|
This week: Members Behind The Badge
MIKE NOLAN (above)
“The stern members of the Professorial Board stared down at me, and pronounced my progress in first year accountancy to be unsatisfactory”; began Mike Nolan. “My continuation as a student at Monash was on the line” he continued.
Meanwhile we learned about Mike’s job as a conductor on Melbourne Trams. The job of a conductor on the old W Class trams was a challenge. “I had to shuffle from one end to the other, learning to keep my balance as the old W jerked its way along” Mike continued. The Tramway Union was very militant, calling a stop work so all members could attend a meeting to vote on the next Strike… Oh, on being promoted, Mike described life in the Driver’s Cabin: “With the stop bell clanging in my ears the whole time. And I had a button to release sand on the rails, for emergency braking.”
A change in lifestyle took him to RMIT studying Valuation of Properties. Then it was to Australian Taxation Office, working on valuations. An upswing in Mike’s life came when he and Leonie married (then on just $152 a month)! Three children came along. Now, more excitement in the offing following his son in Istanbul announcing his engagement to a Turkish girl!
Said Mike, “My great love is in my present job as an auctioneer in the real estate business. I enjoy the excitement of an auction and the thrill of closing a deal”.
GREG SCOTT (below)
Greg Scott said he was one of eight siblings living variously in Sydney, Tamworth, and Swansea-Newcastle. The family business of a Dairy Farm outside Tamworth meant hard work for everyone.
“My job was to look after the poddy calves, rising at 5am to get the work done”; continued Greg. At sun-up, it was off to school. After school, at sundown, it was time to milk the cows. Life could be very hard, especially in times of drought, or floods. Always there was fencing to be repaired.
“Once, when the cattle broke out into a paddock which had a poisonous species of weed, thirteen of them dropped dead. It was a terrible blow to the family;” Greg continued.
It was then that Greg moved back to Tamworth, as a journeyman working as a spec builder. Then he tried his hand at accountancy and then teaching before he joined a commune in Nimbin. Now he began following in his dad’s trade as a builder.
Then he met Sandy, built a house and had five children, all born at home. Still in Nimbin, he became a builder’s apprentice. Finally, it was drugs that drove the family out of Nimbin.
Now, with his own Builders License he established his own business and reputation as a builder of quality homes in the Caulfield area. Two members of his family are apprentices.
“I got my first big job working for a certain architect known as Bill Goodwin!”, he said.
While Greg does the carpentry, he contracts out the other trades. In response to a question, he remarked well, yes, modern electronics such as fax, email – and especially the iPhone can be very helpful to a builder. Said Greg: “Just the other day, Sandy emailed important information to my iPhone while I was working on a job”.
Thanks Mike Nolan, and Greg Scott for sharing the stories of your lives with us. You both add colour and skills to RC Balwyn.
Owen Tassicker
Greg Scott.
|
