Cyril sharp in work or play
THEY would have told a lot of stories about Cyril ‘ Barb’ Wyer at his funeral and sendoff.
He was 89 when he died on April 30, four months shy of his 90th birthday.
They used to say Cyril was the cleanest wharfie who ever worked the waterfront. He was always the Dapper Dan, from his pork pie hat, his ironed short sleeved shirt, his 1970s model shorts to his polished shoes. His mate Ray ‘ Butchy’ Smith said that for some reason Cyril never got dirt on his clothes.
“He was just one of those blokes. We could be down in the hold shovelling coking coal into baskets and Cyril would come up at the end of it when we finished as clean as when he arrived at work,” Mr Smith said.
Former footballer and well- known publican Marshall Colwell gave the eulogy. In a speech bursting with humorous stories, he said Cyril worked on the wharf for 38 years and never had a single blister. “He was the best dressed wharfie in Australia. Barb would go to work immaculately dressed, polished shoes and his pork pie hat. He’d finish a 12- hour shift looking exactly as he did when he turned up. There wouldn’t be speck of dirt anywhere or a hair out of place. And he was always very proud of his efforts at work. He used to drive the big cranes and was good at it,” Mr Colwell said.
Mr Smith said Cyril was once the Australian waterfront snooker champion and played world runner- up champ Eddie Charlton at an exhibition game in the old snooker hall in Flinders St. Instead of showing off and trying to beat Eddie, Cyril split the balls and stood aside and let Eddie drop them into the pockets one by one.
“Some other blokes might have wanted to try to beat Eddie, but Cyril knew it was an exhibition game. He whacked those balls so hard they scattered all over the table. Cyril stood back after he split the balls. Eddie walked past and said ‘ thanks son’ and then put on a show. He put each down one after the other,” Mr Smith said.
“Back then we got four to five months work a year on the wharves. Cyril could always pick up a few dollars playing snooker. And cards, too. He was good player. They’d play for pretty serious money at the Greek Club and at the Australian Hotel in the public bar.”
And he was a pool room hustler. Mr Colwell said that on one occasion Cyril and his mate Nicky Lucas drove to Brisbane to test their snooker skills in the big smoke. They did the rounds of the snooker halls until they settled on one they liked. Cyril picked one bloke and let him beat him a few times. “The losses were mounting. Nicky didn’t know what he was up to and was watching their money disappear. They were down thousands of dollars and Barb just kept doubling up,” Mr Colwell said.
“The other bloke doubled Barb again and Barb got him. As the black ball dropped in the pocket he whispered to Nicky to grab the money. ‘ We got to get out of here now. This could get nasty’.
“They jumped in the car with $ 16,000 and kept the pedal to the metal all the way to Stuart,” Mr Colwell said.
Both Mr Smith and Mr Colwell recalled what a staunch supporter Cyril was of the Souths football club. Mr Colwell said Cyril would back Souths no matter how dire the situation.
“I was having a kick at goal once. I couldn’t kick for the life of me, but we didn’t have a kicker. I could see Cyril over in the curly bells taking bets that I’d kick it. I’m placing the ball and waving my hands at him trying to say ‘ no, no, don’t take any bets’. I missed the kick by a country mile,” Mr Colwell said.
“At the end of the game I went over to Cyril and said ‘ what were you thinking, taking bets on me kicking a goal?’ He gave that Cyril grin and ‘ I was just trying to instil a bit of confidence in you’.”
There was no doubting Cyril’s skills as a card player. He played professionally in his retirement.
“He was fearless at the cards and astute. The casinos would offer to send him off to big games here and overseas. Barb had a fear of flying and that got shelved,” Mr Colwell said.
Cyril Wyer is survived by his wife Phyllis and two sons.