By Alesha Capone
How did you first become interested in budgies?
My uncle used to breed them 60 years ago. I first saw them at his place. Then when I came to Australia, I bought a couple of birds. I was only going to have a couple, but then they start to breed. I just enjoy doing it, and you meet a lot of people. The best place I’ve got was second in the nationals this year, in Sydney.
And you and your wife also used to breed and show rough collie dogs?
We got our first dog in South Australia, Lyn. We showed her and she won everything. After Lyn we got Laddie, who was a New Zealand champion. In those days, the milkman used to come around and ladle the milk into billycans, which were kept in the mailbox. We would get up in the morning and we would have no milk – we would wonder what happened, and it turned out that Laddie was drinking it. When we came to Victoria, we had a show dog named Benson, which was the name of a butler in a television show.
How long have you been living in the Werribee area?
We’ve been in Werribee 51 years. The changes have been unbelievable. Werribee was a country town. When we used to go down the Princes Highway, there were two lanes of traffic. When you went into Werribee on a Sunday, you would know everybody. We’ve been in Werribee South for about 27 or 28 years now. The people out here are good people. I’ve done work on a lot of the houses out here, I was a handyman and I would do anything, including plumbing. I made a great friend out here, Tony Liangos, who treated us like family. He was a fantastic bloke. He got me plenty of work, so has his son and his grandson. I also worked on the telephone lines and I became a foreman at Telecom in Werribee. That was a top job.
You’re a keen darts player too.
When I was in England, I played darts. I came to Australia at 25 years old and didn’t play again until I was about 42 or 43. I was president of the Western Suburbs League for 10 years. I’ve got about 200 darts trophies. I’m no good now, due to age, but I was good! I still compete, it’s good exercise.
