker 1>which they did, and I said, can you give me

0:25:32.880 --> 0:25:34.920
<v Speaker 1>a handle of it? And they did have your hand

0:25:34.920 --> 0:25:35.159
<v Speaker 1>to put it.

0:25:35.280 --> 0:25:37.840
<v Speaker 2>Where was the actual oil? It was in the framework

0:25:37.840 --> 0:25:39.920
<v Speaker 2>of the box. In the framework of the box. That's

0:25:39.960 --> 0:25:43.919
<v Speaker 2>that old, that old wolf joke about it. They're stopping

0:25:43.920 --> 0:25:46.520
<v Speaker 2>the bloke with a wheelbarrow full of store every days

0:25:47.240 --> 0:25:51.840
<v Speaker 2>at the end of six. I've seen wheelbarrows from Doc

0:25:51.920 --> 0:25:55.359
<v Speaker 2>one and straw from Doc three. It was in the

0:25:55.359 --> 0:26:00.919
<v Speaker 2>framework of the box. They didn't drill that amazing your men, Gaeta,

0:26:01.600 --> 0:26:05.800
<v Speaker 2>he had parents. You met the parents now, just to

0:26:05.840 --> 0:26:10.080
<v Speaker 2>make it clear again, Gaeta is a serious heavy known

0:26:10.359 --> 0:26:13.920
<v Speaker 2>to many many people around this country. He has been

0:26:14.240 --> 0:26:19.280
<v Speaker 2>nominated in books, films, whatever as a heavy dude. You

0:26:19.400 --> 0:26:22.520
<v Speaker 2>are reasonably close to him at some point. This is

0:26:22.560 --> 0:26:28.200
<v Speaker 2>before Adelaide. I suppose this is before the Adelaide adventure

0:26:28.240 --> 0:26:31.200
<v Speaker 2>where you left Pound to get away. Okay, so you

0:26:31.240 --> 0:26:36.600
<v Speaker 2>have met Gaitera's parents up the coast somewhere. You may

0:26:36.680 --> 0:26:40.080
<v Speaker 2>tell this with unexpegated language, and we may have to

0:26:40.400 --> 0:26:41.560
<v Speaker 2>do some beeping.

0:26:41.200 --> 0:26:44.840
<v Speaker 1>But I'll have to tell it with language. This is

0:26:44.880 --> 0:26:47.200
<v Speaker 1>the time we brought the oil in the framework of

0:26:47.240 --> 0:26:50.480
<v Speaker 1>the box. We jumped into the gator's jag. There was

0:26:50.640 --> 0:26:53.679
<v Speaker 1>Gaitera's minder, his ma, and there was me and we

0:26:53.720 --> 0:26:57.679
<v Speaker 1>went up the central coast. We pulled up this house.

0:26:58.000 --> 0:27:01.840
<v Speaker 1>Mum and Dad were waiting for us. Yep, very humble home,

0:27:02.280 --> 0:27:03.000
<v Speaker 1>firebro home.

0:27:03.040 --> 0:27:04.040
<v Speaker 2>What were Mum and dad like?

0:27:04.440 --> 0:27:07.000
<v Speaker 1>Mum and Dad were It's four thirty in the afternoon.

0:27:07.520 --> 0:27:10.400
<v Speaker 1>Mom's in hair curlers. She was a lovely lady. She's

0:27:10.440 --> 0:27:13.879
<v Speaker 1>in hair curlers, a nighty, a night sort of gown

0:27:14.000 --> 0:27:16.960
<v Speaker 1>over at the top of it. And Dad was in

0:27:17.000 --> 0:27:21.680
<v Speaker 1>his stripe pajamas and he's dressing gowns with a gold

0:27:21.720 --> 0:27:26.560
<v Speaker 1>tessel cord? Did he four thirty? A little sleep and

0:27:26.880 --> 0:27:29.840
<v Speaker 1>ready for sleep? I think we went into the house.

0:27:30.400 --> 0:27:33.120
<v Speaker 1>We put the framework into the freezer. I still had

0:27:33.119 --> 0:27:36.000
<v Speaker 1>no idea what we were, what we were carrying. We

0:27:36.080 --> 0:27:38.160
<v Speaker 1>put the framework into the freezer and then we sat

0:27:38.200 --> 0:27:40.359
<v Speaker 1>down for dinner at five o'clock and Mum had cooked

0:27:40.440 --> 0:27:43.480
<v Speaker 1>chops and three veg and it was bloody nice too.

0:27:44.000 --> 0:27:46.040
<v Speaker 1>She came out and served us and then she went

0:27:46.080 --> 0:27:48.720
<v Speaker 1>back into the kitchen and ate on her own, left

0:27:48.720 --> 0:27:52.360
<v Speaker 1>the men to talk, and am I allowed to bang

0:27:52.400 --> 0:27:52.959
<v Speaker 1>this table?

0:27:53.560 --> 0:27:55.960
<v Speaker 2>Well, it'll come through on the recording. There.

0:27:56.000 --> 0:27:59.240
<v Speaker 1>God. So the old man's there and he's eating his

0:27:59.359 --> 0:28:01.560
<v Speaker 1>chops and what have you, and he's telling us about

0:28:01.600 --> 0:28:03.760
<v Speaker 1>this time he's doing some business with the boys from

0:28:03.760 --> 0:28:07.720
<v Speaker 1>Griffith and he'd obviously been well, yeah he was, Yeah,

0:28:08.119 --> 0:28:10.960
<v Speaker 1>where Gaya learned his trade. Anyway, the old man is

0:28:11.000 --> 0:28:13.800
<v Speaker 1>telling the story about you. He did this with Griffith

0:28:13.800 --> 0:28:16.080
<v Speaker 1>and we went up there. And at the same time

0:28:16.119 --> 0:28:18.760
<v Speaker 1>he's picked up a piece of bread and he's buttered.

0:28:18.440 --> 0:28:23.240
<v Speaker 3>It, white bread and he's buttered it, and then he's

0:28:23.720 --> 0:28:27.119
<v Speaker 3>he's look puzzled and he's looked around the table, and

0:28:27.160 --> 0:28:29.480
<v Speaker 3>then he's gone bang.

0:28:29.600 --> 0:28:31.920
<v Speaker 1>Slapped his hand on the head really loudly.

0:28:32.440 --> 0:28:34.440
<v Speaker 2>Where's the much?

0:28:35.880 --> 0:28:39.280
<v Speaker 1>Mom came out with a jara spread, put a hand

0:28:39.320 --> 0:28:41.200
<v Speaker 1>on his shoulder and said there, now, do you don't

0:28:41.200 --> 0:28:44.360
<v Speaker 1>you get upset? You'll give yourself a heart attack? He said, well,

0:28:45.080 --> 0:28:48.440
<v Speaker 1>side a man wants he looks for the veggimon. There's

0:28:48.480 --> 0:28:52.720
<v Speaker 1>no vegimon. What the fus going on? I levitated out

0:28:52.720 --> 0:28:55.440
<v Speaker 1>of the chair. Geidor's minder who was sitting next to

0:28:55.840 --> 0:28:58.920
<v Speaker 1>the old man. He's just looked across at me and

0:28:58.960 --> 0:29:01.000
<v Speaker 1>he's muttered out the side of his mouth. You get

0:29:01.120 --> 0:29:05.360
<v Speaker 1>used to it, cheers. I hope I do. I hope

0:29:05.360 --> 0:29:05.560
<v Speaker 1>I do.

0:29:05.760 --> 0:29:07.959
<v Speaker 2>It was very funny. It was Gaeta.

0:29:08.960 --> 0:29:11.440
<v Speaker 1>Oh he was so you know, just that was the

0:29:11.480 --> 0:29:15.600
<v Speaker 1>way it was. Probably he was. I actually liked him.

0:29:15.600 --> 0:29:17.840
<v Speaker 1>I thought they were a lovely family. Yeah, it sounds

0:29:17.840 --> 0:29:21.600
<v Speaker 1>a bit weird, but every everything in the same place, and.

0:29:21.680 --> 0:29:23.720
<v Speaker 2>That'd be a very good scene in a certain sort.

0:29:23.600 --> 0:29:25.000
<v Speaker 1>Of I wouldn't be a ripper.

0:29:25.560 --> 0:29:28.200
<v Speaker 2>I'll chop aresk and a bit like two hands, you

0:29:28.240 --> 0:29:28.440
<v Speaker 2>know that.

0:29:28.520 --> 0:29:32.240
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, I teach something else about is that We're

0:29:32.280 --> 0:29:35.040
<v Speaker 1>driving along with just himself and me one day and

0:29:35.080 --> 0:29:36.080
<v Speaker 1>he burst into song?

0:29:36.520 --> 0:29:36.760
<v Speaker 2>Did he?

0:29:36.880 --> 0:29:38.400
<v Speaker 1>And I was done?

0:29:38.600 --> 0:29:39.240
<v Speaker 2>I could sing?

0:29:39.400 --> 0:29:42.280
<v Speaker 1>Oh he had a voice like a male Nina Simone.

0:29:42.600 --> 0:29:42.920
<v Speaker 2>Did he?

0:29:43.080 --> 0:29:45.960
<v Speaker 1>Oh he could sing? Yeah.

0:29:45.600 --> 0:29:45.800
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.

0:29:46.760 --> 0:29:49.600
<v Speaker 1>I'm no expert at the caper, but I know I

0:29:49.640 --> 0:29:52.080
<v Speaker 1>know what's good and what's not. Yeah, and he was good,

0:29:52.200 --> 0:29:57.360
<v Speaker 1>I mean top top. Yeah. He did seem Australian idol.

0:29:57.360 --> 0:29:57.920
<v Speaker 1>Every family.

0:29:58.800 --> 0:30:00.840
<v Speaker 2>It didn't look like an ange prety good thing, like

0:30:01.480 --> 0:30:04.760
<v Speaker 2>is that a fact? Well, it's a great story about Gator.

0:30:05.000 --> 0:30:08.720
<v Speaker 2>Now at this stage, your early twenties, if that early

0:30:08.840 --> 0:30:12.760
<v Speaker 2>to mid Yes, from Aubrey. Your father's a stocking station agent.

0:30:12.880 --> 0:30:16.080
<v Speaker 2>You've got red hair and freckles. You would sort of

0:30:16.720 --> 0:30:18.960
<v Speaker 2>front up in that time, as I say, of a

0:30:19.000 --> 0:30:20.440
<v Speaker 2>country boy, sort of bloke.

0:30:20.520 --> 0:30:24.000
<v Speaker 1>I played on it, yeah, and you'd have all.

0:30:23.880 --> 0:30:27.960
<v Speaker 2>That pair of bluntstones or something. Although on Friday nights,

0:30:28.000 --> 0:30:29.720
<v Speaker 2>I mean I did go shopping in Double Bar and

0:30:29.760 --> 0:30:34.320
<v Speaker 2>I'd buy Italian silk shirts and Gabandine trousers and where

0:30:34.320 --> 0:30:36.440
<v Speaker 2>those out, you know, opened to the navel with a

0:30:36.480 --> 0:30:37.040
<v Speaker 2>gold chain.

0:30:37.200 --> 0:30:39.160
<v Speaker 1>Of course, when you're on the dance.

0:30:39.000 --> 0:30:41.680
<v Speaker 2>Look look, look look at where I'm flying, you know.

0:30:42.400 --> 0:30:45.440
<v Speaker 2>But but when you're in the ute you go the

0:30:45.440 --> 0:30:46.040
<v Speaker 2>other way.

0:30:46.240 --> 0:30:49.360
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I was a working man. I was in a

0:30:49.360 --> 0:30:52.160
<v Speaker 1>single it or a rough shirt and pair of jeans. Yeah,

0:30:52.440 --> 0:30:54.920
<v Speaker 1>I did that twice. Pick those up there and I

0:30:54.960 --> 0:30:58.160
<v Speaker 1>would take then take the stuff down to Melbourne to

0:30:58.240 --> 0:30:59.240
<v Speaker 1>the contact down there.

0:30:59.400 --> 0:31:01.520
<v Speaker 2>You drive down, yeah.

0:31:02.120 --> 0:31:05.880
<v Speaker 1>Always drive. And then we decided we'd fly it occasionally

0:31:05.960 --> 0:31:10.560
<v Speaker 1>we sort of there weren't any sniffer dogs and on

0:31:10.560 --> 0:31:13.800
<v Speaker 1>one occasion I took a suitcase full of sticks. It

0:31:13.920 --> 0:31:17.280
<v Speaker 1>was so jamm packed with tire sticks that you couldn't

0:31:17.320 --> 0:31:19.160
<v Speaker 1>get a bloody t shirt on top of it and

0:31:19.160 --> 0:31:22.600
<v Speaker 1>close the case. So it was just wrapped in plastic,

0:31:23.040 --> 0:31:25.440
<v Speaker 1>wipe down with methos so the smell wouldn't get out,

0:31:26.080 --> 0:31:29.000
<v Speaker 1>and then the case was locked. I wore a three

0:31:29.040 --> 0:31:32.600
<v Speaker 1>piece suit when I took stuff by my hair, and

0:31:32.640 --> 0:31:35.200
<v Speaker 1>I carried a copy of the Financial Times, and I

0:31:35.240 --> 0:31:36.040
<v Speaker 1>had a briefcase.

0:31:36.480 --> 0:31:40.560
<v Speaker 2>I was a businessman and an act, don't you yeah?

0:31:40.560 --> 0:31:42.520
<v Speaker 1>And I got off the plane and I went to

0:31:42.560 --> 0:31:44.640
<v Speaker 1>a phone to ring my contact, and I stayed on

0:31:44.640 --> 0:31:47.680
<v Speaker 1>the phone too long, and when I came back there

0:31:47.680 --> 0:31:51.080
<v Speaker 1>were two bags left on the carousel, one of them

0:31:51.160 --> 0:31:55.680
<v Speaker 1>was mine, and standing around the carousel were I think twenty,

0:31:55.760 --> 0:32:00.920
<v Speaker 1>possibly more, but twenty Commonwealth Police in uniform. And I

0:32:01.000 --> 0:32:04.560
<v Speaker 1>had a decision to make walk away and suffer the contact.

0:32:05.840 --> 0:32:08.239
<v Speaker 1>No I know, I know, I had to pick up

0:32:08.320 --> 0:32:12.560
<v Speaker 1>my bag. So instead of me going over in amongst

0:32:12.800 --> 0:32:16.120
<v Speaker 1>the thirty or twenty police and picking the bag up,

0:32:16.760 --> 0:32:19.920
<v Speaker 1>I hobbled over to a lame copper standing on his

0:32:19.920 --> 0:32:22.280
<v Speaker 1>own and I said, mate, I've got a crooked lead,

0:32:22.360 --> 0:32:24.160
<v Speaker 1>do you reckon? You could go and grab that big bag,

0:32:24.200 --> 0:32:27.240
<v Speaker 1>can't we And he said, yeah, sure, and he went

0:32:27.320 --> 0:32:28.840
<v Speaker 1>over and he picked it up and he willed it.

0:32:29.080 --> 0:32:31.760
<v Speaker 1>He couldn't carry. He wheeled a time that is gold,

0:32:32.000 --> 0:32:34.920
<v Speaker 1>and I said, thanks very much, and I kept wheeling it.

0:32:35.680 --> 0:32:38.120
<v Speaker 1>At Melbourne Airport there used to be a big glass

0:32:38.680 --> 0:32:42.400
<v Speaker 1>window and it was reflective, of course, and I just

0:32:42.640 --> 0:32:44.480
<v Speaker 1>kept looking at the glass to see if they came

0:32:44.520 --> 0:32:47.240
<v Speaker 1>for me, and they didn't. If they'd come for me,

0:32:47.280 --> 0:32:50.360
<v Speaker 1>I was going to abandon and bolt, but they didn't

0:32:50.360 --> 0:32:52.240
<v Speaker 1>come for me, and I wheeled it off and I

0:32:52.400 --> 0:32:56.760
<v Speaker 1>got the deal donee that was seen in today's.

0:32:56.360 --> 0:32:59.880
<v Speaker 2>Terms buddhistics, there'd be a lot of money in today's terms.

0:33:00.120 --> 0:33:01.640
<v Speaker 1>I think it was a round one thousand and then.

0:33:01.720 --> 0:33:06.760
<v Speaker 1>So what's that forty five almost fifty years ago? Was

0:33:06.760 --> 0:33:10.000
<v Speaker 1>fifty years ago? Actually that would be I would have

0:33:10.080 --> 0:33:11.000
<v Speaker 1>to be in the millions.

0:33:11.640 --> 0:33:13.120
<v Speaker 2>So this is very early seventies.

0:33:13.640 --> 0:33:15.280
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, seventy three, seventy four.

0:33:15.520 --> 0:33:18.680
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, well that's a lot of money. I was a

0:33:18.680 --> 0:33:21.880
<v Speaker 2>cadet journalist earning very small money. But I earned about

0:33:21.880 --> 0:33:24.440
<v Speaker 2>three thousand dollars in a year in nine to seventy five.

0:33:25.040 --> 0:33:28.800
<v Speaker 1>And yes, I know, I shake my head still to

0:33:28.840 --> 0:33:30.760
<v Speaker 1>this day when I think about it, Where did you

0:33:30.840 --> 0:33:34.560
<v Speaker 1>deliver that? I can't say. No, tour Blake, it's a

0:33:34.600 --> 0:33:36.520
<v Speaker 1>long time. Yeah, we're dead.

0:33:36.680 --> 0:33:37.280
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, no.

0:33:37.880 --> 0:33:39.280
<v Speaker 1>And he's got a memory of this blake. He's a

0:33:39.360 --> 0:33:43.480
<v Speaker 1>nasty fella, is it? Yeah? But roughly with suburb to Iraq?

0:33:43.960 --> 0:33:44.360
<v Speaker 1>Is there right?

0:33:44.640 --> 0:33:46.200
<v Speaker 2>Yeah? And did he live that?

0:33:47.040 --> 0:33:49.560
<v Speaker 1>He lived around the corner from there. I can't remember

0:33:49.600 --> 0:33:52.840
<v Speaker 1>the suburb. But he had a business into Iraq that

0:33:52.920 --> 0:33:56.640
<v Speaker 1>he ran the business from. Did he He took me

0:33:56.760 --> 0:34:00.360
<v Speaker 1>on one occasion. I would let him have more of

0:34:00.480 --> 0:34:03.080
<v Speaker 1>a now like two thousand sticks on consignment, and I'd

0:34:03.200 --> 0:34:05.840
<v Speaker 1>stayed at his house and he brings the money back.

0:34:06.400 --> 0:34:09.160
<v Speaker 1>But he wanted to do it five thousand stick or

0:34:09.200 --> 0:34:10.960
<v Speaker 1>something like that, and I said, no, I can't let

0:34:11.000 --> 0:34:13.480
<v Speaker 1>that go. You'll have to take me with you. So

0:34:13.520 --> 0:34:17.239
<v Speaker 1>he drove me in this convoluted track all over the

0:34:17.239 --> 0:34:19.560
<v Speaker 1>place to get to this place. And we walk in

0:34:19.719 --> 0:34:22.279
<v Speaker 1>it so dark and it's a big establishment, big room,

0:34:22.880 --> 0:34:24.839
<v Speaker 1>and there's a Blake sitting in there with a pile

0:34:24.880 --> 0:34:28.200
<v Speaker 1>of cash on the table. We delivered the five thousand

0:34:28.200 --> 0:34:31.719
<v Speaker 1>sticks to him. He hands the money over. We go

0:34:31.800 --> 0:34:33.560
<v Speaker 1>out and we hop in his car and he drives

0:34:33.560 --> 0:34:35.680
<v Speaker 1>off and he goes back to his house and he said,

0:34:36.120 --> 0:34:39.240
<v Speaker 1>that went pretty well. And I said, yeah, look, next time,

0:34:39.440 --> 0:34:41.799
<v Speaker 1>why don't you go directly to the place. And I'd

0:34:41.800 --> 0:34:45.080
<v Speaker 1>picked up it was a reception center and I can't remember.

0:34:45.200 --> 0:34:47.480
<v Speaker 1>Let's call it White Dove. I can't rember. It's called

0:34:47.719 --> 0:34:50.320
<v Speaker 1>And I pulled a leaflet off the desk a White

0:34:50.360 --> 0:34:53.920
<v Speaker 1>Dove reception center. I said, or I could deal directly

0:34:53.960 --> 0:34:57.719
<v Speaker 1>with the baker White Dove. What do you reckon? He

0:34:57.800 --> 0:34:59.880
<v Speaker 1>was embarrassed. He was embarrassed.

0:35:00.400 --> 0:35:02.919
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that contact inter Iraq would appear to the world

0:35:02.920 --> 0:35:04.000
<v Speaker 2>to be a legit businessman.

0:35:04.200 --> 0:35:04.719
<v Speaker 1>Absolutely.

0:35:04.760 --> 0:35:05.879
<v Speaker 2>What background was he?

0:35:05.880 --> 0:35:06.560
<v Speaker 1>He sold?

0:35:06.800 --> 0:35:09.600
<v Speaker 2>He sold goods. Yeah, that's all I'll say. Yeah, I

0:35:09.600 --> 0:35:11.080
<v Speaker 2>don't identify much.

0:35:11.520 --> 0:35:15.160
<v Speaker 1>And what about what other place that was over? That

0:35:15.200 --> 0:35:17.279
<v Speaker 1>was the kind of time I visited there. There there

0:35:17.320 --> 0:35:21.000
<v Speaker 1>was obviously the blake ran the show and he was

0:35:21.000 --> 0:35:22.840
<v Speaker 1>making some money on the side. A lot of people

0:35:23.400 --> 0:35:28.400
<v Speaker 1>in lots of different businesses, fronts, genuine fronts, were making

0:35:28.440 --> 0:35:32.479
<v Speaker 1>a lot of money out of smoker. Yeah, I don't

0:35:32.520 --> 0:35:34.759
<v Speaker 1>know what happened. I don't know whether those people get

0:35:34.800 --> 0:35:39.000
<v Speaker 1>involved in powder in smack or I saw.

0:35:39.120 --> 0:35:43.040
<v Speaker 2>Meth so your guesstimate is that there's there's a lot

0:35:43.080 --> 0:35:47.560
<v Speaker 2>of substantial fortunes been propped up or made much much

0:35:47.600 --> 0:35:53.160
<v Speaker 2>bigger than just those those guys running their businesses to Iraq.

0:35:53.520 --> 0:35:58.160
<v Speaker 2>There are national businessmen and I'm not even going to

0:35:58.160 --> 0:36:01.080
<v Speaker 2>go close to try to identify them, and I don't

0:36:01.120 --> 0:36:04.680
<v Speaker 2>know for sure that I'm right, but the people one

0:36:04.719 --> 0:36:08.560
<v Speaker 2>or two got knighted, I think possibly the people I

0:36:08.600 --> 0:36:13.319
<v Speaker 2>mixed with did business with these people. And there is

0:36:13.360 --> 0:36:16.399
<v Speaker 2>no doubt in my mind that there are people who

0:36:16.400 --> 0:36:21.239
<v Speaker 2>have got huge fortunes based on illegal activity, just like

0:36:21.560 --> 0:36:26.640
<v Speaker 2>Joe Kennedy in American Fortune. Very interesting, isn't it, And

0:36:26.680 --> 0:36:29.440
<v Speaker 2>people who probably had no great They weren't sort of hippies,

0:36:29.640 --> 0:36:35.040
<v Speaker 2>they weren't. They weren't they weren't keen on drugs. Business businessman,

0:36:35.200 --> 0:36:37.839
<v Speaker 2>pure and simple, and some of them might have come

0:36:37.840 --> 0:36:39.400
<v Speaker 2>out of war torn Europe as young.

0:36:39.360 --> 0:36:42.359
<v Speaker 1>And some of them, I think you may be well

0:36:43.040 --> 0:36:48.239
<v Speaker 1>correctly so there it's pretty hard cases. Yeah, I think

0:36:48.320 --> 0:36:52.759
<v Speaker 1>that it was in many cases. I think it was

0:36:52.800 --> 0:36:57.120
<v Speaker 1>the idea of being involved with the hard men. They

0:36:57.160 --> 0:36:59.040
<v Speaker 1>as they saw at the hard men of the game,

0:36:59.600 --> 0:37:03.799
<v Speaker 1>rubbing shoulders with out and out killers, and criminals, and

0:37:03.840 --> 0:37:08.319
<v Speaker 1>I think they enjoyed the game of keeping the authorities

0:37:08.360 --> 0:37:13.600
<v Speaker 1>at bay, even taunting the authorities at times, denying their

0:37:14.239 --> 0:37:17.680
<v Speaker 1>involvement in these matters, but making it quite clear that

0:37:17.719 --> 0:37:21.040
<v Speaker 1>they were more or less saying catch me if you can,

0:37:21.880 --> 0:37:25.680
<v Speaker 1>I reckon. Yeah. And none of them have ever been

0:37:25.719 --> 0:37:28.480
<v Speaker 1>brought to book, is that right? Well, none have been named,

0:37:29.040 --> 0:37:30.280
<v Speaker 1>not to say.

0:37:30.760 --> 0:37:32.839
<v Speaker 2>You can recall several of these people, but you've never

0:37:32.840 --> 0:37:36.759
<v Speaker 2>seen them come undone. Yeah, Yeah, that's interesting. So they

0:37:36.760 --> 0:37:40.120
<v Speaker 2>were the money by silence. Yeah, we hear about the

0:37:40.120 --> 0:37:42.520
<v Speaker 2>ones that come unstuck. We don't hear about. What you

0:37:42.600 --> 0:37:46.800
<v Speaker 2>don't hear about is the invisible because it stays invisible.

0:37:47.280 --> 0:37:50.000
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you don't. And I think if you're in that game,

0:37:50.680 --> 0:37:54.120
<v Speaker 1>you have no scruples and you'll sacrifice anybody as long

0:37:54.160 --> 0:37:56.480
<v Speaker 1>as you get out of it, okay. And I think

0:37:56.480 --> 0:37:59.760
<v Speaker 1>there have been people who've had to pay a price,

0:38:00.239 --> 0:38:02.719
<v Speaker 1>and it's been explained to them quietly that they either

0:38:02.719 --> 0:38:05.960
<v Speaker 1>cop it on the chin or things will be nasty.

0:38:06.160 --> 0:38:06.840
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, okay.

0:38:06.960 --> 0:38:09.879
<v Speaker 1>And everybody's got a family, Andrew, Yeah, so we want

0:38:09.920 --> 0:38:10.799
<v Speaker 1>to protect it, don't you.

0:38:10.880 --> 0:38:13.759
<v Speaker 2>That's right. People kept backing the wrap.

0:38:14.239 --> 0:38:17.040
<v Speaker 1>And this is all here saying I wasn't involved in

0:38:17.040 --> 0:38:19.239
<v Speaker 1>any of that, so that's not part of my book,

0:38:19.680 --> 0:38:22.080
<v Speaker 1>but it's les that's part of this The too.

0:38:21.920 --> 0:38:25.200
<v Speaker 2>Writer it is podcast to writer Rod, we've heard about

0:38:25.239 --> 0:38:28.799
<v Speaker 2>your adventures in Sydney, and next week I think we

0:38:29.000 --> 0:38:31.680
<v Speaker 2>might hear about your adventures in Adelaide when you were

0:38:31.960 --> 0:38:36.359
<v Speaker 2>hiding out there keeping your head low but not that low.

0:38:37.120 --> 0:38:39.600
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that was an interesting time in Adelaide And here

0:38:39.640 --> 0:38:40.840
<v Speaker 1>I am. They didn't get me.

0:38:45.239 --> 0:38:48.280
<v Speaker 2>Thanks for listening. Life and Crimes is a Sunday Herald

0:38:48.360 --> 0:38:53.280
<v Speaker 2>Sun production for true crime Australia. Our producer is Johnny Burton.

0:38:54.120 --> 0:38:57.960
<v Speaker 2>For my columns, features and more, go to harold'sun dot

0:38:58.000 --> 0:39:03.520
<v Speaker 2>com dot Au forward slash Andrew Rule one word. For

0:39:03.719 --> 0:39:09.280
<v Speaker 2>advertising inquiries, go to news podcasts sold at news dot

0:39:09.280 --> 0:39:14.520
<v Speaker 2>com dot au. That is all one word news podcasts

0:39:14.560 --> 0:39:18.840
<v Speaker 2>sold And if you want further information about this episode,

0:39:19.120 --> 0:39:21.240
<v Speaker 2>links are in the description.