Re: Tall tales (and true)

["Derick Wuen" <cullend@webone.com.au>]

save this thread?

I think its a ripper yarn; what about old CR people?


Derick Wuen wrote in message <38e1e3f8@iridium.webone.com.au>...
>
>Paul wrote in message <01bf918f$47c050c0$d2d68ec6@mpx.mpx.com.au>...
>>Anybody got any good "tall stories".
>
>Another one about loco crews gambling, this time on the old Commonwealth
>Railways, as told to me by Audrey Ngingali, onetime community health worker
>on the Tea and Sugar.
>
>First you have to appreciate that aboriginal culture recognises that
certain
>people have special insights and powers. The Maralinga people recognise the
>powers of a number of kadaitcha men, who harbour justice but who also have
>other powers, such as time travel and distance travel. One such Maralinga
>kadaitcha man was Aeroplane George, who was named for reasons which will
>become obvious.
>
>Aeroplane George and his relatives used to come down from the "lands" to
>Cook and catch the Tea and Sugar train into the big smoke of Port Augusta,
>but Aeroplane George never paid fares, as he had other means of travel.
>After a suitable period of R n R in PA, Aeroplane George and his relatives
>would return to the lands via Cook and the Tea and Sugar.
>
>The Tea and Sugar was a favourite means of training enginemen, stopping as
>it did at all sidings to deliver supplies, pay and welfare services.Old
>hands in charge of of trainee enginemen would spot Aeroplane George at PA
>station with his relatives as they eased the Tea and Sugar past the PA
>platform. They would point him out to the trainee.... "See that black man
>there helping his relatives into the train? He will wave them good-bye
here,
>and when we get to Cook he will be waiting for them." "rubbish" "bet you
>$10".
>
>And so, as they eased the Tea and Sugar out of PA westward, they made sure
>the trainee saw Aeroplane George left waving on the platform. They then
>settled down to grind out the miles. Coming into Cook eventually, the
>astonished trainee engineman inevitably found the kadaitcha man under the
>eaves of the station building waiting to help his rellies and baggage off
>the train, and the old hand collected his bets.
>
>Any comments from old CR hands?
>
>