Speaker 1: I look up.
Speaker 2: Two guys are walking towards us from the direction of
Speaker 2: the van. Both of them look mean and they're carrying
Speaker 2: baseball bats. Oh no, Leon, the kid on talking to
Speaker 2: turns around, sees them, turns to me and says, who
Speaker 2: are those two guys?
Speaker 1: You're kidding.
Speaker 2: I turned to him and go, They're not with you,
Speaker 2: and he goes, I've never seen him before.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Life and Crimes. We are here again
Speaker 1: with Mark Tregellis, who is a former remote area policeman
Speaker 1: who's written a crackerjack little book called back Up He
Speaker 1: three Hours Away, and today is going to tell us
Speaker 1: a couple more stories from the sixty odd stories that
Speaker 1: are in that book. Welcome Mark, Thanks Andrew. Great to
Speaker 1: be back now. I think you mentioned earlier something we
Speaker 1: prepared earlier, that you have a story to do with
Speaker 1: a dirty yellow van. So this was one of the
Speaker 1: well pretty much yes, because they drive around the dust
Speaker 1: just gathers on them.
Speaker 2: On the night this story achieved in East s Gippsland,
Speaker 2: I had to admit legend status. By the end of
Speaker 2: this job, I had virtually every policeman in skips Land
Speaker 2: glued to the radio as to what would happen.
Speaker 1: So where does it start?
Speaker 2: So it starts in Malacuta, working by myself, and I
Speaker 2: get a phone call from the board, and the board
Speaker 2: back then was regional communications at Marbile Mar.
Speaker 1: That is a fair just for anybody who's not sure
Speaker 1: about victorious geography. Maul to Malakuto they do start with
Speaker 1: them is about like Gladsgow to London. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a long, long, one long way. And they said,
Speaker 2: they came up and said, Tree, can you start heading
Speaker 2: out the highway? We got a job for you. So
Speaker 2: I'm heading out from a Polla Bay towards Genoa and
Speaker 2: I said what you got and they said, We've got
Speaker 2: a dirty yellow van with five offenders on board. They're
Speaker 2: doing multiple thefts and petrol drive offs from lakes New
Speaker 2: Marella or bost They've stolen a stuffed kangaroo from a pub.
Speaker 2: They're headed towards you and you're the only cop between
Speaker 2: them and the border. And I said, right, give the
Speaker 2: pub a canner call, see if they can spot them
Speaker 2: going past. If they go up the Monaro Highway, I'll
Speaker 2: miss them. If they go through on the Princess Highway
Speaker 2: to Genoa, I'll get them.
Speaker 1: So just to explain to our listeners that a road
Speaker 1: does fork off northwoods up over the border country to
Speaker 1: it heads up to camera from that area.
Speaker 2: So I arrived at the intersection at Genoa and the
Speaker 2: board came back to me and said, we've just had
Speaker 2: a phone call from the pub. They're headed your way
Speaker 2: and I've gone fabulous back up. And that's when the
Speaker 2: one of the times when I had the quote he
Speaker 2: goes back up three hours away and I've gone where
Speaker 2: is everyone? And apparently the forest protesters were going off
Speaker 2: up at Goodnook and everyone else was and that was
Speaker 2: three hours. So I picked up the New South Wales
Speaker 2: radio and got on to the New South Wales Board
Speaker 2: and said, I'm here. I've got five offenders coming at me.
Speaker 2: Back up, and Eden came up and they said, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: eating here, we'll back you up. And I've gone, oh
Speaker 2: that's great, but we're not at Eden, still an hour away.
Speaker 2: But if they weren't out of Eden, where were they?
Speaker 2: And they said, oh, we're it bigger, which is another hour.
Speaker 2: Oh no, and what are you doing up there? They
Speaker 2: were on a dispatch. So I said, well, can you
Speaker 2: start in my way? I've got five offenders coming at me.
Speaker 2: So my plan was I was going to just stay
Speaker 2: in gene with the lights off because there's absolutely nothing
Speaker 2: between can River and Genoa except forest. And the longer
Speaker 2: the van takes to get to me, the better it is,
Speaker 2: because that means I'll have less time for Eden to
Speaker 2: get to me. Exactly forty minutes later, dirty yellow vandrives pass.
Speaker 2: So I turn on the engine, keep my headlights off,
Speaker 2: pull up behind them, and as I come up turn
Speaker 2: my headlights on. I'm checking the registration number, the registration
Speaker 2: plate on the back of the car. I've only got
Speaker 2: a partial but if there have been swapping number plates
Speaker 2: true along the way, they could have any number on board.
Speaker 2: And I was told actually that they had swapped number
Speaker 2: plates when they did the Kangaroo the Kangaroo heist. But
Speaker 2: then I look up and on the back of the
Speaker 2: van is spray painted the words police, do not follow me.
Speaker 2: You make me nervous. Oh, And I just remember thinking that's.
Speaker 1: Unusual, and what does it really mean.
Speaker 2: I'm thinking, surely, if you're committing crimes, you're not going
Speaker 2: to be have that written on the back. But I thought, well,
Speaker 2: I guess I'm going to make them nervous, so I
Speaker 2: put the lights on and hit the sigron a couple
Speaker 2: of times, and the car pulls over, and then I'm
Speaker 2: sort of behind it, and I'm giving there my location,
Speaker 2: so I'm letting them know exactly where I am and
Speaker 2: what's happened. But then I look up and two girls
Speaker 2: get out of the van and walk past and walk
Speaker 2: back towards me. So I get out of the van
Speaker 2: and these two girls walk up to me, and one
Speaker 2: in front comes up and goes, hello, I'm Yvonne, I'm Suzanne.
Speaker 2: They're from Germany and German backpacker.
Speaker 1: Chicks, and no one else in the van.
Speaker 2: I'm tipping. This isn't my van. I said, hi, girls,
Speaker 2: how's your night going? And they said, yeaht is good,
Speaker 2: but for what there is? And did you pull us over?
Speaker 2: And I've gone you wouldn't believe it, but your van
Speaker 2: matches the description of one full of offenders that I
Speaker 2: wanted for crimes in this area. And the girls go, no,
Speaker 2: this is criminals? Is how violent?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I go yeah, and they look at me and go, oh,
Speaker 1: this is so exciting.
Speaker 2: I love Australia, and what pops into my brain.
Speaker 1: But that the movie with the two Elma and Louise.
Speaker 2: No, no, not that Austin Powers where I beat the
Speaker 2: two Japanese twins where you pull out your notebook, go
Speaker 2: to the back page and say things to do before
Speaker 2: I die. Number four have sex with van full of backpacker.
Speaker 2: So there's a tick, so I go, so, girls, you're excited.
Speaker 2: And just as I say that, what drives past another
Speaker 2: dirty ever So I go, sorry, girl's got to go.
Speaker 2: Jump in the van. Tear off after this one, come
Speaker 2: up behind it. Check the regio. It matches the partial
Speaker 2: that I've got, so I know I've got my crew.
Speaker 2: But I'm nearing the border, so I have to be
Speaker 2: quick because, like I said before, if you get them
Speaker 2: over the border, can't bring them back. And I've got
Speaker 2: to get permission to continue the pursuit over the boarder anyway.
Speaker 2: So I turn the headlights on. The car pulls over,
Speaker 2: the driver gets out. He's about twenty five, covered in
Speaker 2: tattoo's acting very squarely, and there's heads bobbing around in
Speaker 2: the back of the van. One of them is not
Speaker 2: a kangaroo. And I'm sitting there thinking, how am I
Speaker 2: going to do this? So I picked up the loudspeaker
Speaker 2: from the front of the van turned it up full
Speaker 2: and said, occupants of the van, listen carefully. This is
Speaker 2: the police, just in case they didn't know what the
Speaker 2: red and blue lights were for. Your van has been
Speaker 2: identified as being wanted for a number of crimes in
Speaker 2: the Skippsland region. You're all considered dangerous. Don't do anything stupid.
Speaker 2: And the guy standing out the front just goes and
Speaker 2: sticks straight up in the air, and I thought, oh,
Speaker 2: that's all right, and so lift up your shirt please, Eddie.
Speaker 2: He pulls up your shirt and I said, turn around,
Speaker 2: and he turns around. It's halfway around. Who drives past.
Speaker 2: It's the German backpacker chicks. Evon is hanging out the
Speaker 2: window with a video camera strapped to her eye and
Speaker 2: a right fist raised into the air, screaming into the night.
Speaker 1: Yeah, gets them, gets them. This poor kid who's got
Speaker 1: his got his shirt pulled up. There's just his jaws
Speaker 1: on the floor as he watches. And I start laughing.
Speaker 2: I've got under the tannoy and said, have a good trip, Yvon.
Speaker 2: I go mate, drop your shirt, grab your license, come
Speaker 2: back and see me. Everyone else stay in the van.
Speaker 2: He walks back. What was with the other van And
Speaker 2: I go, oh, mate, German backpacka chicks, you know what
Speaker 2: they like?
Speaker 1: What was with all the crime? What crime?
Speaker 2: The petrol thefts, the drive off Barnsdow Lakes, New Morella.
Speaker 2: He goes, we haven't stopped in any of those places.
Speaker 2: I'm thinking, yeah, if I search a van and find
Speaker 2: a hoop of number plates, your stuffed.
Speaker 1: What about the.
Speaker 2: Kangaroo, Oh from the pub? Yes, that's right, the pub?
Speaker 1: He said, Oh yeah, the guy was.
Speaker 2: Just a nube and we grabbed it and threw it
Speaker 2: out fifty meters up. We just wanted to piss him off,
Speaker 2: that's all. And I went, okay, I think there's an
Speaker 2: offense in there somewhere. Do you have a license? Yeah,
Speaker 2: you got it on your No, okay, give me your details.
Speaker 2: So I got my head down and I'm writing his
Speaker 2: name and an address that I'm going to check on
Speaker 2: the computer.
Speaker 1: I look up.
Speaker 2: Two guys are walking towards us from the direction of
Speaker 2: the van. Both of them look mean, and they're carrying
Speaker 2: baseball bats. Oh no, Leon, the kid on talking to
Speaker 2: turns around, sees them, turns to me and says, who
Speaker 2: are those two guys, you're kidding. I turned to him
Speaker 2: and go, they're not with you, and he goes I've
Speaker 2: never seen him before, and I'm thinking, either bullshit, but
Speaker 2: he doesn't look like it's bullshit, and like, I have
Speaker 2: no idea what's going on. So it's one of the
Speaker 2: few times in my life I've actually had my pistol
Speaker 2: out of its revolve in my hand and my caps
Speaker 2: can spray out in the other hand. The two guys
Speaker 2: walking towards us. When they get about ten meters away,
Speaker 2: the older guy in front stops, turns around, hands his
Speaker 2: baseball bat to the guy behind, walks up to me,
Speaker 2: walks past me, up to Leon, grabs him shirt fronts
Speaker 2: him and growls, whars meth and kangaroo.
Speaker 1: You're kidding. It's the publican from the from where which.
Speaker 2: Pace I won't say precisely, but it was in the region,
Speaker 2: and they'd thrown the baseball bats in the car and
Speaker 2: they've gone in hot pursuit and they've my head was
Speaker 2: driven past and they've pulled in in front of the
Speaker 2: van in front, but the van was wider than their car,
Speaker 2: so I couldn't see it until I stuck my head
Speaker 2: out the side and I'm just sitting there thinking, oh,
Speaker 2: you've got to be joking. But then what happens is
Speaker 2: the four other guys in the back of the van
Speaker 2: see Leon getting shirt fronted, and everyone piles out and
Speaker 2: it's on for young enough. So the only good thing
Speaker 2: about any of this is nobody wants to fight me.
Speaker 1: Oh good.
Speaker 2: So I'm giving little epsots on the radio to D
Speaker 2: twenty four, saying everything under control, one person out of
Speaker 2: the van at a time. Two guys have just rolled
Speaker 2: up with baseball bats to seven guys having an argie barge.
Speaker 2: This is turning pears shapes, and I'm looking down at
Speaker 2: my little can of spray and I go this is
Speaker 2: just not going to cut it. So in the back
Speaker 2: we have the party packs, the big cans of spray.
Speaker 2: We got a couple, so I grab one in each hand,
Speaker 2: walk up to everyone and say, okay, everyone calm down
Speaker 2: and shut up, or I'm spraying everyone. And Leon turns
Speaker 2: to me and goes, don't do that, man, I've had
Speaker 2: it before. That reallys But everyone calms down and the
Speaker 2: publican are talking, and Leon goes, look, if you feel
Speaker 2: that bad about your kangaroo will pay for it. So
Speaker 2: I then go, hang on a minute, you're going to
Speaker 2: pay for it? Yeah, So I go to the publican,
Speaker 2: do you want to press charges? And the republican goes, well,
Speaker 2: not if he's going to pay for it. There's my
Speaker 2: theft out the window. So I said, right, you two guys,
Speaker 2: being the publican and he's son in law, you go
Speaker 2: back and wait in the car because they are drunk
Speaker 2: as and I'm going to have a chat to them
Speaker 2: about driving. You four guys go back and sit in
Speaker 2: the van. Leon I still need to see some idea.
Speaker 2: Leon turns to me and goes, this has been the
Speaker 2: weirdest night of my life. I'm going it's coming close
Speaker 2: to mine, to Leon. So so we come back. The
Speaker 2: two guys go back, get in the car, turn around.
Speaker 1: Drive off.
Speaker 2: They're all over the road, Me and Leon watching, and
Speaker 2: Leon turns to me goes, they're drunk, and I go, no,
Speaker 2: they're not. They're absolutely plastered. And he goes, aren't you
Speaker 2: going to stop them? And I went no, because I'm
Speaker 2: still tipping I've got mcrooks. Fifteen minutes later, Eden rolls up,
Speaker 2: we strip the van. I found a girl in the back.
Speaker 2: I don't know how she quite got there, but that
Speaker 2: was it. But guess what, it's not them. There was
Speaker 2: a third yellow van driving round e Skipsland at the
Speaker 2: same time on the stewing Knight stuff, also with five
Speaker 2: guys on board.
Speaker 1: They're the ones doing.
Speaker 2: The petrol drive offs and the thefts. They haven't been
Speaker 2: swapping number plates. It's two separate cars. It was just
Speaker 2: a bit of bad luck with We didn't know that
Speaker 2: until the next day when we found out. It was
Speaker 2: a slightly different make, model and color. And the only
Speaker 2: thing these guys have done is the kangaroo and the
Speaker 2: guy doesn't want to press charges. I've got nothing. So
Speaker 2: by this stage everyone in his Skipsland is listening to
Speaker 2: the radio what's happening, and they're expect me to come
Speaker 2: up and saying five persons under arrest are straight to
Speaker 2: the front bullbar and I'm driving back and charging every
Speaker 2: one with everything, And instead I came up with mark
Speaker 2: my last inquiries pending for a penalty notice, which is
Speaker 2: a ticket. And there's this pause and the operator comes
Speaker 2: back and says, Trig, how did you turn a crime
Speaker 2: spree into a penalty notice? And I've gone, well, it
Speaker 2: wasn't easy, but I did it. Now, in hindsight, I'd
Speaker 2: have been better staying with the German backpack of chicks.
Speaker 2: I could have got a whole better result out of that.
Speaker 1: I don't know about that. I don't think we want
Speaker 1: to propagate. I don't think we want to propagate those
Speaker 1: sort of in my dreams. Possibly this is a funny story,
Speaker 1: and it ends up a funny story and it's great.
Speaker 1: But if this were to do with young murders and things, this,
Speaker 1: this is sort of stuff that can get people charged
Speaker 1: with things they didn't do because of a natural inclination
Speaker 1: to think it's the same band exactly.
Speaker 2: And there were three bands, yes, three vans are the
Speaker 2: same on the same time. And I've never in my
Speaker 2: thirty one years, I've never had another job that could
Speaker 2: either come close to that.
Speaker 1: That is a wonderful story.
Speaker 2: So one of the other stories I had was I'm
Speaker 2: learning about country policing, and one day we caught a
Speaker 2: young kid, eight years old, Billy, stealing lollies on the
Speaker 2: way home from school. Now, there's nothing you can do
Speaker 2: with an eight year old that's stealing lollies except yelling
Speaker 2: him try and get his parents to do something about it.
Speaker 2: So we got him in the back of the van.
Speaker 2: We drive home. It was about twenty kilometers north of Portland.
Speaker 1: You could have capped him and gone over bumps, not
Speaker 1: an eight year old.
Speaker 2: So we we pull up outside and it's a dilapidated farmhouse.
Speaker 2: We're talking three foot high grass growing up in the thing,
Speaker 2: rusty car bodies, front door, hanging off the hinges. I've
Speaker 2: got Billy by the ear. I'm dragging him in. It's
Speaker 2: about six thirty at night, bed dinner time, and I
Speaker 2: can hear voices coming from the kitchen. So I stick
Speaker 2: my head around the corner and there's we'll call them
Speaker 2: the Smith family sitting at the dinner table, and Mars
Speaker 2: Smith is there. So I look around. I go get
Speaker 2: Ama and she looks up and goes, what do you want?
Speaker 2: And I go, well, it's Billy. We caught him stealing again.
Speaker 2: She goes, I told him. I told him, So you
Speaker 2: go into your spiel and you try and say, now, look, my,
Speaker 2: you know what's going to happen if he keeps this up,
Speaker 2: don't you. It's going to wind up in prison like
Speaker 2: his older brother Steven. I'm looking at this dinner table,
Speaker 2: six adults sitting at it. Everyone has food on their plate.
Speaker 2: One old bloke that down the end is eating. Nobody
Speaker 2: else is touching their food. There's something I can't put
Speaker 2: my finger on it. Billy sticks, he said. Around the
Speaker 2: quarter mass squeals at him.
Speaker 1: You get the bet. I'll deal with you later.
Speaker 2: Poor kid scamp is off and we sort of finish
Speaker 2: up and go, okay, well we're going to go. But
Speaker 2: if it happens again, straight to prison. Straight to prison.
Speaker 2: You're not but you're try and get creative. As I
Speaker 2: turned to leave, the lady sitting next to the old
Speaker 2: bloke who's eating, elbows in and says, hurry up, I'm
Speaker 2: getting hungry. The old blow goes oh for crying out loud,
Speaker 2: drops his knife and fork no joke, opens his mouth,
Speaker 2: takes out his teeth, passes them to her. She puts
Speaker 2: them in, she starts eating, and that's when it dawns
Speaker 2: on us. They're waiting for the teeth. True story?
Speaker 1: Is that a real story?
Speaker 2: I told that we at an Australian Bravery Association conference
Speaker 2: in Canberra one day, and I admit there were a
Speaker 2: few people like you who were a little bit lary
Speaker 2: of the truth of it. But one of the guys
Speaker 2: in the audience who I did not know, raised his
Speaker 2: hand and said, I know that family. It turns out
Speaker 2: he was a nurse at the Portland Hospital the same
Speaker 2: year as I was there, but I never met him,
Speaker 2: and he said they used to come in and eat
Speaker 2: their sandwiches the same way. So if you want to
Speaker 2: get a confirmation on the truth of the story, phone
Speaker 2: up Portland Police Station. Asked to speak to some of
Speaker 2: the long standing members and inquire as to the validity
Speaker 2: of it.
Speaker 1: Roughly where's that house.
Speaker 2: Roughly about twenty k north of Inland, But when we
Speaker 2: finished the interview, I'll tell you their actual names.
Speaker 1: Tony Wright my old time journo that was born and
Speaker 1: bred there and still lives there works he works at
Speaker 1: the age. But Tony Wright grew up at Portland and
Speaker 1: he will know that family. I reckon.
Speaker 2: Look, I honestly don't know if everyone was waiting for
Speaker 2: the teeth, but certainly the lady next to him had
Speaker 2: put them in and started eating. And we sat in
Speaker 2: the car afterwards just with shocked looks on our faces
Speaker 2: and said, surely that can't be right. You can't have
Speaker 2: a universal fitting on a set of tenches. But then
Speaker 2: we worked out they're all genetically similar. It probably does
Speaker 2: fit good. So yes, I will remember that one un
Speaker 2: till the day I die.
Speaker 1: Something that you might have seen it back of Omeo
Speaker 1: or day Go in the nineteen twenty No really really?
Speaker 1: Oh oh my goodness, mate, Mark Trigas, what's another story
Speaker 1: from your time as a remote policeman in remote parts
Speaker 1: of Victoria.
Speaker 2: I will set the scene a smaller town than Malakuda,
Speaker 2: heading back towards Melbourne.
Speaker 1: About an hour.
Speaker 2: Two locals sitting in an apartment with the old right,
Speaker 2: having a bit of a choof the front door, gets
Speaker 2: kicked in in walks the assailant, who actually says who
Speaker 2: wants to die first?
Speaker 1: Really, he's watching too much television.
Speaker 2: The young guy smoking the joint takes a drag and
Speaker 2: goes well and points to the other guy.
Speaker 1: Is that right you?
Speaker 2: As I are probably thinking he had something awesome axe machete,
Speaker 2: samurai saw it, But in this small town he had
Speaker 2: half a pair of nails and he's not afraid to
Speaker 2: use them.
Speaker 1: Is that right?
Speaker 2: So he had his thumb stuck in the nail, says as,
Speaker 2: And they were bent up and he formed a fist,
Speaker 2: and I swear they were coming about a centimeter out
Speaker 2: between his fingers. So the young guy jumps up, goes
Speaker 2: what the f puts his hands up. The other guy
Speaker 2: steps forward, punches in the arm, and he cops a
Speaker 2: mosquito bite through his arm. He looks down and goes
Speaker 2: Hugh runs out. Another guy tries to get off the ground.
Speaker 2: He was sitting down, so the assailant runs over and
Speaker 2: starts punching him.
Speaker 1: So the other guy starts.
Speaker 2: Kicking him, and the second victim cops a miniuci through
Speaker 2: his thigh, his knee, his ankle, and his ass. Meanwhile,
Speaker 2: the young guy who's gone out has gone next door
Speaker 2: to wear resides the just moved to town, retired prostitute.
Speaker 2: I love this town, she hears what's going on?
Speaker 1: A small, small town. Yes, there is not a largish down.
Speaker 2: Small She hears what's going on, says, not on my watch,
Speaker 2: and goes over to sort both the idiots out, picking
Speaker 2: up a lump of four B two on the way.
Speaker 2: Now you can tell this is just going to get better,
Speaker 2: can't you. She walks in, sees idiot town. It's got
Speaker 2: plenty of four two in it?
Speaker 1: Is that right? Yes?
Speaker 2: She walks in, sees idiot one punching idiot two lines
Speaker 2: him up and sconds him with a four bee. Doesn't
Speaker 2: do a lot of good light pine, so she bashes
Speaker 2: him another couple of times until he turns around, takes
Speaker 2: it offer and says, don't do that. She goes stuff
Speaker 2: you suchine and wades into him with the fists. He
Speaker 2: still got the knife technically, so he grabs her holds
Speaker 2: her down. This gives ample opportunity for the second Stabbee
Speaker 2: to leg it into the kitchen. Now of the myriad
Speaker 2: weapons available in a kitchen, he runs back out with
Speaker 2: a bong a bong a bong yeah right, lines him
Speaker 2: up and smacks him in the head with it. Doesn't
Speaker 2: break tough bong sample bottle, but it did hurt him,
Speaker 2: so he takes another swing and as he comes down,
Speaker 2: the guy peels out the side. He gets the girl underneath,
Speaker 2: elbow up, hits, shadows, lacerats of skin, stink and bob
Speaker 2: water everywhere, and then all the locals arrive and sit
Speaker 2: on everyone until I get there. I am trying to
Speaker 2: work out what happened.
Speaker 1: It would have taken some reconstruction.
Speaker 2: So I'm taking a statement off the second Stabbo and
Speaker 2: he's telling me about the Sam book a bottle and
Speaker 2: I look at him and I go, so you bond
Speaker 2: him and he goes, yeah, yeah, bond him and just
Speaker 2: shake my head. Then I had to go see the prostitute. Hello, former,
Speaker 2: she's retired. She was the retired sex wicker. She was
Speaker 2: she decided the country exactly and had actually retired to
Speaker 2: the country. And I said, hello, I don't think we've
Speaker 2: been introduced. I believe you're new to town. She said, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's right, only been here six weeks. I said, oh,
Speaker 2: where were you before that? She goes, oh, I did
Speaker 2: three years inside for the love of my life. So
Speaker 2: I said, so you and the love of your life
Speaker 2: have moved to the town and she said no, usho,
Speaker 2: I wasn't there when I got out. So I left
Speaker 2: him and I said, that's so sad. How did you
Speaker 2: guys meet? And she says, well, I was doing a
Speaker 2: burglary and I'm like, oh, you're kidding me. And she
Speaker 2: tells the story, which I am avidly listening to, and
Speaker 2: she says, well, I broke a window and I crawled
Speaker 2: in and he was asleep in the bed and he
Speaker 2: woke up and he went hello, and I said, oh, sorry,
Speaker 2: I didn't know anyone was here, and he said that's okay.
Speaker 2: So I said, if you've got any money, and he
Speaker 2: said no, but I'll swap you some weed for a job.
Speaker 2: And he said that sounds great and never left. That
Speaker 2: is the most romantic.
Speaker 1: Tale that I have ever heard. Where did that happen?
Speaker 1: Do you think you are? It was a town about
Speaker 1: an hour away from Malacuda Town in Victoria.
Speaker 2: Yes, in Victoria, so that has to be. I mean,
Speaker 2: you're out as a couple, you meet another couple. How
Speaker 2: do you guys meet? That is a conversation started I
Speaker 2: ever heard one?
Speaker 1: Was it? It had a timber mill in it this town?
Speaker 2: It possibly could have, Yes, would have it.
Speaker 1: It's not anymore. Puh.
Speaker 2: You may be right on that one. So all three
Speaker 2: went to hospital. The two guys who were stabbed were
Speaker 2: told not to annoy the other doctor because it didn't
Speaker 2: even break the skin. But the poor guy who started
Speaker 2: at all has now been hit in the head so
Speaker 2: many times he wound up with a subduel in atoma
Speaker 2: and they had to operate. And then we figured, well,
Speaker 2: that was probably a pretty good result from what happened anyway,
Speaker 2: And then the other two guys didn't want to make
Speaker 2: any complaints, so the whole lot just sort of went away.
Speaker 1: And did she ever find her lost love? No, No,
Speaker 1: I actually had a fair bit of time. I'm for her.
Speaker 2: She obviously had had quite traumatic, tough life, but she
Speaker 2: had guts. Yeah, I mean, just to take on two guys,
Speaker 2: even with a lump of four by two still takes guts.
Speaker 1: And I admire that. So, yes, good, that is a
Speaker 1: very very good story. Now, these stories and many others, of.
Speaker 2: Course, well there's exty one in the book.
Speaker 1: There's sixty one stories. Backup is three Hours Away by
Speaker 1: former policeman Mark Tregellis, who is north of two meters tall,
Speaker 1: and they're remarkable stories. Mark, They're terrific. It's really good.
Speaker 2: I've got to say that the paperbacks out, the ebook
Speaker 2: you can get as well online, and today the audiobook comes.
Speaker 1: Out and you read it or someone else. No.
Speaker 2: Timothy Knightley is a professional voice actor and last I
Speaker 2: I looked online, he was living in London. But because
Speaker 2: it's so expensive to create professionally done audio books, they
Speaker 2: prefer to use professional voice actors. One of the things
Speaker 2: I did say is that I don't think I mentioned
Speaker 2: is that the book was one of six which was
Speaker 2: selected by the Melbourne Film Festival for potential adaptation into
Speaker 2: a TV series.
Speaker 1: Oh that's good. So because this is where this is
Speaker 1: sort of where Heartbeat I remember exactly, or Country Practice.
Speaker 1: It's got a bit of all of that sort of excitement, pathos,
Speaker 1: humor all mixed in one half hour episode.
Speaker 2: I don't know if it will come to that. There's
Speaker 2: a lot that needs to do and it'll be two
Speaker 2: or three years if it does, but it would be
Speaker 2: absolutely amazing if that was the case. So if anybody
Speaker 2: would like to pick up a copy of the book,
Speaker 2: it's available in Australia on big W. You can walk
Speaker 2: into a Big W shop and they have it under
Speaker 2: True Crime. You can also order it online at big W,
Speaker 2: at Amazon and at nearly all the other online bookshops.
Speaker 2: The audiobook is available on Audible. So I'm really interested
Speaker 2: to see. I can't wait to hear what Timothy is
Speaker 2: like when.
Speaker 1: He saw I'd love to hear it. I doubt he's
Speaker 1: much better than you are yourself, to be honest. The
Speaker 1: beautiful thing about these stories, and we've only heard a
Speaker 1: sprinkling of them, there are many more in the book.
Speaker 1: The beautiful thing is they have the whi of authenticity,
Speaker 1: and the authentic always appeals to people. And I think
Speaker 1: that out there among our listeners, they will love the
Speaker 1: sound of something authentic, and I think a lot of
Speaker 1: people are going to want to read your book.
Speaker 2: That's one of the things that people who've spoken to
Speaker 2: me who've read it were surprised at. They said that
Speaker 2: they had no idea that this is what remote area
Speaker 2: police officers got up to. They only see you giving
Speaker 2: out tickets or doing PBTs or road accidents or something
Speaker 2: like that. But there's this incredible other side of raising
Speaker 2: a family in a community. You can't do things like
Speaker 2: charge someone for drink driving and then go to the
Speaker 2: pub the next day that get drunk and everybody sees
Speaker 2: you jump into your car and drive home drunk, because
Speaker 2: it just takes away your credibility. So you have to
Speaker 2: try and do that. But twenty six of my thirty
Speaker 2: one year career was in remote country areas. During that time,
Speaker 2: I broke my back, my knee, my shoulder, my elbow,
Speaker 2: I had two bouts of post trauma, and I was
Speaker 2: shot and all those stories.
Speaker 1: Are in there, and we won't talk about the shot
Speaker 1: one because I happen to know the true story behind it,
Speaker 1: and I think it will come as a nice surprise.
Speaker 1: It will, yes or not, I suppose think it's not
Speaker 1: what most people think. No, that's good, Mark. You've told
Speaker 1: us a heap of good stories and I don't want
Speaker 1: you to tell us all of another one. But someone
Speaker 1: mentioned to me something about taking on neo Nazis, but
Speaker 1: in your pajamas or in your jobs or what was that?
Speaker 1: Don't tell the story.
Speaker 2: I don't tell the story. But basically, there were three
Speaker 2: Neo Nazis just out of prison that were beating a
Speaker 2: woman almost to death, and I intervened, dressed in barefoot
Speaker 2: in a pair of pajamas. But in order to hear
Speaker 2: the rest of that, they'll have to buy the book.
Speaker 1: I think that's a good idea. Mark, thanks for coming
Speaker 1: in once more, and now it's goodbye forever or until
Speaker 1: the next book. Absolute pleasure, Andrew, thanks for listening. Life
Speaker 1: in Crimes is a Sunday Herald Sun production for True
Speaker 1: Crime Australia. Our producer is Johnty Burton. For my columns,
Speaker 1: features and more, go to herald'sn dot com dot au
Speaker 1: forward slash Andrew rule one word. For advertising inquiries, go
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Speaker 1: That is all one word news podcast's sold. And if
Speaker 1: you want further information about this episode, links are in
Speaker 1: the description.