Aussie Larrikins

By Jack Coull

This is the first part of a 4 part series about the life of a larrikin Australian man. He grew up in a large, but poor Catholic family in a small town in central Victoria, Australia. Pete is the eldest of 5 boys and the eldest of at least 25 cousins. He is currently going through some deep soul searching and decided it was time to tell his story. The first book in the series involves a lot of practical jokes, some run in's with the police, laughter and mostly good but with some bad times.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jack Coull
• Release date: Mar 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310236372

Jack Coull

I am a 45 year old man and live in Queensland, Australia. I grew up in central Victoria in the 1970's and 80's. My life has been full of adventure. I married at age 22, and due to unforeseen events I found myself a single parent of two children in the mid 1990's.There have always been trials, including domestic violence, but after many years I have decided to share my adventures with the world as I go on the most soul searching journey of my entire life.These books have been written in Australian English-slang and abbreviations to capture the essence of Australian slang and larrikinism and the sense of humor that's so different.

Book preview

About the author

Jack grew up in a small country town in the middle of Victoria. He was the oldest of five boys and also the oldest of all the cousins.

Being from a very large family, times were tough and they had to make their own amusement.

Over the years Jack faced many trials and tribulations and it was always his ability to stay a true Aussie larrikin that gave him a sense of humor, and also the strength to overcome whatever life threw at him.

Finally in his mid forties he decided he needed to share some of his adventures with the rest of the world.

Aussie Larrikins

Jack Coull

Copyright © Jack Coull 2016

Cover design by Jack Coull

Smashwords Edition

Contents

About the Author

Chapter One – The Dam

Chapter Two – Brotherly love

Chapter Three – The farm

Chapter Four – Cousins

Chapter Five – Toorak

Chapter Six – Back at the farm

Chapter Seven – Balancing school, work and sport

Chapter Eight – Cars and girls

Chapter Nine - Apprenticeship

Chapter One

The Dam

Pete slowly opened his eyes, yawning and stretching he rolled over. Today was Saturday and he and his brothers had a big day planned. He crawled out of bed and down the side of the bunk. It was early so he didn’t want to wake the other boys yet. Wandering to the kitchen he could see Mum sitting with her coffee reading a paper.

Morning Ma he said rubbing his eyes

Hi Pete, replied mum how’d you sleep?

Yeah good Mum, looking forward to today he replied.

Opening the cupboard he reached for his usual breakfast cereal and a bowl, after putting 6 weetbix in the bowl he headed to the fridge for the milk and sugar. He crossed the kitchen to the table and sat down, Hey Ma, did you get that lamb out last night? he asked.

Yes darl, its in the bottom of the fridge. she replied.

Cool, I will throw it out the back to go stinky before we go. said Pete

It was summer time in central Victoria and was nice and hot, the yabbies’ had been out in the dams for a while and Pete had found a new dam that he wanted to try.

They lived in a commission area of a small country town. There wasn’t much to do so quite often the boys had to make their own entertainment. Dad worked at the railways and Mum was often sick and in hospital, so it was great when she was home.

Ok Ma, I will put the lamb out and get the chores done before I wake up the boys. said Pete. Mum just nodded as she had been unwell but Pete knew what he had to do. Off he went outside to feed the dogs and clean up the yard, no hesitations, as he knew he had to help out as much as possible. He was the oldest of 5 boys.

It was about 10am by this time and it was time to get Jamie and Pat up, the sun was out and it was about 30 degrees.

Pete opened the door of the bedroom yelling C’mon you bums, get outa bed for gods sake it’s nearly time to go.

Fuck off, yelled Pat as he rolled over. While Jamie, just sprung up with his usual step.

A couple of hours later the boys were already dressed in shorts and t-shirts with their bikes out the front ready to go.

Where are you going Pete? asked Mum.

Oh, there is a new dam down past the railway tracks I wanna go try Mum it’s only a couple of kilometers. replied Pete.

Ok, but you be careful and look after your brothers or there will be hell to pay. said Mum.

This was an understatement and something Pete knew all too well. Being the oldest he knew that if anything happened to the boys he would be in big trouble, usually grounded and then a few good hits with the strap.

C’mon boys lets go, times a wasting, have we got everything ready. he asked.

Yeah, said Jim we’ve got buckets, hand-lines and nets. he said.

Cool we’re set then, you ready Pat? asked Pete.

Yep lets go it’s getting late said Pat.

The boys only had to ride a block and they were out of town, and onto the bush tracks that led down over the railway lines, pedaling like crazy they raced down the hills watching for snakes and up the other side, everything was dry, there was no grass just dirt and bush.

Stopping at the railway line Jamie asked So where is this dam Pete?

Just down this track about a kilometer. replied Pete.

They set of a little further until they could see the dam, it was in the middle of a big open paddock with a large gum tree to one side. On the far side of the paddock was an old factory that looked deserted.

The boys lent their bikes up against the old wire fence and climbed through the wire setting of across the open field towards the dam. Buckets and nets in hand.

Oh shit cried Pete I forgot the meat, fuck it!

So what do we do now? asked Jim.

I’ll go back for it, you guys stay here, it’ll only take me 20min. Just go set up I wont be long. Pete replied and headed back to his bike.

Jamie and Pat continued on to the dam looking back to see Pete disappearing down through the trees heading for home.

It was in no time he ran back inside calling Hey, its just me, I’ve forgot the lamb.

Ok, where are the others? she replied.

Still at the dam Mum, they are ok, I will back there in a min as he ran back through the house and headed of down the street. It wasn’t long before he arrived back at the dam and parked his bike up against the fence. Climbing through the fence Pete thought to himself it was a