ADAMS AND FLINDERS -

In the 1920s a Dr. Adams and Charles Flinders were the town Justices of The Peace at Wyndham. For some reason they hated each other and one afternoon after drinking at the local hotel they had an all out brawl in the main street.

The constable had no choice but to arrest them and they spent the night in the lock-up. Next morning it was decided (as there were no other JPs in town) that they would each preside over the other and impose a nominal fine on each other.

Adams was the first to preside, fining Flinders five shillings. Adams then replaced Flinders in the dock, but Flinders imposed a fine of ten pounds stating; "There's far too much of this sort of thing, this is the second case of this kind this morning." Their relationship went from bad to worse.

This story inspired me to write the following bush ballad :

Adams and Flinders

Up in old Port Wyndham
back in the early days
a tale is told about two men
who wouldn't mend their ways

Adams hated Flinders
they were the town's JPs
They'd love to lock each other up
then throw away the keys

One hot and dusty afternoon
while drinking in the pub
insults turned to punches
over some imagined snub

Out into the street they went
with flailing legs and arms
The cops came down and locked them up
before they came to harm

Then in the morning sobered up
there was one fact to face
Each would sit in judgement
upon the other's case

Well Adams was the first to sit
upon the other's crime
The gavel fell, the judgement was
a mere five shilling fine

Then Flinders turn to sit arrived
He donned his wig and frowned
'There's too much of this thing about
the fine will be ten pounds'

We don't know how it went from there
or how the story ends
but one thing we can bet for sure
they'd never be good friends

(c) 2000

GET YOUR OWN COPY -

If you would like to get a PDF copy of the stories on this website that you can read offline or even print out and turn into your own hard copy book, you can order through PayPal at the link below. All sales of this book help us to gather more information and stories for this site and our main website. It is only $3.99 AUD!