Hudson VH-AGX
was stationed at Devonport, Tasmania in February 1959. The weather
was unsuitable for photo-survey as the required area in the South-West
seemed to be permanently under cloud.
The crew were
staying at the Mersey Hotel in East Devonport and there they learnt
that a new service station was to be built just up the road and
the builder was looking for a contractor to dig the holes for
the underground fuel tanks. The crew thought that as there was
no flying imminent, they could make a bob on the side and so they
undertook to dig the holes. Unfortunately, they did not know that
once the surface soil was lifted they would strike clay and then
solid rock. After some days of hard yakka the going became well
nigh impossible with hand tools so they chucked the job in and
a new contractor with pneumatic drills etc took over the job.
(He too found the going very hard and the job took much longer
than anticipated). The builder was sympathetic and squared off
by shouting quite a few beers. This exercise did us no harm and
at least it kept us out of the pub. The downside was that we worked
up a colossal thirst so the only real winner in this venture was
the publican!!
Max Garroway
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