Me mother she came out from England, "had a one night stand in Fremantle." And, I’m the result of the one night stand. My name’s Arthur Walker. I was born 13th of July 1925 in the Melbourne Women's Hospital in Carlton. I was put in foster care from when I was born. Well I never got any love and care. It was all boys home. From the day I went into a home... "because I was the smallest there," of course I got picked on. Nearly 12 wasn’t it? Foster homes? I must have been bad "because they kept shifting me around." Up in Bendigo, "we never had electricity out there," it was all kerosene lamps and candles. The woman we were living with had a linen shop opposite a blacksmith. So I used to go and watch the blacksmith shoeing horses all day if we were allowed out, it wasn't raining. in the horse and buggy in one of them. Well that'd be 1929. I'd be four. It would be 1929, 1930. I finished up being put in a boys home I went to four different boys homes. And they weren't too bad "except for one, which was Tally Ho," which I didn't like. But other than that, life was livable. "Burwood Boys Home was very good." They looked after us. We used to go to community singing once a month in Melbourne at the Regent theatre. We went to the zoo "we went to the Moonee Valley Racecourse." They used to have a day for children. We went to the opening of the Shrine in 1934. At Melbourne's great Shrine of Remembrance. A quarter of a million people surround the majestic stone monument, "which enshrines the memory of Anzac." "We were in the front row of the crowd" or the procession whatever you call it. We were only 30ft away from the speaker And it was a very big honour to be there when I come to think of it now. Me mother "was in the Depression out of work," "so I was made a ward of the state," and I was shipped down to Minton Boys Home at Frankston There was 136 boys and two teachers. And it was just as bad for the education. Didn't really get one. You had to be real bright to get ahead there. I wasn't that bright. I took on the responsibility of running the laundry, so I used to wash 136 towels every day and sheets once a week, and clothes... Oh, big job, big job. We used to have a band and our bandmaster, Captain Harry Shugg, from the Metropolitan Tramways Board used to come out every Saturday and teach us how to play and that and I was learning the trombone. After I left Frankston Boys Home, I went to "a training farm out at Lysterfield" at the training farm, first bit of music I heard was Tiger Rag. That’s my favorite. I like it because it’s tied up with me Tigers. Stayed at Richmond for a couple of years as a kid, and they were talking about this young kid from Saint Augustus, which was just up the road from where we were living. Jack Dyer. "It was him that they were talking about." But I was only a kid, four or five or something. And I went to the football in Richmond and saw him play. "It didn’t mean anything to me really" but later on in life, we realised who it was and what I saw. Very good. "So I followed Richmond ever since." They were closing that place down so they sent me to "Tally Ho Boys’ Home in Tally Ho." What a terrible place it was. It was a shocking place. It was everybody for himself. Bloody terrible. "I don't know how they got away with it." It was terrible. They had a pool there that you couldn't swim in. Because it was green with slime all over it. The boys at Tally Ho "weren't the best of boys to be with." There were villains. The whole lot of them. I wouldn't like to say why I left, I was selected to go to another farm, which suited us, out at Lilydale, So I stopped there till I went home to me mother when I was 15 1/2, a couple of days before Christmas, and met me little sister who was born on the 21st of November. She was only less than a month old when I met her. What more can I say? "I didn’t really know me mum until..." "This woman used to come and visit me" once a year or something. But... she introduced herself as ‘Mum’ so I said she was me Mum. But I never really knew it until I went home at the age of 15 1/2. She came out to do a job, and she couldn't "do the job because she was pregnant." She came out as a weaver, and she had to wait for another "12 months before she could go back" to what she used to do, which was weaving. Married in 1933 to my legal guardian. That's me mother and me guardian, Bert Huntley. Big change in life. Big change. "She took me to Myers the first week" when I was home, after New Year. "She outfitted me with clothes and" and dressed me up I looked like somebody then. And there’s the first outfit. Me mother, I got to like again. I had doubts about her when I was in a home. Why did she put me in and I had doubts about that, but we soon overcame those when... "because I realized when I went home" that she must have felt guilty because we finished up, we had seven boarders over the period. She took anybody and everybody. "They were all fellas about me own age," except for one old bloke. I liked her husband, Bert. He was a nice fella. Me mother was... "I don't think we would have got on too well" if he hadn't have been there. Because... I don't know, I don't know. And I got a job in electroplating in Lonsdale Street. It was filthy and I couldn't... "There was no wash facilities at work." So I got a job around the corner as an apprentice engineer, "which I liked, and did for 12 months" until they put me riding a bike all over Melbourne as a messenger boy. But I didn't like that so I give that away. So I went and dyed women's stockings. And then I joined the Air Force. I wanted to be in the Navy and me legal guardian, Bert Huntley, he joined the Air Force and he said, "“Well, you may as well join the Air Force" and be with me.” After that, I never saw him "until we went home after the war." "I went to Shepparton to do me rookies." I got posted to Sale. 1 Bombing and Gunnery School. And then there was a change over to 1 AGS. "And that was me when I joined up." I was Drogue Operator. 1500 hours flying and two crash landings and three false landings, "A Drogue Operator operating targets" out of aircraft. A drogue is a windsock like a windsock on an aerodrome. But it's the same thing only attached to the aircraft by about 1800 feet of wire. Other aircraft used to shoot at the targets with different colored bullets and that’s how we knew who hit what when. Some aircrafts had winches on them to rewind the target, wind them in and cut the targets off in the dropping area. Other aircraft didn't have the winches. You had to let it go, the wire and the target. While I was flying, see you got extra two pounds nine See there? Yeah, that extra, that was for flying but you've got to fly for 20 minutes before you got your money for your flying. One morning, we get out there early "before the other aircraft come out, " and here's a Japanese sub. Beached itself on the sand. "So we had no rifles or anything with us. " We just had... I had a fairy pistol with three shots and lead weights. So I dropped them on them and fired the fairy pistol and after about 20 minutes it backed off, and that was the last we saw of it. The OTU, Operational Training Unit, was supposed to be ready to do anything like that, and took them out over half an hour to get out there. By that time the submarine had gone. That's one they missed. Very badly. End of the Second World War in the Pacific and it was very good news. That's a discharge from Laverton. the 1st of April 1946. Got an aptitude test on the way out of getting discharged "and they told me I was good for a bricklayer" but there was a two year wait to get into the course. So I said, oh, well, I want a job outside. I didn't want to go back inside. They told me there was a job at Cheltenham, where I lived. "A job as a jockey for a milk transport." Two years later I was the formeman of the milk transport. I was there for 22 years as a foreman. I had a girlfriend at the time, so we decided to get married and we looked after eight boys. I had a boys’ room, but it was a hard job for me wife. I hit a train head on with a milk truck and tipped over two milk trucks. It was bad maintenance on the trucks. I told the boss’ brother I had no brakes and he said, "“Oh, can't do anything about it.”" "He said, “Just take it easy tomorrow.”" "I didn't even get to the first farm." "I got to the first railway crossing" and hit a train. "That’s after the war, when I come back." I'd be 22 there. When I was younger, I was a bit of a speedster. I used to race motorbikes. I loved sport. I joined the Victorian Speedboat Club Then I joined the Pony Club. President of the Corringle Pony Club, until I joined the Racing Club and still in it. Thank God. Nancy. She was me first wife and we had two girls, Annette and Leanne. And they both wanted horses so we had to move to Pearcedale. Then the kids got jobs elsewhere and moved away from home. So, we moved down to Tooradin, and then me wife had a stroke and died. And I met my new wife some time later at the Tooradin Sports Club. Her name, Shirley Gargan. "That's the biggest change I’ve had in my life." "Which is the best thing that ever happened to me." We picked up four kids. A boy and three girls. So now I've got five girls and one boy. And we all love each other. They get on very, very well. Blended family. Very nice. I've got grandkids. How many have I got? One... Three. Five and three, that’s eight grandchildren. Is that right? Eight grandchildren? "And about 12 great grandchildren." And how many great great grandchildren? 18 we counted yesterday. 18 great great grand kids. So, plenty big family now. And they all call me ‘Pa’. Life changed completely. I had me own business. Sales and service. "Lawn mowers and ride on tractors." It was in Cranbourne And Shirl came down to help me which was a godsend to me because I hated phones and still do. And she looked after the phone and did all me business for me "and let me do some work out the back" "and we started to make money then." "when I got married to Shirley Gargan" I had to apply for me birth certificate. "And when I got me birth certificate," I didn't know who they were talking about. "So I went down and saw me mother" "and I said, “I've got a problem.”" "And she said, “What's the problem?”" "I said, “I’ve got me birth certificate”." “Oh, yes. "Your name's Richard Appleyard”." "It was a bit of a kick in the guts for me." I, Sarah Huntley, declare that on the 13th day of July 1925, I have birth to a son at the Women's Hospital.. I registered the child as Richard Appleyard, Appleyard being my maiden name. And I’m 65 years old. Bit of a shock. "Matter of fact it was a big shock." "When I returned from hospital with the child," I was unmarried and very confused. The local minister suggested that the child take the name of Walker as the father of my child was named Walter Walker. "We were going for an overseas trip" so I had to change me name. "I couldn't put up with Appleyard," "so I went and changed it to Walker" Sold the business "And Shirl and I started to travel" and we went all over Australia except Tasmania. "And we've had a very good life together" until Shirl passed away in October 2024. Yeah. Lived a very happy life. Very happy. But I miss her very much. "I joined the Collingwood Football Club" because my grandson, Tyson Goldsack, played football for Collingwood. I liked his style of football, long kicking, good marking. We went one year to the grand final and Tyson kicked the first goal in the premiership side in 2010. "He could never stop talking about it" after that. Everybody in Pakenham and I think halfway between here and Pakenham knew all about it. Yeah. Very good. But when he left, I went back to me Richmond, thank you. "I'm still a Richmond heart and heart," through and through. Yeah, what's the secret to a long life? I think milk has got a lot to do with it. I drank a lot of milk. Towards the end of me life, now, "I drink a bit of beer, but not much." I have two stubbies a day but I'm still drinking me milk. And I think milk would probably be the biggest factor why I am still alive today "I drank milk from when I was young," right up and still drinking it. Never give that away.