Fred Guard
Memories of Booval,
the Bremer River
and Ipswich Railway
Workshops
Date of interview: 1995
Interviewer: Robyn Buchanan
Interview available on CD
Track 01
I was born in Rosewood on the 1st of March 1906 and I
was educated at Rosewood State School. I left Rosewood
during the war. My father worked in O’Shea’s sawmill
in Rosewood - we lived in Matthew Street, Rosewood. I
spent my schooling days, the biggest part, at Rosewood
State School.
While in Rosewood the war broke out - the First World
War - and they started a march from way out the other side
of Toowoomba and it was “go and get your dungarees
on”. They marched up from Rosewood State School up
to Lanefield I think it was to come back to the town and
then they went and camped on the showgrounds and had
a big rally that night.
They got quite a lot of Rosewood boys to join the
“dungarees on”. We were down there [to the rally] - they
got quite a lot of the Rosewood boys.
What was the march like?
They were all just dressed in dungarees - that’s how
they made the song up “go and get your dungarees on”
and I think by the time they got to Brisbane they had a
battalion, enough for an army.
Then after that, we left Rosewood and came down to
Booval. I finished my schooling days at Silkstone State
School. I used to do a paper run of a morning before I
went to school. I used to deliver papers to our Honorable
Member Frank Cooper - he used to be our state member
in those days. Jacaranda Street, that’s where he lived. (I
Fred Guard - oral history interview
could show you the house, if I was going past). You’d do
your run and then go home and back up to school.
Then as time went on, I got a job in the mines at a place
called Wattle Glen, that was on the loop line [down at
Blackstone/Bundamba]. Then the mine closed down and
I got a job at Redbank Coal Mine. As a lad, I was only
allowed on top and then I went down below after and
worked down on the coal. I had a mate - I was a wheeler
and he was the faceman. I had to fill all the wagons and
wheel them out and then they’d bring them up by the
rope, up the shaft. Redbank was a shaft. They’d bring
them up there and they’d come up by cage. To push the
wagons along, they had wooden railway lines first but
they were too hard and they gradually put the [?iron rails
down].
While I was working down there - not on the particular
day - that mine had an explosion. I think it was St
George’s Day if I remember right. We had the day off
and three miners went down. There was the boss and
the roadsman and the deputy went down to work. It was
raining and a really wet day. Word got around there’d
been and explosion down there and three miners were
killed there. So, it closed down then for a while and they
decided they’d go back to work again and open it up on
another seam.
We used to have to use safety lamps in those days - about
seven pound in weight. If you just touched them, you
were in the dark. We were more in the dark than in the
19 - “Word got around there’d been an explosion down there and three miners were killed....”
(Photo, people waiting for news at Redbank pithead. from Queensland Times 25 April 1928)
light! Now, they’ve got all electric lights on but never
mind.
The Redbank mine was where Redbank Plaza is. It’s built
on top of where the mine actually was. It wasn’t too deep,
about 350 [feet] I’d say, something like that.
The explosion was that severe that three miners got
killed and it blew one cage right up from the bottom to
the poppet head up the top. We spent the day there and
they brought the men up and we all wanted to see them.
Then they said you couldn’t. But being working there,
they let anybody who worked there go and have a look.
You never saw such a mess. You couldn’t recognise them.
They were all burnt. After a while, they opened back up
again, went on these safety lamps and that.
Then the Depression broke. Nearly all the mines had men
off and everything. We had the Great Depression days.
If you wanted to get a bit of rations you had to ride a
bike from Booval up to about Harrisville I think for five
shillings worth of rations. I was out of work and you
couldn’t get a job in the other mines because they all had
their own men off. So, after a long time picking up bits
of jobs and that, I got a job in the railway. I worked in the
boiler shop there for 32 years until I retired.
I was assistant to the boiler maker (making the boilers for
the steam engines). There were quite a lot of sections there
- a boiler shop, paint shops, erecting shops, moulders.
Overall, I think they had about 3000 odd men then, quite
a few. How things have changed.
When I first came to live in Booval, there was hardly
anybody in the street at all. I could tell you all the houses
Fred Guard - oral history interview
that were along there. There were only about half a dozen
from the station up. I lived on Station Road, 18 - no 31
now, they changed the numbers.
They didn’t have bitumen roads in those days, just a dirt
road. You got a storm and when the people were going
to work, they’d wear an old pair of shoes down. On the
old Booval station, there was a little waiting room and
they’d all leave their shoes there and change into a good
pair. When they came back at night...in those days you
could leave them there and nobody took anyone else’s.
You couldn’t do that now. Not now.
I went to the Railway Workshops by train, the worker’s
train. They used to run a train from Brisbane. They picked
up at Bundamba four coaches, and then they’d come to
Ipswich and they’d go up and pick up from Rosewood
about three coaches. By the time they backed around and
came over the bridge to the workshops, I suppose they
had about 11 or 12 coaches on. That covered Rosewood
and all around this circle. So we worked over there.
There weren’t many shops in Booval when we came to
live there. They’ve got the big place Woolworths now.
We had a flu epidemic break out when we were young.
Nearly everybody had this flu (just after World War 1).
Whoever was well, they had a Congregational Church up
on the corner of Station Road and Brisbane Road. They
had a big soup kitchen up there. You used to have a big
four-quart billycan you used to use when you worked in
the mines and you’d take that up and get it full of soup
and share it around. I think there were a couple of deaths
from the flu. You could be walking up the road and get
19 - Building a bridge during a camp at Redbank - Fred Guard second from left
halfway up and it’d hit you. Nearly everybody had this
wog - flu it was. It was a terrible flu.
Track 02
Interviewer: You have a photo of Redbank Rifle range,
would you tell me about that?
When I went to school, you had to join the cadets when
you were 14. You had to go until you were 21. We used
to go out Raceview way to do our drilling, and then up
in the Drill Sheds [in Milford St]. We had three camps
to put in while we were doing our time until we were
21. Eight day camps. I did two at Redbank and one at
Enoggera. Where the rifle range goes across, we had to
take the bottom of a carriage down there to build a bridge
across. We were in what they called the engineers and we
had to build this bridge across down there. That’s how we
came to be camped down there in tents. We used to do a
bit of shooting but oh, they didn’t know what they were
doing. The big guns they had - 303s. Number one would
be firing and number three or something. They had a little
shed there and one from one end put a bullet through the
top of the shed - I can remember that. They came sailing
out with a red flag and waved it and waved it.
One thing I can remember in one of the camps was one of
the doctors there. The sick parade came out one morning
and he though there were too many on it or something. He
gave them all a big dose of castor oil. Next morning, he
only had the really sick ones out there!
Fred Guard - oral history interview
We had quite a few at the camps. Brisbane had joined in
with us. The camp that we spent down at Enoggera, we
had to put a road from the camp (we had little huts down
there; in Redbank we only had tents) to the magazine,
where they kept all the explosives and that.
So, most of Ipswich were miners and we used to use
gelignite in the mines but down there they had another
kind of stuff. They asked anybody did they know how
to use the explosives. “Oh yes”, they all knew how to do
it. I think they called it Gun Cotton or something. You
had to dig around all these trees. They had no idea how
much to put in, half of them and they blew everything up.
But, anyhow, we got the road down there with pick and
shovels. We had eight days to camp.
We were working in the mine and getting 17 shillings a
day down there and we got four shillings, I think, in the
army.
Another incident happened down there in Redbank. There
was a big Camp Adjutant, he was the head man, and they
didn’t get on very well with him. He was showing his
authority. So what they did, they picked a certain amount
out - they had a great big special tent for him. They
counted out how many there was and they decided they’d
all get around there and untie the ropes around his tent.
On one word, they all let the ropes go, and let it come
down on top of him. Of course, they call all the pickets
and they were racing around, they dived in anywhere.
They never got who did that. Ah dear! There were some
really hard cases down there.
19 - “We spent most of our time on the river.....we used to have an old tent.....”
Were there horses there? Was it a Light Horse camp?
We had what they call what they call the drivers. They
used to bring up lots of pontoons so we could build
bridges and that with them. But when we had to carry this
stuff from Redbank Station - the undercarriage of a cattle
truck it was - we had to carry it from there and put it in
place down near the rifle range. The short ones weren’t
getting any weight and the tall ones were getting all the
weight. Anyhow, we got over that.
The funny part was everything was tin. Tin cups, tin
pannikins, plates, knives and forks. When we broke camp,
they charges us threepence or sixpence for breakages!
We wound up and went back to our jobs again. When
we turned 21, we were finished with the army then. It
discontinued later on, as years went on. It was compulsory
to be in the cadets in those days. You had a card and had to
have it signed. You had to go to the Drill Sheds in Ipswich
after this placed closed down at the end of Station Road
there.
Did you do parades there?
Yes, and they’d get more lectures, you had to put in so
many hours. We had to go one night a week and a Saturday
afternoon down there ... there was a little house there - I
can’t think of the people’s name- we used to leave our
rifles up there.
Fred Guard - oral history interview
Track 03
We got over that and then Booval started to build up quite
a lot then. We started to get bitumen roads in and a few
more houses, more shops. Later on, we had Co-Operative
opposite the Congregational Church. On the other corner
was Frank Reid’s paddock. I can’t remember who was on
this other side when you’re coming down Station Road.
It was all open along there. Then coming down Station
Road from Brisbane Road there was the Alpha Theatre
and a chap Ike Loney and I think somebody else ran
that. Then further down the road toward the station used
to be a well there and a blacksmiths shop. Then further
down, they gradually got a big miners’ hall built there
[the National Ha;, now the Cambrian Centre] and then
you hit the station. Today, you can walk from the station
up to Brisbane Road on the left hand side and you there’s
no residences at all – it’s all built up.
There was a write up one time and they said we had gates
at the station and I can’t remember the railway gates
although I must’ve gone through them to go to school - it
was the only way before they put the overbridge in.
When you come this side, the north side of Booval, there
used to be (where the carpark is, the railway carpark)
there used to be little house there for the station master. I
think his name was Flanagan. In those days, they used the
19 - Morse Code from station to station. The story was told to
me - I don’t know whether it was true or not - but they
were ringing up because there was a train derail. And he
was supposed to have said it was “Off. On again. Away
again. Flanagan.” Whether that was true or not, I don’t
remember.
When we came up the station on Station Road, there was
an old resident - old Mrs Cooney. She was the oldest
resident I can remember. I think that was how Cooney’s
Hill got named - the area around Station Road used to be
called Cooney’s Hill. The bus used to have it on - Cooney’s
Hill Bus. Then you continued on right down to the river.
In those days, they used to collect the rubbish and dump
it down there. When a flood came, it would sweep in and
wash a lot of it away down the river. The part I didn’t like
about that was living around near that, you were infested
with rats and snakes and all that. Eventually, they closed
that down. Then there was a big open paddock there
- Logans had that. They sold it and Krugers bought it.
Then they cut it up into allotments later and all down over
North Booval, all those houses down there.
And then we got the big flood in 1974. It’s the highest I
ever saw it. All those houses were covered. You could just
see part of them down there. We were fortunate. We were
fortunate, we were up on the higher blocks. We were all
right here. It’s the highest I ever saw it. It backed up right
around the station and everywhere.
Track 04
You used to go fishing in your younger days?
In my younger days, you never had much choice - the
three or four of us spent most of our time on the river,
the Bremer River. We had rowboats and we used to row
all the way down to the Junction, the Army Home [the
Salvation Army Home for Boys]. Then we’d go up the
river towards Fairy Bower, up the Brisbane River going
towards College’s Crossing way. In those days, Coles had
a motor boat and he used to run trips every weekend and
go down to Myora Park, that’s down near the Army home
where you hit the Brisbane River. He used to go straight
across and go up the other side of the river. We used to
row right up and camp up there. We had different names
for all the places.
A lot used to go at Easter time. In our younger days, the
people used to come up there for the holiday at Easter
break and camp on the river. All we ever did was have an
old tent and we would lay it on the ground. Got a few fish.
Take a bit of food with you. We caught mostly catfish,
eels. We used to have always a pretty big fire and chuck
them on there. Get a few nice mullet at times. You had
to know your way up there to go up the Brisbane River
because there’s a few bad spots. Of course, we had a flat
bottomed boat. We ran high and dry a few times getting
up there but never mind. They were good old days. We
spent most of our young days on the river.
Was the river any cleaner then than now?
I hardly go over the river now, I wouldn’t know.
I remember at one time we had water hyacinth here and
it blocked all the boats coming up here. They used to put
booms all across and I have a photo of that. The old Essex
used to run up to Ipswich and load and come back. They
used to let it through. I was hoping to get a photo of the
Essex where it was caught between the hyacinth. They
had two or three men with a pitchfork throwing it out
from the water. In the finish, they brought a barge up from
Brisbane with a big bucket on. They were trying to grab
this bucket full and try and swing it around and bale it out
to see if they could get rid of it. It turned out that we got
Water hyacinth blocked all the boats coming up here...in the finish, they brought a barge up from Brisbane with a big
bucket on it...”
Fred Guard - oral history interview
19 - a big flood in the river. It washed everything out and as
soon as it got down to the salt water, that was the end of
it. Poor old Brisbane copped the lot.
When you say a boom, what do you mean? Was it a
chain?
To try to hold it back, I don’t know if the boom was
drums laced together and tied across? It all depended on
the tides. They had to let it go to let a boat go through.
What did the Essex carry?
The Essex carried all cargo and goods. It had to unload
in Ipswich there. There were boats before that but I don’t
remember them, but I do remember the Essex coming up
and down.
In later years, Percy Manders ran a boat from East Ipswich
I think which would run up and down to Brisbane. That’s
a long while ago since he’s been running. I don’t know
what the river is like now. I don’t seem to get down that
far to look at it.
Were there any other sports in the river?
They used to run a Three-mile Swim from Booval to
Ipswich, to the old town bridge. They used to come up
from Brisbane and join in. We used to go over the river
where they started.
There used to be a piggery on top of the river bank and
there used to be a man named Berghauser had this big
piggery. He used to get the buttermilk from the factory
- they’d run a pipeline from the factory to the top of the
bank and he used to have all his pigs down there. I think
that ran down from about the factory to about Burton
Street I think it’s called now. Somewhere down in that
direction where he had his piggery. As time went on, he
sold out of that.
Well, they used to start [the three-mile race] from round
about there and swim right up to the town. It all depended
on the tides. One time, I remember they came the opposite
way, the tides didn’t suit on the day. I can’t remember
all the names of those that won, now. I remember old
Spokes Pedley, he won it one year. Pedley was a great
name around Booval in those days. They had a store just
near the station there, just this side of the National Hall.
In later years, they shifted their home and put it down
another place and they’ve got all little shops there now.
Track 05
Just up past there, there was a little home. I think their
name was Watts. They had all these big loquat trees at the
back of the house; beautiful loquat trees. Of course, the
lads used to get them around, you know. They saw the
house and thought they’d get some loquats one night but
they waited until he was right at the top - he was to get the
loquats and they were below. Just as he got to the top and
started to fill his shirt, they sang out “Police!”. They were
off and left him and I think his shirt was still left on the
Fred Guard - oral history interview
tree. They’d get under the Nash [National Hall] and fight
amongst themselves and that, but they never molested.
You could walk right up that road any time you liked to
walk up and they’d never interfere with you at all. They
only fought amongst themselves. They didn’t do anyone
harm.
Just about where the hardware shop is now [the hardware
store in Station Rd] is where the well used to be many
years ago.
Was that a public well?
There was a blacksmith there. I think it was only spring
water and you could go and get it. In those days, we
only had tank water. You had to depend on the tanks in
those days. Just off the Bundamba Creek down there, just
behind where you go up Bridge Street - where the church
is, just behind there, there was a lagoon and that was off
the creek. The water in there was really soft. Old Jim
Pedley, he had a hundred gallon tank and if you ran out of
water, he’d fetch a load of that for five shillings. He had a
horse and dray. Poor old chap was nearly blind - the horse
knew where to go and all that.
Then there used to be two woodmen in Booval. They’d
fetch blockwood down. People the name of Hamilton had
one just near the station, where Casey’s store is, the man
that does the photographs now, frames and that. I think
they owned that shop there. Just along a bit up in Railway
Street he had his wood depot there. They’d come down
with the horse and dray and take wood.
Then the Foote’s - Walter Foote and his father ...where
Howard Spall’s got his place now [cnr Brisbane Rd and
Macquarie St], they had that little shop there. He used
to come round selling Horehound Beer. He brought the
jar, it was about a gallon jar, and I don’t know whether
they made that or not now, but he’d come around and
exchange that for an empty one. He had the wood depot
up there. That was wood for the wood stoves.
When we were younger, poor old Jim Pedley, we used to
go with him right out to Cooneanna out near the mines
out there, and get a load of long wood we’d call it, he’d
bring that in (I forget what he’d charge us, not very
much). We had to cut that all up by crosscut saw. We had
to cut up enough to last you all the week. That was a job
that we had to do in those days, look after the woodheap.
Somebody looked after the three sisters. They had to take
their turns at cooking and so forth. Everybody had to help
everybody else.
When you first came to Booval, did you have electricity?
We didn’t have electricity. We only had oil lamps in
those days. What lessons we had to do were done by oil
lamps on the table. We didn’t do too many lessons. We
had to walk to school barefooted. We had no boots or
socks or anything in those days. We couldn’t afford it.
We must have gone through these gates we were talking
about to a paddock up there we cut across - I think it was
Lindleys. That’s where they’ve got all those townhouses.
Mrs Hoepner had the old home there - she had a catering
19 - Picnic in Reid’s Paddock (now site of Booval Fair) in the 1920s
Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Cothill Road can be seen on the hilltop in the background.
(business) and they must have sold that for townhouses or
flats. We used to cut across there and go up Booval Street,
go across the Brisbane Road and go up Eileen Street to
Silkstone School. It was a fair walk in those days. That’s
how we got to school and back.
Did other tradesmen call in at homes?
On the corner there, Charlie Price [corner of Macquarie
Street and Brisbane Road], he had a bakery there. He was
a baker, a very good baker. They would come around
with a horse and cart and you bought your bread like that.
Then, we had ordermen who came out from Ipswich from
Nicholls and Senior. I think he came out home. We dealt
off them for a long while. He came around and got your
order, Mr Ford - he lived near the station down there, near
the National Hall. He would come around and take your
order and then they’d deliver by truck. The way Booval
is built now, you don’t need to go to town for anything.
We are fortunate now. That’s right, Nicholls and Senior,
they mostly did it.
We had a milkman deliver about three o’clock in the
morning. You’d leave your billycan out in the morning
or jug out. He’d come from right down at the river - the
end of Station Road there. He had a farm down there and
a milkrun around here. He had good milk in those days.
Logans over there, they had a milkrun. Up higher than
them was Lawrences. They had a big farm. They used to
deliver milk around. There were quite a few delivering
milk in those days. Then we had a butterman. He used to
come around with his little butter cart and deliver butter.
The butter man lived in Station Road. Our butter man
was Alfie Gambling. I think he died with the flu we had
that time, didn’t he? I have a feeling he did. Yes.
Then we had the iceman come around from the factory.
Then we gradually got our little ice-chest. The first one
was able to keep our butter and that cool. We built a little
frame and put charcoal around it and kept the charcoal
Fred Guard - oral history interview
cool. Made like a safe out of it, hanging under the house.
Put your milk and bread and butter in there. It used to be
not too bad but you had to keep the charcoal cool all the
time.
Track 06
When I think about it, we had a Booval quarry up here
on the corner or Nimmo and Gledson Streets there. Then
they came along and they quarried that there. It must
have had a face of a hundred feet of pure blue metal.
They used to have big shutes there and crushers. They
had a railway line from Bundamba to come around with
trucks and truck that down to Brisbane. They reckoned
it was about the best blue metal in Queensland. They
came toward the railway line and opened up another one,
they reckoned that was getting too steep over there. They
opened a new one just behind the church up there. They
had an old man a horse tricked up with wagons from the
new quarry to take it down to the old quarry and use the
rope there to take it up to the crushers. Then they found
out it was getting too big there, too close to the railway
line. Of course, Brisbane took over then and they though
“oh, we’ll start off another one”. And Brisbane opened
up quarries down there and this place shut down. That
was there for years and it was an eyesore. There had been
a drowning in that place. Then they decided they’d fill it
up and make it a rubbish dump and they’ve made a pretty
good job of it now. You can go around it, yes.
In the creek there, there were two little boys drowned one
time. There used to be nice big swimming holes in the
creek in different parts. If they had nowhere else to go,
they’d go down there swimming and that. Some would
get into difficulties. It eventually died out and we got
more facilities so you didn’t have to go over the creek.
The story was when J & H Reids used to be in South
Street, their entrance came in off South Street. Later it
19 - came in off Nicholas Street. It used to project out and
the Wintergarden Theatre was just down there. It still is
sort of thing. Some of the lovers used to come (out) and
just go and squat in there and have something to eat and
that. He’d go down of a morning and open the door and
[there was rubbish left there]. “I’ll fix this,” he said. So he
waited one night and heard them in there and went up and
scratched on the wall and was singing out, “Let me out.
Let me out!” Nobody ever came back. He didn’t have any
more trouble! He was a gentle man - J & H Reid.
In the olden days, for getting our mail, the mail train
consisted of two PB engines, two small engines. On the
station, they had the ring out off the platform and they put
the mail up on top of that. As the train went through, it
would grab the bag off and take it into town.
Then the miners trip, that was another big event in
Ipswich. They used to run five trains - one had to come
from Rosewood, one would go right round the loop line
and come out at Redbank and I think there were about
three from Ipswich. We used to go down to Sandgate
for the day and they used to have two boats. One used
to run across from Sandgate over to Woody Point but I
think that was always on the run, but on the miner’s trip,
they had to hire another one, a special one. So, going
across there this day, there was one man a bit under the
weather I think. There were these little portholes and he
was starting to crawl around outside there. All the people
were squealing and yelling for help and they got the old
Captain. He came and grabbed him and locked him down
in the engine room. I don’t know what boat we came
back on, but they were running straight over and back. It
got pretty rough there, landing back in Sandgate in those
days. There was no bridge there then. They had a service
from Sandgate to Woody Point. They’d hire another boat
for the day, for miners trip day.
Some of them never got past the top of the hill because
there was a hotel there and they hoked more coal out that
day than they did all year. Nearly every time coming
home there’d be a fight somewhere on the station. They
had a good day! They were quite happy. That was a main
event in those days, the miners trip.
What else did you do for entertainment?
We had pictures down here at the National Hall. They had
a picture show down there and then the Alpha Theatre.
That was on up further. That’s about where the chemist
is today [the UFS Dispensary, 42 Station Rd]. Then there
was a spare piece of ground and there used to often be
circuses coming there, family circuses.
I can’t think of whether it was built up there to the corner.
They must have put those shops there now. When you
came down this other way, there was only one house
then.
Where Woolworths is built today, that was all springs.
They used to start from up the back there and came down
through and right underneath the railway bridge and
down into the creek. The water used to run all underneath
Fred Guard - oral history interview
that bridge near Booval Station there. Then they put that
little bridge there. Eventually, after years they put the
great big pipes in to drain it away. Booval Stars had a
football field up there off the Cole Street entrance if you
like, just where Woolworths is today. They’d be playing
there and sometimes they’d nearly disappear - it was that
soft. To go and build a big place, I didn’t think they’d
ever get foundations there to build on. So they’re built on
top of all springs and that. Down at Redbank’s built on
the mine, near the mine shaft anyhow. It’d be all worked
under there.
Were there things like church socials or dances at
Booval?
There wasn’t much entertainment in those days, my
younger days. No. Mostly the picture shows in those
days. Of course, as it got bigger and Booval built up,
then there was more entertainment.
Thinking back - the unemployment. We had three woollen
mills, we had the railways and the coal mines. Now
we’ve got none of them. Not many miners now, not many
railwaymen, no woollen mills. They’re all gone now. So
Ipswich’s really getting a ghost town now I reckon - not
much industry.
There was a ferry from North Ipswich years ago. It used
to run into Basin Pocket there. Somebody used to run
the ferry there and Uncle John Simpson lived next to the
ferryman in those days. The lads wouldn’t pay their fares
and he would talk to him about it. He said, “I’ll take the
next load over,” he said. He said, “Will you?” He said,
“Oh, I’ll take them over.” He got them out in the middle
of the river or three parts of the way over and he tipped
the boat over and made them swim to the shore. It was
like a rowboat. It came down off...would it be Down
Street? to the river.
Track 07
Interviewer: Would you describe a typical day at the
Railway Workshops when you were there?
After the workers railway train, we went though the big
gates. Then we went into the shops and they had a board
and we all had a number. Then you’d take your number off
the board, then they’d come and check to see who was out
and which ones were missing and all that. I’ve never been
over since I retired. I was talking to one of them one day.
“Don’t go over,” he said. “You wouldn’t know anybody
over there now.” He said, “All the amenities they’ve got
and they’ve got nobody.” I don’t know why they’re trying
to phase it out over there altogether. They’re making it go
out to Redbank somehow.
We had an old bucket to wash your hands in, or an old
cylinder from the old steam engines and cut down the
centre, and you could wash your hands in there if you
liked. After I retired, they put a lot of amenities in there
and washbasins and everything, but I never went over
19 - There was the Boiler Shop and the Erecting Shop..then on the other side, they had the Moulders, Blacksmiths
Shops, Pattern Shop...Between the two, they had a Traverser running up and down.”
to have a look at them. I’ve been retired ...this is my
23rd year at Christmas, I think. [so retired about 1972] I
worked there 32 years.
After the Depression broke and things got better, they
started to put people on. I got a job in the Boiler Shop
and I thought, “Well, if they leave me stay here...” - I got
pretty deaf working in there over the years. We had a dirt
floor. Dust and all that - “If they leave me stay here, I’ll
stay here for the rest of the time.” I was fortunate. There
was that many different departments. There was the
Boiler Shop, then the Erecting Shop, then there was the
Paint Shop, then on the other side they had the Moulders,
Blacksmith Shops, Pattern Shop. Must have been more
there. Between the two they had a Traverser running up
and down where they could take things across from one
side to the other side. I don’t know whether they’ve still
got anything like that now or not.
There was a chap named Ian - he was instrumental in
designing the Blue Baby engine. They got it repaired
and done it all up and they’ve been running it out there
sometime back. Yes. He was the designer of that one. I
didn’t work on that.
I was there during the War. In those days, they [the Army
authorities] picked you, they were taking the younger men
first. We were all signed up and examined and everything.
I said to the boss one morning, “I’ve got to knock off at
dinner time. I’ve got my call up for the army.” So he said,
“Wait. Don’t go before I see you.” He gave me a note
to take up. When I got up there, this big old, gruff old
chap read the note and said, “Hmm. Oh.” A big stamp
he had and he stamped the thing, I didn’t know what he
was doing. He said, “ How’d you come over? “ I said,”
Rode a bike over.” He gave my letter back and said, “Get
back to work.” I said, “How come. Why?” He said, “It’s
a protected industry.” They had nearly all their men gone
and didn’t have enough men. We had to go. He said, “You
Fred Guard - oral history interview
go back to work.” I went back to work and the boss came
down in the afternoon and said, “They rang up to see if
you came back.” I said, “Yes, I’m back.” But, oh dear.
They were long hours. They couldn’t get enough engines
and that. The Manpower stepped in.
We had one young apprentice there. He went and got
away. They brought him back a couple of times. They
wouldn’t let anybody go out of the Boiler Shop and those
sort of metal industries. They were that short of men.
Then they started to bring in a lot of men who weren’t
in protected industries, old men. Terrible lot of old men
came in in those days. Yes. Oh dear. They brought a lot
of boiler makers from Sydney up here at one part to help
them out.
Did they have special accommodation for those men?
Those they brought up from Sydney, they made
accommodations for them. I think they had a canteen
over there. I think they could get their meals or some of
their meals at this canteen there. They had these quarters
down not far from the works. There used to be what they
called the Round House. Somewhere down around there
they put up quarters for them. Mostly boiler makers they
brought up that they were short of in those days.
It just shows you how things have changed. No wonder
Ipswich has got nothing much here now.
The Power House was up on the hill and used to generate
all their own power in those days. Of course, the electricity
got going and they had to switch over to that.
During the War at the back of the Workshops, we made
all trenches there in case there was an air-raid. [Along the
river.] It was all clay sort of soil which I reckon could have
caved in. But I remember there was one scare one day.
Somebody said they saw a plane over Townsville. They
blew the sirens and everybody just had to drop everything
19 - Working on a boiler 1996 (courtesy Lyle Radford)
and run for it into these trenches. Of course, they were just
pelting mud at one another over the different trenches,
you know what lads are!
in those days, but everything’s nearly all pre-fab now.
Hardly any noise they tell me. Yes. It was hard work
but it was alright. It was a job anyhow. That’s the main
thing.
Track 08
When we used to come over the town bridge over to the
Workshops, I think there was a big house there, we used
to come at the back of that. I don’t know what they called
that big house. I don’t know whether they put that big
RSL there (the corner of Lowry Street).
Did they have a lot of apprentices in your day?
They used to have a terrible lot (of apprentices) and they
had a good class of lads years ago. Then they gradually
got.. not so interested in their jobs. They had good
tradesmen over there, some of the best tradesmen they
could ever have in the railways. They made some plane
parts one time they were there in one of the sections. Then
the latter ones.. I don’t know. They weren’t interested in
their work. They weren’t putting so many on either, no.
Now we’re back into retirement. We’re lucky now in one
way, we don’t need to go to town for everything. We can
pay all our bills and everything up at Booval Fair and
the post office and that. That helps us out a lot that way.
You’ve got to have changes.
The electric train was the best thing that ever happened.
I never thought I’d live long enough to see the electric
train come to Ipswich. They talked about it for that long.
To think we can get a half hourly service. It’s really
marvellous. Best thing that ever happened to Ipswich.
Now they’ve got it extended to Rosewood, that’s a lot
better.
Did you work on boilers right up to the end of the steam
era?
They were still on steam when I retired. Plenty of noise
Fred Guard - oral history interview
Was that a union office at one time, or was that used by
the Railway for people to live in?
I can’t remember what they used to use that for. Then
they used to back the train back onto a siding there for
the night.
Were you a member of the Railway Institute?
No, I never had anything to do with that.
Do you remember the Rostrum?
I know the Rostrum. They had a terrible lot of different
speakers used to come there in the dinner hour. Yes. They
had like a little open place I think. They could go up there
and speak. There was enough room for a platform where
they’d just speak. Quite a lot of people used to come up in
the dinner hour. Dinner was three quarters of an hour.
We used to have our lunch in the shop or you could go
over and get a lunch at the Canteen if you wanted to. You
could order your dinner and you could have your dinner
in the Canteen. They had a terrific Canteen over there.
There was hot water supplied and everything, you could
19 - 10
Welsby Street which nearly runs into Frank Cooper’s
home. In those days, it was a mighty big house there. Just
about where it ran into his place, I had to go up past there
.. Burton Street. Merryl Street is the street I’m trying to
think of. Then I shot through a paddock down there. I got
bitten by a dog going down there. Then I came up Merryl
Street and went up to Welsby Street (did so many houses
up Welsby Street) and I came back down to the station.
“The C19.... they complained about the fire box..”
make your tea and that. It wasn’t too bad.
Bill Fullelove was an engine driver over there for
years. He’s retired now. Of course, he used to drive
steam engines. Used to be an old tin shed outside from
the Round House there. They’d repair them, take them
down the Round House and get them all fitted up and
everything, water and everything. They had to test them
and he used to be on. You could always tell who was on.
He used to test them all out, he’d come sailing up and
down. “Oh, Fullelove’s on today, yes.” They had to take
them for a trial run to see if anything heated up, if any of
the bearings heated up and then bring it back and put it
in service.
How did you light the steam engines?
It all depended the size of the engine. They had plates.
They used to roll their own plates over there. They were
all drilled. Then we had to put parts in to hold them
together and join two together and bolt them around and
they all went away and they had to be riveted. Then we
had to make the firebox and assemble that. And it went
away to get riveted. All depended what they had. They
had PB engines, the C17s and they had the tank engines.
The BB18 ¼ - it only had a little firebox. Used to have
a C19 and they complained about the firebox. Where the
driver was and the tender which was on the back, the
boiler, the hole was in there and you fired through into
the boiler there. You shovelled your coal out the tender
and into there.
The BB18¼ only had a small firebox, more of a square
one, they liked them. During the war, they brought these
Garratt’s out. Nobody like them. They were too hard to
work, keep up the coal into them and firing them. They
had a tender both ends and the boiler was in the centre. I
think they repaired one of them and had it on a trial run
recently. I don’t know where they came from, overseas?
Track 09
For my paper run at Booval, I had to come up and do from
the Station, then I went along Caithness Street. Did down
Fred Guard - oral history interview
When I came out of Merryl Street there, I had a few up
Saxelby Street. Two or three houses I had to do up there.
At the back of Saxelby Street, there was a little house
there. I used to know his name but he’s gone now and
that was a big paddock down below there and they cut
that all up after.
When you come out of Saxelby Street, and you come down
a little bit and went up the hill. I think the girl’s hockey
is up there now. It was right up on the road there - that
was the Chinaman’s Gardens there. A market garden. We
used to get our vegies over there off him. He had a little
well sunk and I don’t know if he had something he put in
that water or not...he had two cans over his shoulder on
a board across his back. Two big cans. He’d walk down
into this hole he’d dug. He’d fill up his cans and he’d
come up.. his beds were about that wide. He’d water each
side as he came past. Lettuce and cucumber. Anything
you wanted. Beautiful. I don’t know what became of him.
We went to see him [to buy the vegetables]. Jimmy I think
was called him. Jimmy something. I can’t remember his
other name.
[The house behind Saxelby Street was] Svenglers house,
I think they turned the little house around so they could
cut it up. It used to be facing Jacaranda Street and I think
it got shifted. Turned around somehow so it could make
a street there.
Over here, opposite the factory, there was a man - old
Burns - and he had a house, an old house. I don’t know
whether the old house is still there. All this big piece of
ground and they were fighting hard to get Booval School
there. But after a lot of going on, they decided to go
where East Ipswich is now, to that piece of ground. And
they made a street there, Tuggerah Street. The buttermilk
used to run down there to the piggery. It must have gone
under the road.
I was only young when they built the butter factory. It was
small. They pulled all the foundations out with horses and
drays in those days. I think they built so much and then
extended. Frank Reid was in the office over there. Had an
office over there in those days.
How did the milk get to the butter factory? By drays, or
by train?
They had a branch line at Booval here into the factory.
They used to shunt the milk up there. They went in for a
lot of milk. A lot of carters used to come from up around
Coleyville and places like that and bring milk down,
cream and stuff down to them.
19 - 11