MEMORIES FLOW FROM MAXY PUB

TONY Cook ( above) spent his childhood at Maxwelton where his dad Neil had the pub. He spent 15 years in the Royal Australian Air Force. Did time in the Middle East and now he is a country singer. He spent two days in the Julia Creek and Richmond districts this week filming the video for his new single, That’s Country. He remembers the Maxy pub with great fondness. It is not there anymore and more is the pity. I can remember the tobacco tin Neil had on a shelf behind the bar. It had a sign drawn in felt pen that said: “Beware don’t open. Chinese Fighting Beetles inside”. Of course people would come in and ask what they were and Neil would hand the tin over and go back to what he was doing. Curiosity would get the better of the customers and nearly always they would gently unscrew the lid, just giving it a short turn. Even this slight unscrewing of the lid unleashed a terrible noise. The customers usually threw the tin in the air and fell from the bar stool in fright. What was inside was a paper clip tightly wound on a rubber band. As soon as the lid was loosened, the paper clip would spin around inside, creating a fearsome noise. It worked every time. Tony told me he can remember the time Neil evicted an unruly patron from the bar. The bloke went outside and got a rifle out of his car and walked back inside. Angus McClymont, a man mountain, from a nearby station, was sitting at the corner of the bar. He saw the bloke get the rifle and was waiting for him when he stepped inside. Angus tore the rifle from his arms and in the blink of an eye bent the barrel with his bare hands. “Fire out of that now,” he told the cranky– ex- patron. Tony has got plenty of material for his songs.