The Good Old Days -

“Fights were the regular form of entertainment for all of us, and the bar would clear with everyone running outside to watch and cheer for their favourite. Fights always happened outside the bar – blokes would fight together, so would the black girls. If anything started in the bar, it was a matter of jumping across and ordering them out. We could control things, and protect everyone, including ourselves. And look after the old blackfellas, the deros and the young blokes who were getting messy because they weren’t used to the drink.

We would rush outside to watch, leaving money, beer, cigarettes, and it would all be there on return after twenty minutes of the bloodsports. If you did that these days in the pubs, all the money would be gone.

During one of those bouts out the front of the pub, the local coppers arrived with their cocky cage van and started throwing people in the back. I ended up in the back with six others , and tried to explain to the new copper that we were only watching, but our loud protests were ignored. I was supposed to be working and of course the bar was unattended. The inspector said, when I arrived at the cop shop: ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ There was some confusion for a while, and with an apology I was driven back to the pub.

Meanwhile, all the blokes were patiently waiting for a drink. No one had jumped the bar, no one was yelling, and there were wooden boxes with five dozen bottles of beer stacked around the wall. Talk about honest people, the town was full of them!”

First cuts are the deepest. Pat Malcolm. Fremantle Arts Centre Press.

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