Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

“DUDLEY ROBERTS

A week or so after we had moved to KI with a truck load of camels and several other vehicles on the MV Troubridge, I had to return to the mainland by air.

I was waiting to board my flight back to the Island on Emu Air – if you were superstitious, this name would have had concerns, because emus certainly can’t fly! – when I saw a tall man standing on his own.

Under his arm he had a roll of wire netting.

Unusual enough, but in that roll of netting was a large Rhode Island rooster! I walked over to him and introduced myself.

When I enquired about his feathered friend, he didn’t seem to think it was anything unusual, saying he had often carried various forms of animal life by the same method. Which proved to be true.

I often carried bull terriers on Emu Air, which fellow islanders accepted as quite normal.

However, my dog, called Nose Peg, would often let go with a series of ‘silent sneakers’.

Very embarrassing, until I evolved a practice of looking over my shoulder on these occasions attempting to shift the blame.

When Dudley heard I was buying a farm, he said “All you need to farm on KI is a crowbar and a long handled shovel.”

A number of years later when I left the Island, Dudley booked on one of my Flinders Ranges Camel Treks, operated by Steve Watkins.

He thoroughly enjoyed that – so much so that he purchased his own camel which he had for many years following his retirement from farming.

Dudley saw service in the jungles of New Guinea and Borneo in WWII. He became very familiar with sulphamic acid to treat war wounds.

Greg, his son, says even now Dad would apply it where applicable, rather than the more modern treatments.

Here is the classic.

Dudley, who is 100 next birthday, has recently been applying for various positions where he thinks his experience would be appreciated.

The latest is with a company on the Island, who refuses to even reply.

That says something for the way Australia values the experience of our older citizens.

An American, I once carried, said that if ever he had to take to the trenches in a wartime situation, the mate he would want with him would be an Australian farmer.

I reckon Dudley would fit that bill. “