Les Noakes(1914-2009) interviewed by Bruce Simpson and Bill Gammage in the Drovers oral history project

CONTRIBUTORS:

Noakes, Les 1914-2009 (creator, ive})Simpson, Bruce (Bruce Forbes) 1923- (ivr})Gammage, Bill 1942- (ivr})

Recorded on June 8, 2006 at Bundaberg, Queensland.

Les Noakes (1914 - 2009) discusses his family life and background; father's farm; leaving school at 11; his first job with bullock team; teams responding to voice, whip being just for directions; pulling timber; the Depression; mustering; working with draft horses; breaking in horses; working with horses at sugar mills; hospital; mules; American donkeys; ploughing; seasons; floods; compares using horse and bullock teams, but depends on drover; trucks, tractors gradually take over.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.oh-vn3705302

See, I hit the Depression, see, when I was just leavin' school. Well, there was nothin'. So all the blokes around the district, anyone sick, up and down, eh. We'd go musterin' with blokes. We used to dip with them and everything. We'd get two bob a day and smoko. Well then it got that way you just fell in helpin' people. And then you struck some hard cases, some very hard cases. And if they had a mongrel pony they'd give it to you, till you it was quiet and then you'd lose it. And as a young man you can do a lot of breakin' in, like, and we used to fall for 'em, you know. I'll tell you one funny thing about an old bloke. He used to stop one month with that brother; he spent another month with this brother. And we'd pulled a crop of corn and he was a bit green- to beat the rain, you know, because the flood would have went over it, see. reckon that was the best row of corn that'd ever come up on the place.

And this old bloke, he's in the bar, and he had a bellyful of green corn. And he come to me, he said, 'That son Billy,' he said, 'he going to to killa me.' He said, 'Oh, boy, I'm sick, I'm sick.' So I went down and I said, 'You better do something for your father.' 'Oh,' he said,' he'll be right.' So anyhow I come up and had a look at him and he said to me, 'You better go down and get me some milk.' The old cow was not far away. So I get him some milk, and he comes up. He had a full pack of Epsom salts and a big nip of OP rum- not like the rubbish today. You'd fill it up with milk- down it went. Well, he took off then to his brother. He said, 'Billy, you're killin' me, killin' me.' We used to reckon that was the best row of corn that’s ever come up on the place

And what age were you when you left school, Les?

Oh, round about 11

And what was your first job?

Pullin' a bullock team in the scrub.

They were big bullocks, see. And it'd take about four months to break a good bullock in, you know.

Oh, well, you'd pick a big bullock. It's a bit hard, bullock teams. You've got to pick a right bullock to get the right weight for the next bullock.

Like them days horses were like motor cars. There was horses everywhere. See? Everybody who had a farm had about 20 horses.

Just called them around. See, and you never hit a beast- you'd have a whip, you know, but you never hit a beast, you know, unless they really deserved it. And they respected you just as much as you respected them.

So there were no reins on the horse teams either- you called them around too, didn't you?

Mmm. You know, there was a lot of art in it. Now down Granite Creek, you had 18 horses in the team- no winkers. You had three bridles on the front levers and you used to cross the creek 18 times in a mile, in and out the stones. See and up on the hill, a big bloke, there was a bloke Jack Long had a horse team. And on the end of the mountain he used to shoot this pine down. It'd come down the rocks and then you could light a fire with it, you know, so the mill wouldn't take it. So they put a box chute down. And that had caught fire- went all black. Charred it all, see. So the old uncle, he bought an old tractor and he hooked her on to the Granite Creek in the water and as that went down, that pulled the water up for the next one. And he bought all that pine out down in water.

Shoeing horses in the backyard with his five kids watching on. 33 Buss St, Bundaberg. About 1964

Those mules, look- I had a mule, Les, I used to ride. You know, I could get on it [inaudible]. I used to ride and jump on side saddle and work him all day. Then you might be half a mile away from the yard, you know. Jump up there, and blokes would get crooked on you, see. So next morning they'd be in early and they'd grab the mule and take him, see. And they'd hop on him and ride him, see, laughin'. So I said, 'Well, I'll take your horse.' I said, 'You want to hang on tonight comin' home.' 'I'll be right', he said. By Christ, you never seen a bloke get thrown so high and buried in the dirt so quick. Yeah.

1970Bundaberg

Coraline NoakesLes NoakesMark Noakes

1932

Cane. I've seen it rain, Depression years, '32, Millaquin went a month; Bingera went a month; Cordalba didn't open; Gin Gin never opened; Fairymead went six weeks. There was 800 cane cutters on Fairymead and I was one of them. And middle of November there was two moons in the one month. And it rained. When I say rain, it did rain. The next day they give us sixpence a ton to go out and pick the cane up. The water was up to our belt and we followed tram line, puttin' the trucks in. Martel was tram-man. See, they used to have six horses beside the trucks, you know. And the horses were up to the chains, you know, in their collars. They used to swim over the drains and we were puttin' a ton on the trucks and away she is goin' into the mill. And down at the five ways they had a big steam engine there in them days, and they had a pump about that big, and I used to pump the water into the sea.

About 1998 Xmas ?

Some Noakes family history (Bundaberg)http://www.maryanjh.com/additional%20notes%20George%20noakes.htm

George and Margaret had 12 children, 11 at Springhill, and 1 at Albionville. Mary Ann, James Ephraim, Charles Frederick, George Tanner, Florence Margaret, Mabel Thornhill, Oliver Richard, Thomas Norman, William Thornhill, Laurence Walter, Hilda Eveline and Elsie Phyllis. The four youngest children attended Albionville School.1917 was a year the family suffered the loss of both George Noakes as well as his son William who was killed in France during World War 1. The property was subdivided into 90-100 acre blocks and the sugar mill, sawmill and the barracks were all sold for removal.George Tanner Noakes also went to War at the age of 21, and was lucky to return ‘unscathed’. He married Martha Workman in 1906 and they had four children, George, Mona Isobel, James Workman, and Martha Helen. All of the children went to the Bullyard School. His wife died in 1919 and he remarried in 1920 to Bessie Evelyn Trevor and together had another four children, Dorothy, Cedric William, Ivan Keith, and Beryl who also went to Bullyard School. George owned a property called ‘Table Top’ at Bullyard and subsequently sold it to Mr. F.E. Stehbens.Oliver Richard Noakes married Rosina Mason, daughter of David and Sarah Mason, on their 151 acre property at Albionville. It is rumoured that the dogs outnumbered the people! They had 7 children, Stanley Oliver, Arthur Lesley, Rose, Linda, Esme, George Raymond and Ruby Vivienne, who all attended Albionville School. They worked their land growing sugar cane and their own vegetables. Corn was especially productive with 4 cobs of corn growing on one stalk. White corn was grown for porridge and sweet potatoes would be fed to the pigs. The farm life kept the children entertained.

Noakes’ and the Bundaberg sugar industry

http://www.maryanjh.com/news%20noakes.htm

And useful family history in Bundaberg at

http://www.maryanjh.com/George%20and%20Margaret%20Noakes.htm