Australians at War Film Archive Robert Scarr - Transcript of interview Date of interview: 12th May 2004 http://australiansatwarfilmarchive.unsw.edu.au/archive/2086 Tape 1 00:40 If you just want to start off and just introduce yourself to us? My full name is Robert Jack Scarr, I was born on 16 August 1921 in Brisbane, 01:00 and at a very young age we moved on to a property between Blackall and Barcaldine, called Meena Park. Me being the eldest of the family, three other brothers were born when we were on that property, and in 1931 01:30 I think it was either '30 or '31, the owner of the property died, and it was in the height of the Depression. The estate, or the executors of the estate, couldn't afford to pay wages, so we had to leave. So we moved to Brisbane for a short time, probably about twelve or eighteen months. Our father drew a block, a sheep station, resumption of a property called Tarbreaks 02:00 in the Richmond, Maxwelton district, and we moved there in 1932. There were twenty seven thousand acres in the block, unimproved, just a flowing bore, and of course we built a home. And I can always remember the cost of building a home was thirty two pounds, that's fifty four dollars, 02:30 a three bedroom, plain home. Then of course, that was 1932, I think we built the house in '33, and for those years up until 1939 we worked on the property establishing buildings and fencing and stocking, and all that. What are your earliest memories of being a kid growing up in the '30's? My 03:00 earliest memories, I can always remember when we were on this property at Meena Park, what age would I have been then? About seven or eight, and we had a very quiet horse, a flea bitten grey, and he was my horse, and even at that young age I could climb all over the 03:30 horse. He was a beautiful animal, and it was my job to bring the horses in early in the morning. At first light we would go out and saddle, and catch Old Kelt, as we called him, and bring the horses in. We also had a large chestnut horse that I wasn't, I was too young to ride of course, he was a bit flighty. The only means of mounting this horse was to take a 04:00 kerosene tin and step up on the tin and then pull the tin up on to the horse. He was so quiet you could do it. This morning I decided I would do the same with Glen. I managed to get the bridle on him and I managed to get on his back, but when I pulled the kerosene tin up he objected and he bolted. I can always see that fence coming up closer and closer, and he stopped, and 04:30 I of course went over the fence, tin and all. That's one experience, and I got a hiding then because he bolted home with the bridle and of course parents said, "Why did you put the bridle on Glen?" I was just mischievous and I wanted to ride him. That's one little incident I can always remember. From a very early age you had jobs to do on the property? Yes, we learnt very young. As I say 05:00 one was to bring the horses in, in the morning, and the other was to milk the cows and feed the poddy lambs [orphaned lambs], and the pig and the sty, we had chores, and do as much help, give your parents as much help as you possibly could. It must have been a good lifestyle for a kid growing up on a property? Once a week we'd ride the horse down to the main road and meet the mailman 05:30 and get our mail from him, and give him our outgoing mail and that. That was one of our chores. We used to look forward to that of course. In between working, what sort of mischief did you get up to when you weren't working? Well, if we could quietly feed the rifle, we'd shoot crows, and we usually got into very big trouble if we were found out. 06:00 Typical boys’ life. There was no such thing as sport. We didn't learn to play football or cricket, we made our own fun in the bush. We learnt to trap animals, we learnt to trap dingoes from the dodgers in the district, they gave us all the finer points at a young age. That was our main lifestyle. You were the 06:30 eldest? Yes. How far below were your next brothers? The next brother was four years younger, and about eighteen months, and about two years. It was quite a big family because there were more born after, but the three brothers were born at Meena Park – was the name of the property. Can you remember what the homestead or the house was like there? Yes, I can remember it. 07:00 It was a rambling two storied house, detached rooms, such as a harness room, a butcher shop, and all that was sort of incorporated in the building. What about bedrooms, did you have your own? Yes, I can always remember my bed was on the verandah, and I had a big ginger tom cat, and he'd always go to 07:30 sleep with me, but when I woke up in the morning he was gone. What was your mum like? She was a stern sort of a woman in a lot of ways, and very kind in a lot of ways. Quite severe with us, and the strap was always hanging in a convenient spot where we'd get a whack 08:00 across the behind. Was she the disciplinarian or was dad? He was very stern, but very fair. How much did you see of your dad in a normal day? It always depends, if it was shearing time, or marking time, or other movement of stock – 08:30 We ate very early in the morning, and then of course it was all horse work, no machinery in those days. You probably wouldn't see him all day until just on sun down when he came home. Did you hang around when they were doing the shearing and things like that? Yes, when we were capable of giving a hand, yes. What sort of work would you have to do helping out there? Mush [round up] the sheep, 09:00 pen up, help draft, poke them up the rail for drafting. It wasn't a very hard job, you didn't have to be very old to do that. What are your most vivid memories of growing up on a property like that? As I say, that incident with the horse was one of the main incidences. It 09:30 was just a normal life, early rise, and late to bed, same type of work day after day. To some people it sounds monotonous but to a bush kid it was interesting, we lived for that life. After your evening meal what would the family do for entertainment? If you could listen to the radio 10:00 in between static and bubbles and squeaks and that, you'd probably listen to, Dad and Dave, or one other session. That was really our only entertainment, no television, no refrigerators, no electricity, it was all kerosene lights. What did they use? Did they have a meat safe or something like that to refrigerate the meat? We had 10:30 what I was saying, a butcher's room, or butcher shop as we called it. That's where the carcass hung up, it was cut up on the morning after it set overnight. We had pigs and sty, and in the winter time we'd kill a pig and scald it, and cut it up and make bacon and ham and all that. It was part of our life. What sort of food can you remember mum cooking up for you? 11:00 Food, our food didn't vary very much. It was meat and vegetables and eggs, and we made our own butter, milking cows and all that, very wholesome food. We were fortunate of course, being on a property we could grow our own vegetables and have our own cows. People in the town or cities were restricted, and they did it hard. We did it really well. What 11:30 do you remember of those Depression years? The short time that we were in Brisbane, I stayed with an uncle and aunt, and they had a fish shop, and I can always remember the relief workers working on the roads, and I think the wages was about seven shillings a week, and they'd come over to the fish shop and buy a packet of 12:00 chips for one penny, and squeeze the chips between two slices of dry bread, and that was their lunch. They'd sit in the gutter or wherever they were working, and that was all they could eat, those were terrible days really, people don't realise how bad they were. So, being forced from the property, what was the reasons behind the property being sold? The owner by the name of Tom 12:30 Hunter, he owned three properties.