The getting o the "bug"
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The getting o the "bug"
Hoof Hearted Tue Oct 04, 2011 3:13 pm
Fifty odd years ago during the school summer holidays in Nth East Victoria I would accompany my next door neighbor who was the operator/fitter for the local earth moving contractor.
On one occasion we were doing a bit of clearing up at Harrietville and at the end of the day as was the custom then it was straight to the pub which I thought was just magnificent because I got to sit up at the bar with my raspberry and lemonade while the men quaffed their beer. At some stage I recall a chap entering the bar carrying a sugar bag that appeared to contain something heavy, that thought was confirmed when he plonked the bag down on the floor with a resounding clunk.
He ordered a beer, threw it down then ordered another all the while having quite an animated conversation with all that were in the bar, after he finished his second beer he reached down into the sugar bag he’d been carrying and pulled out something that nearly made my eyes pop… A full size gold ingot!
It was passed around the bar for all to admire and with all the accompanying jocularity that would flow from that sort of situation, well it finally reached me, I put out my hand with wide eyed anticipation of actually touching a fortune, when it was released into my grasp I received the fright of my life as the weight of the bloody thing just about pulled off the bar stool much to the mirth of the men in the bar.
It turned out that the chap was the manager of the “Sambas” mine which is located approximately 10 or so Km up the Mt Hothom road, he was on his way to the bank in Bright to deposit what was in that sugar bag. I don’t know how many ingots there were, but at a rough guess from the noise it made when it was deposited on the floor there would have been at least two or more.
Can you imagine the security that would surround a shipment like that today…
I’ve had the bug ever since but due to life’s road have never had the opportunity to actually get around to doing something about it… That’s all about to change, I’m off shortly, back to the same area with a GPX 4500……. An stars in me eyes!
Cheers… HH
On one occasion we were doing a bit of clearing up at Harrietville and at the end of the day as was the custom then it was straight to the pub which I thought was just magnificent because I got to sit up at the bar with my raspberry and lemonade while the men quaffed their beer. At some stage I recall a chap entering the bar carrying a sugar bag that appeared to contain something heavy, that thought was confirmed when he plonked the bag down on the floor with a resounding clunk.
He ordered a beer, threw it down then ordered another all the while having quite an animated conversation with all that were in the bar, after he finished his second beer he reached down into the sugar bag he’d been carrying and pulled out something that nearly made my eyes pop… A full size gold ingot!
It was passed around the bar for all to admire and with all the accompanying jocularity that would flow from that sort of situation, well it finally reached me, I put out my hand with wide eyed anticipation of actually touching a fortune, when it was released into my grasp I received the fright of my life as the weight of the bloody thing just about pulled off the bar stool much to the mirth of the men in the bar.
It turned out that the chap was the manager of the “Sambas” mine which is located approximately 10 or so Km up the Mt Hothom road, he was on his way to the bank in Bright to deposit what was in that sugar bag. I don’t know how many ingots there were, but at a rough guess from the noise it made when it was deposited on the floor there would have been at least two or more.
Can you imagine the security that would surround a shipment like that today…
I’ve had the bug ever since but due to life’s road have never had the opportunity to actually get around to doing something about it… That’s all about to change, I’m off shortly, back to the same area with a GPX 4500……. An stars in me eyes!
Cheers… HH
Hoof Hearted- Contributor
- Number of posts : 25
Age : 77
Registration date : 2011-10-02
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