The classic Australian joker and story teller gets the quintessential treatment

Like any old classic, Peter Rake's short stories are now available like an old LP - an essential collection.

The Fair Dinkum Yarns from the Australian View includes five outback tales by Peter Rake, plus a coupla poems thrown in for good measure (pardon the pun!).

Get set for some laughs, maybe even a tear jerker.

This collection includes:

Arthur
The Awakening
Notty: Targaroo's Disgrace Bar-fly, bludger and sneak-thief turned unlikely hero
The Coachman
The Pup

Available on Amazon and Smashwords as an ebook and in print for all you old fashioned types as well.

Edauction around the campfire- Fair Dinkum

I would think that the content of the following bit of Australian education would be well suited for a late night campfire when the audience is full of tucker and half full of beer, and more inclined to stay than waddle of to the swag.

FAIR-DINKUM

Fair- Dinkum is a fair dinkum Australian phrase. In casual terms it means genuine or true, or both. If it is both it can then be Fair Bloody Dinkum, which stresses the truth of whatever has just been put forward even if that put forward is not true. Using Fair Dinkum is not asking anyone to believe you, as you are stating that it is Fair Dinkum, whether anyone believes it or not, Fair Dinkum, would I lie to you?

People, and ones mate's can be Fair Dinkum: "He's a fair dinkum bloke." "He is a good mate, Fair Dinkum." "He is bloody useless, Fair Dinkum." "He's as handy as an ashtray on a motor bike, Fair Dinkum.", or not fair dinkum in the genuine and true interpretation.

The versatility of Fair Dinkum is within a range, far greater than any other phrase that you have ever heard of, Fair Dinkum.

Let us look at a little of that range: Fair, in itself means evenly proportioned, or evenly distributed within a certain range or scope, for example: "It's a fair way, mate". indicates that the distance is further than "It's fairly close". However the actual distances in numbers is only determined by the person, and the area in which either phrase is said.

In the city, a "Fair Way" could mean it is not far, but because of the transport problems of most large metropolises, it could take a fairly long time to get there. When you have told the enquirer of this distance they will most often say "Fair Dinkum." (Down heartedly)

On the other hand, if you tell the enquirer that his/her proposed destination is just around the corner, or fairly close, they will invariably say "Fair Dinkum" (Happy).

Of course all these meanings change when you are in the Outback, or even the rural sector. Distances become Fair if they are within two or three hundred miles, Fair Dinkum. Just around the corner can be just as far, if you are being directed by a dinkum, true blue, Aussie, who is Fair Dinkum about what he is saying.

Another manner of determining distance in the Outback is to give it in amounts of beer that could be normally consumed in the trip, hence, "Yeah! Cunnamulla, Oh! about two slabs I reckon."  "Fair  Dinkum" is the usual reply.  ( A slab is one carton of stubbies)

Another example of the wonderful, all explanatory phrase goes like this:

"I lost me' wallet, yesterd'y."

"Fair Dinkum." Appropriately sympathetic sounding.

"Yeah, but a woman found it and I got it back."
"Fair Dinkum." Surprise and interest, after all he is your mate,hey?

"No money or nuffin' missin' either."

"Fair Bloody Dinkum. She must'a been a real Fair Dinkum Shelia, mate, hey?"

"Yep, not many Fair bloody Dinkum people around like that."

"Na! and that's Fair Dinkum, for sure mate." Adding 'for sure' is a qualification given when there could be some doubt of the 'for suredness' of the Fair Dinkum statement.

When practising the usage of this phrase, one should be careful to include the many ranges of Dinkum, but also the many nuances of Fair.

You might hear someone say "It's a Fair Cow." Now, is that person referring to the cow as maybe, a blonde cow (Note the spelling, blonde for female, blond for bloke, and for those of you that are not sure, a cow is usually female) The reason I brought this matter up is to show that I am a fair dinkum bloke and educator.

Things can be a fair pain in the butt, a fair drop, like in "Agggh! Now that's what I call a fair drop, Fair Dinkum." Of course, this person has just downed a goodly swig of great Australian beer.

We wont get into Fair Enough, fair enough? We wont get into Fairly either as that is another cuppa-tea.

So, It has been great to impart this valuable knowledge of the Aussie slang, to help edakate your noggin' . Fair Dinkum, you have been a Fair Bloody Dinkum Grouse Audience.

The Code of the West

Was there a code of the West in the Outback? Does it still exist? What is the code of the West?

One main thing I could remember, and it is a pity that it is still not 'the code', but anyone that pulled a knife in a fight would not last long in any Outback town. It just wasn't done, and anyone that did was labelled as a "Wog."

Now, I know that word is offensive to some people, but to cover myself from litigation, please recall the book and movie, "The Wog Boy", or expressions like "Wog Football". These expressions are used by many ethnic people in this country to this day.

It is odd, I know, but I never suffered a cultural cringe when I was in the back country. We accepted the Greek Café owners, the Greek and Italian pub owners, and they in turn, accepted us Australians just as though we were actually humans.

In a Greek Café you were sure to get more than you could eat if you asked for a mixed grill, and as many cups of tea or coffee as you wanted.

So, Code #1 was fight fair.

Code #2 was respect the people around you, the ones that would help you out without hesitation, the ones that fought nature's onslaughts, standing side by side with all other men and women of the West.

Code #3 was definitely the hand shake. To shake on a deal was like writing it in blood, and consequently if one reneged on a handshake, there would be plenty of blood to write another agreement. Mainly from the reneger!

To have a reputation for someone that cannot be trusted was probably worse than someone that was a bit of a mug, a fool, as they often could not help themselves.

Code #4, I remember well, was respect women. They were so few women in the Outback towns that it was more awe than respect. I remember only too well young Nerida in Longreach saying "Are you going to stop babbling and kiss me, or not?" I kissed her, but I am sure the red glow of my face gave her sunburn, so much was my awe of the fairer sex.

Don't ever steal from your mates ... this one could be any number but I will give it Code #5. You see, trust features in The Code in a big way, and if you lose your mate's trust, you lose your mate, and many more mates along the way.

Code #6: never leave a man in trouble, be he broken down on a dusty road, hurt in some fall or accident. I say fall, as many of us fell from horses, as well as falling for a girl or falling from the graces of a girl ... lots of falling about went on in the good old days. Life was a bit slower, and we had time to stand by a mate, or anyone else, for that matter.

Code #7, do not be a coward. If for some reason, during a drink or two in a pub, a bloke says "You ... out where the bull feeds," there is a good chance you have been invited to a bit of a donnybrook, out on a patch of grass, grown for that specific purpose in a good few of the Outback pubs.

Being a smallish bloke, I won a few of my fights by at least fifty yards. However, there were the times that I was forced to stand toe to toe, nose to nose, eye to eye, finger to chest and likewise, reciting the well known battle chant ...

"Yeah! Sez 'oo?"

"Me, I sez,"

"Yeah?" Jab with the finger.

"Yeah!" Jab back.

And this would go on until someone in the gathered assembly would say, "Come on blokes, these pair of pansies ain't gunna have a stoush ... let's go have a beer," and off they would go, leaving the combatants standing there glaring until one or the other would say "Your shout."

Later in the evenings the real 'blues' would be on, and some serious, well bet upon, fights would take place. I never saw a coward in my time. Many of these blokes would be the best blokes to have around you as you would ever find. In fun someone might say "YOU! Out where the bull feeds," quickly adding "And if I'm not there when you get there, start without me." But you had to be good mates to get away with that.

Code #8, although you might be called a pansy in circumstances like the one I relayed above, if you showed any sign of being what a pansy intimates you would have no mates, inter or otherwise. I do remember one chap in Aramac, that made advances to a young bloke in the middle of the night, and I tell you, I have never seen such a bloodied, almost corpse, in my life. I never came across him again in Queensland, and although his gear was still at the pub, he never came back for it to the best of my knowledge. Such was the Code of the West.

Editor's Note: These are thoughts and recollections on life in Outback Queensland in the 1950s and 1960s.

As my publisher said, I must laugh a lot.  That is very true when I create a character,and have that character interact with other characters and start the thread of a story, probably based, very loosely, on something that actually happened.

Using a fair amount of dialog like I do, the characters come more alive than just talking about them in the third person narrative.

Notty was one such character that came alive as I wrote the story.  At first it was my intention to make him immensely disliked by the reader, but as the story progressed,  Notty became somewhat of a hero.

My greatest  joy in writing is to see the characters develop personalities, and at times push the story their way, and not in the manner I first intended.

If some reader should see a resemblance to an actual event in one of my yarns, they could well think, 'That's not that way it ended'.  So, bad luck, in my yarn it ended the way it ended.

The Hand Around Dog: A story in the making is about a designer dog of the Outback.

Long before the designer dogs of today, the labra-doodles, the bull terrier crosses with a Shitzu called a... use your imagination, came FRED a dog designed to do one thing efficiently, and  that was to kill.

Not one particular person owned Fred, and as needs arose, he would be passed around to different blokes to carry out a bit of pig hunting, or kangaroo culling, and to even  pull down a rogue bull or two.

Naturally, great consideration must go into the breeding of a versatile dog such as Fred and following is his Pedigree:

From The Hand Around Dog

"I have a bit of paper that explains Fred's breed lines ... Do ya' wanna' hear em?" Timmy O'Reily asked.

I averted my eyes from Fred, hoping that I wouldn't look him in his yellow and very mean eyes. Fred was not going to get any chance of making the excuse that I challenged him.

Every so often, Fred would test the high-tensile chain to see if it was still holding, and when he gave his best pull you could hear the 'ping' as the toughened steel reached a peak near its capability of tension withstanding.

"Ere' it is ... to start with he was the pup of an American Bull Baiting dog, or Pit Bull over a Rhodesian Ridgeback bitch and a pup from this mating was crossed with an Irish Wolf Hound ... "

There is no doubting the Irish Wolf Hound bit, as the Irish Wolf Hound's most recognisable attributes were on full show every Fred turned his back to us. Not unlike a postman carrying Mallee mail bags.

"Ya' Listenin'? snapped Timmy. "Then, accordin' to this paper, that Irish Wolf Hound cross pup, a bitch, was bred with a Great Dane, then a bitch from that litter was crossed with a big red Greyhound who looked like being a world beater until he had his leg broken by a rival owner. Now, the final touch, of  which Fred is a direct descendant, was a pup from that litter was crossed with brown hyena, just to give him jaw muscle".

"Sounds like the original breeders were serious about the result," was my knowledgeable comment, then another thought came to me, slowly "Do you reckon they got what they wanted in Fred?"

"How would I know, Pete? All I know is I got what I wanted, sumpin' to cull a few big roos out of the front paddock.

"All right Fred, " Timmy told the dog, "Settle back an' I'll bring ya' a couple of roos fer' supper."

I love the laconic expressions that seem to ,only, come from those true blue Australians of the Outback and in a more varied localized variety from folk of the cities.

A typical example is asking someone if they "Have lived here all their life" and they answer "Not yet".

I once said to a Gunnedah farmer, after a good fall of rain, "You would be happy now with all that recent rain".  His reply brought me down to earth.  "It only rained rain, it didn't rain grass".

Probably the best I have heard is a bloke in a pub, trying to get a free beer who accosted a new customer with a overly pleasant greeting, and said, "Are you staying for a beer, Mate".

The bloke said "Yeah, I might have time for a couple".

"Good" says the bar fly "Make mine a schooner".

With that the bloke looked at his watch and hurriedly came up with:  "I just forgot, I've gotta been down town in a couple of minutes,I'll catch up with you later", and off he went.

The usual disappointed look befell the hapless cadger as he sadly said, "I've know that bloke for forty years, and he ain't changed.  He is that tight that if he cut you a slice of bread there would only be one side in it".

We have got things moving now.  Most of the slow start is in line with my  learning curve, which is almost flat-lining.

I would like to discuss how others approach their story writing and I will talk about how I go about writing my stories.

So ,pull up a log, make yourself at my place and let's have a chat.

Old Pete

From Pete's head to Amazon

Just recently Pete and I were having fun imagining what one of his characters might have gotten up to after the end of his story. I could clearly picture her in my head. Pete responded:

"So there you are, you know one of my characters as if she is a real person in a real situation. How do you think I cope with a mob of 'em in me 'ead?"

I told him he probably laughs a lot.

Peter Rake has been telling stories to himself since mid-last century. After the heydays in outback Queensland were over, he started crafting them on paper. Now his stories, and one novel, will be published on Amazon Kindle by ePublisher, MetaPlume.