KEEP ON BEING OPTIMISTIC ABOUT WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN

"KEEP ON BEING OPTIMISTIC ABOUT WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN"

 

 

Leslie Charles MARKHAM
Born:  3 November 1913

 

Leslie Charles Markham was born in Chatswood and came back to Chatswood to live in 1960.  His father was a contractor for all pipelines required for both water and sewerage works.  Les was the middle son between two sisters, but he says he definitely wasn't spoilt.  Les went to Chatswood Primary School, which is still standing (one of the few remaining 'old' buildings in Chatswood).

 

       After Primary School he went to Naremburn Technical School.  He left school aged 14 and went into the grocery business.  In those days grocers weighed everything and had to know the prices by heart.  They also added the accounts up in the head - no adding machines or calculators in those days.  People used to put things "on tick" and when the bill was paid, a "screw of sweets" was given for the children.  Home deliveries were made in a Ford truck and Les virtually taught himself to drive this truck around the shop’s backyard (unofficially because you had to be 18 to drive in those days).

 

       In the Depression, he was out of work for three months and he remembers it as a really bad time.  Finally he was able to get work in the New England area.

 

       He was married in 1938 when he was 24 years old.  He is still married to his darling Nancy, and in March this year he and Nancy celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary.  Nancy lives in West Pymble and every week she comes to visit Les in the War Vets home, although she has to catch three buses to do so.  Les and Nancy have one daughter.

 

       When war was declared, Les and Nancy lived in Walcha, where Les enlisted.  He served in Darwin, North Queensland then Borneo and Brunei. Les was demobilised in 1946 and he returned to the grocery business moving to Quirindi and later Yass.

 

       In 1981 Les began learning poetry, and especially poems about the places he lived in or visited.  His favourite poets are Henry Lawson and AJ ”Banjo” Patterson. Les has a remarkable memory and can still recite many of the poems by these two famous Australian poets.  In fact, he recited "The Road to Old Man’s Town" by Banjo Patterson completely by heart to our storytelling group and we were all awestruck because he was word perfect.

 

       The company he worked for had a strict rule that all employees must retire as 60, but because Les's "papers" couldn’t be found, he did not retire until he was 67. Les and Nancy enjoyed travelling around Australia after his retirement, during which time they used several vehicles, including a Hillman station wagon, Datsun station wagon and also a Toyota campervan.

 

       Les is a softly spoken, gentle man, who is a philosopher at heart, very much aware of all the big issues which confront us in life and he always gives a balanced, intelligent and reasoned opinion to any question put to him.

 

       Les told this delightful story "The Joy of Poetry" into a tape recorder. He was unable to be present at the performance on 20th March as he was away at West Pymble with Nancy, his family and his friends, celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary - well done Les and Nancy.

 

 

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The Joy of Poetry

by Les Markham

 

Good morning, my name is Les Markham.  I was born at Chatswood in November 1913 and I lived there until 1934.  My father passed away in 1925 and I left school at the age of 14 and commenced working at a grocery store for the princely sum of 12/6 per week, in today’s money $1.25.  After paying board of 5/- per week, paying off a push bike at 2/6 per week, the remainder funded a weekly visit to the picture show or speed way and all other expenses.  At age 21 I was fired having become too expensive to keep on the wages bill.  The Thirties Depression was still ruling the economy and jobs were very scarce and hard to hold onto.  Eventually I obtained work at Walcha, a small town between Tamworth and Armidale about 300 miles north of Sydney.  It was a very cold place.  I saw the snow there for the first time.

 

In 1938, I was married to my dear wife Nancy and we have had on this very day 65 year together and hope for many more. Perhaps!!  In 1941, I enlisted in the AIF and had 4½ years service both in the Northern Territory and overseas in the area of Borneo.  After I was discharged I continued country work at Quirindi, Yass and back to Sydney in 1960 until I retired in 1981.  My wife and I spent most holidays driving around country areas and spent some spare time reading quite a lot.  I purchased various books amongst which were works by Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson and found them most interesting.  I began to notice that on our travels we passed through country towns baring the names of towns and locations which I had noticed in many of their works including Gundagai, Tumut, Narromine, Nimmitabel, Cabarno, Walgett, Paru, Darling, and Castlereagh Rivers and many more. 

 

Gradually I came to memorise some of my favourite poems and found them to be a great comfort and solace in times of stress and periods of inactivity as well as filling in driving time, particularly during our trips to Northern Australia.  I have many favourite poems both short and long but I think the pick of them, best suited by our ages and circumstances is “The Road to Old Men’s Town” by Banjo Patterson.