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Transcript: Mrs Evelyn Chapple remembers 'Old Joe', an Aboriginal man and his horse and buggy taxi service
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Description
Mrs Evelyn Chapple was born in 1896 and was [media]interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960' project. Here she remembers 'Old Joe', an Aboriginal man who ran a taxi service in his horse and buggy.
Transcript
INTERVIEWER: You don't remember any Aborigines in the area do you?
EVELYN: Yes, we had a couple of them, a couple of Aborigines. Wed had a fella called 'Old Joe'. He used to drive a horse and buggy from the station if anyone wanted to go anywhere.
INTERVIEWER: Like a taxi driver?
EVELYN: Yes, with a horse and buggy. But he was piebald, his face was black and white. And his son was black and white.
INTERVIEWER: When was that, when you were a little child?
EVELYN: No, when I was about twelve or fourteen, wasn't real young. Joe Gommis [?], he used to have all his face and his body was black and white.
INTERVIEWER: Where did he live, can you remember?
EVELYN: He lived down near the Church of England in one of the old houses. We used to call him 'Old Joe'. A great big Aborigine, big face and big body. He used to drive this horse and buggy and the horse was a draught horse, he'd 'plop, plop, plop' and long the lane. I don't suppose very many people would be able to remember him.
INTERVIEWER: What did other people think of him? Was he accepted by the community?
EVELYN: Accepted by everybody, everybody liked him, he was a nice fellow. He always had a kind word for everybody.
INTERVIEWER: Can you remember any other Aborigines?
EVELYN: No, I can't.
INTERVIEWER: I believe there were some that used to be down by the river, used to live down there.
EVELYN: Yes, there probably would have been. [1]
References
Catherine Johnson (ed). Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900–1960 (Liverpool: Liverpool City Council, 1986). http://mylibrary.liverpool.nsw.gov.au/Electronicbooks/Lookingbackatliverpoolanoralhistory-1900-1960.pdf
Notes
[1] Mrs Evelyn Chapple, interviewed for Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900–1960 project, Liverpool City Library, audio, Liverpool, 1986. http://liverpool.spydus.com/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/ENQ/OPAC/BIBENQ?BRN=25453