WHIM CREEK PUB.

The Whim Creek Pub. You ever been there?

No.7   in my series of short stories.

Whim Creek Pub

SOLD. In the 1970's the iconic Whim Creek Pub was a stop off point for a monthly shopping trip to Port Hedland for myself my girlfriends and all our kids. A 500klm round trip and on the way home the Whim Creek Pub just happened to be a pitstop.

A friend of ours owned a gold lease on Croydon Station where the pub is situated and we had many days there camping out and prospecting. On weekends there would be lots going on at the pub, people from 100’s of miles around, from cattle stations and shift workers from the mines looking for some fun on their time off. Tourists in caravans, bikies in all their leathers in the stinking hot weather, cold beers, dancing and drinking, made up great parties and some wonderful times in this iconic old pub.

Around 30 years before we arrived, my father had worked out of a sea container that was made up as the local Post Office placed out the front of this old pub, though a cyclone soon took it out and he saved himself by getting under a pool table, my goodness has that pub seen some cyclones.

We sometimes had a weekend at Balla Balla the small inlet on the coast not far from the pub. Our main excuse for going to Balla Balla was for fishing and diving. Then came the mud crab races, mud fights with lots of friends and of course who can forget the demon sand flies and sunburn. Can you believe we loved it?

No.122. HOLY TRINITY ANGLICAN CHURCH ROEBOURNE

Holy Trinity Anglican Church Roebourne

As an 18 year old my father worked on Croydon Station for Mrs McCamey the wife of Ken McCamey of whom McCameys Monster was named. That is the rich Iron Ore deposits of which the area is known for. He did say that Mrs McCamey called him Billy (we knew him as Russell) and on a particular Sunday she insisted he go into Roebourne with a few of the workers to go to Church.

The painting here is of that church and I painted it around 1979 when we lived in Roebourne. I don’t know if dad knew what the inside of a church looked like but he said on that day the priest declared that the war had started. I won’t go into stuff I am not 100% sure of and as my father died several years ago he has taken all that information with him. Who would have ever guessed that unbeknown to me I would end up living and teaching myself to paint in the same place my dad had lived so many years before.