If you've ever done a tour of the portraits of past Australian prime ministers in Parliament House, you would've searched in vain for this portrait of Tony Bailey who was simply too nice a guy to have got his hands dirty in politics. Instead, he was one of Bechtel's timekeepers at Loloho Port who also drove the bus from Kobuan as well as collecting and handing out our much-longed-for mail from home.
Des Hudson, who usually has no opinion about anything or anyone, not even himself, wrote, "I remember Tony well as he was the first person we all met after landing at the airport. Everyone was eager to know what and where and when about all that Tony would tell us and his handling of the mail made him a special person to befriend."
I had found his Incoming Passenger Card from 1972 after he had left Bougainville and returned to Australia, and wanted to know what made him go for the unlikely career choice of accountant as shown on the card under "Usual Occupation". I mean, being a lion tamer, even a timekeeper, would've been so much more exciting!
I eventually tracked him down here, and while his name is not uncommon and half a century had passed since I last had seen him, that little moustache and those piercing eyes were a dead give-away.
His reply was prompt, "Your long shot is spot on target - yep! That’s me… and I’m still going strong, living in Traralgon. I’m still working full time, despite the fact that I turn 74 in a few short weeks, I have a great job and intend to work for another 2 years at least. You are the only person to contact me from those days - I fondly remember my time on Bougainville as the best days of my life."
As for his "Usual Occupation", he replied, "That’s not my writing - I was a timekeeper!" And so you were, Tony, although you also did a really great job reconciling all those Brambles-Kennelly trip dockets.
And, instead of taking up lion-taming, he tells me, "After I left Bougainville I bummed around Australia for about ten years, had a handful of jobs mostly in the plywood, particleboard and timber industry where I became something of an expert in quality control. In 1982 I moved to Traralgon", which is where he still lives today and from where he wrote me his emails.
Welcome to the Bougainville Copper Project blog, Tony, and don't we all agree with your heartfelt words, "I fondly remember my time on Bougainville as the best days of my life." We just didn't know it then!
