Charlie Larkins is running out of mates…….
It’s not that the affable, easy-going 93 year-old has got on the wrong side of anybody, mind you……… just that most of them have already shuffled off to their mortal coil…..
Charlie’s got a thousand and one memories of a lifetime spent in Wangaratta and, with a bit of prompting, can revive all of them in lucid fashion……
They might be of his experiences as a Hairdresser…..as a Car-Greaser at Joseph’s Garage..… Automobile, Caravan or Electrical Goods Salesman…. Tip-Truck Driver… Milk-Bar proprietor….or as a member of the Wangaratta Band…..
And his eyes light up when you mention cycling……He’s maintained a life-time fascination for the bike-game, and played his part in establishing Wangaratta as one of the strongholds of the sport…….
Club Champion. Charlie Larkins, with his uncle, Jim Condron.
16 year-old Charlie Larkins, and Gordon Frohling.
Prior to the commencement of a Road Race in the late 30s.
***
His first job, upon leaving school in 1946, was with Tip Lean the Hairdresser…….
“He handed me a five-year apprenticeship and said: ‘Now, it’s a 48-hour week….seventeen and sixpence a week…..I think that’s probably a bit low, so I’ll give you 25 bob a week, and every year you’ll get a 10 bob a week raise….”
“I just accepted it…..He was a tough boss, but I suppose it does you the world of good if you’re brought up tough……My first job of a morning was to sweep the footpath…….You’d look down Murphy Street and see everyone sweeping, almost in unison……”
“A Haircut was one and sixpence; a shave cost ninepence….When my five years was up I gave Hairdressing away……I’d just about had enough of Tip by then…..Trouble was, I had to put up with him all day, then I’d go to Band practice and he was the Bandmaster !……”
In the meantime, though, Charlie became involved in cycling……
“I’d always wanted to race bikes….always……When the Wangaratta Cycle Club was re-formed in 1947, that was my chance…. I jumped in…..I think there are only three of us still standing from that initial year…..”
“ A good mate of mine, Arnold Norton (who was born just three month after Charlie) started riding at the same time……We went around to the Malvern Star shop in Reid Street, and both bought an ‘Oppy 5-speed racer…….22 pounds 10 shillings they cost.…..And we paid ‘em off at 5 bob a week…..Arnold was a good, tough rider……he’d never give in.”
“The President of the Club was a personality of the town, Rick Burridge…….I don’t remember him ever competing, but he did plenty of riding; he was the local postie…..”
“Bob Plant was its backbone, though…..He’d ridden with a bit of success before the War, and he still raced up ‘til the late ‘fifties….Bob was Secretary, Treasurer, Handicapper, Newspaper correspondent,…you name it……”
“If you had a problem with your bike, or anything, you’d go and see Bob for a bit of advice….Us young blokes beat a regular path up to the Signal-Box at the Railway Station, where he worked….”
Charlie says that fellahs like Jack Stewart, Dick Moore (the first home-bred Wang Wheelrace winner, in 1936), Alby Saunders, ‘Clucky’ Clarke, Frank Bowen and John Beazley, were a few of the others who helped to steer local cycling back on a steady footing after the War.
Several of the pioneers of post-war Wangaratta cycling. Bob Plant is on the far right.
Charlie Larkins in the Wangaratta Band, playing on Osmotherly’s Corner.
***
He had his first ride in a Wangaratta Carnival in 1948……He was 17, and still remembers it as a pretty big deal….
“You were up against all of the ‘gun’ cyclists……I rode alright, but didn’t get anywhere….”
“That was the year Hubert Opperman competed……..He and Bill Findlay did a motor-paced exhibition…..’Oppy’ was just about at the end of his tether, but was world-renowned…..one of the best-ever……”
“I’ve got no hesitation in saying Wang was the best Carnival in Australia, through the late ‘40s, fifties and sixties.”
He shows me a 1949 program that lists him among the 223 cyclists who competed:
“Many of the visiting bikies were billeted locally, and the crowds would be packed around the Showgrounds……..One year they brought out the Italian champion Enzo Sacchi who, earlier on, had won a Gold Medal at the Helsinki Olympics…..”
“He attracted his countrymen from the area – all of the tobacco-growers from Markwood, Myrtleford and Whorouly turned up…..It was a huge crowd, but Enzo didn’t ride so good. I think he was treating it as a bit of a holiday…..”
Charlie says one of the best rides he’s seen at the Carnival came in 1951, when a local, and one of his close friends, Max Ryan, stole the Wheelrace:
“I followed him throughout the race…..A furlong from home he was dead last…..I thought he’d left his run a bit late, but he rounded up the field, five-wide, and got ‘em on the line…..Eddie Smith, who looked like he had the race in his bag, looked astounded, as if to say: ‘Where did he come from….’ “
“The only better ride that I’ve seen came three years later, when Sid Patterson overtook Hec Sutherland, in a dramatic finish……By gee, the old ‘Patto’ could certainly get the crowds up and about….”
“There were incidents galore over the years, but one I remember, came in the late-50s, when the Carnival was in danger of being washed out…….As a last resort, to get the cycling program going, they poured petrol on the dirt track….”
“Then they got people to drive their cars onto the track, to dry it out……Miraculously, they finished all of the events……”
To the roar of the huge crowd, Wangaratta’s own, Max Ryan steams home to win 1951 Wheelrace.
Eddie Smith is to his right. Local sporting identity Norm McGuffie is the line-judge.
***
There was no shortage of opportunities for budding cyclists of Charlie’s era……
In summer there were Carnivals at Beechworth, Whorouly, Milawa, Oxley, Violet Town and Euroa that gave them the opportunity to compete most week-ends.
And they’d head up to Albury every second Friday night, to a Cycling Meet which was held at the Sportsground ……
“Hoy’s had a Bus that was dubbed ‘Miss Betty’…..It had a rack attached, on which you were able to fit 10-12 bikes, and we’d all jump in for the return trip……”
If the Wang boys were competing in the city – which was quite often – they’d put their bikes on a train, then get a connecting train out to Ferntree Gully, and prop at a nearby pub.
One of the other eagerly-anticipated annual events on the agenda was the Victorian Country Premiership Teams Race:
“We couldn’t afford to buy ourselves a team uniform, so we’d borrow a few guernseys from the Wangaratta Footy Club……I remember Geelong winning it with the great Russell Mockridge in their team one year.”
Wangaratta’s reps in the Victorian Country Teams titles. Charlie Larkins is second from right.
Wangaratta’s winning Teams Champions of 1960. Claude Burns, Max Ryan, Bill Forge and Jack Sumner. Charlie was the Manager.
“We were eventually able to win the Teams Race – in 1960…… “
“Claude Burns, Max Ryan, Bill Forge and Jack Sumner comprised our line-up, and I was the Manager. I remember we stayed at a rough old Motel out Broadmeadows-way, but had plenty of celebrations afterwards.”
Sumner, an Albury citizen, but a Wangaratta Cycling Club member, brought further acclaim to the Club that year, when he took out the time-honoured ‘Warrnambool Classic’.
That followed on the victory of Wangaratta’s own, Graeme Daws, a year earlier. Charlie only competed in two ‘Warrnambools’ himself, but was proud to be on hand to watch the shy 19-year-old achieve his greatest cycling honour..
“About 70 miles from home, near Terang, Graeme and three other riders from his group looked set to battle the race out…….When they entered the outskirts of Warrnambool the lead changed a couple of times, before Graeme gained the ascendency and hit the line, a bike-length in front.”
Daws, who never lost his passion for bikes, passed away in 2008…..He willed his prized ‘Russell Mockridge Memorial, Melbourne to Warrnambool’ Trophy to Charlie, who had been a trusted mentor…….
***
Charlie won the Wangaratta Club Championship four times but regards his effort in the highly-rated 82-mile ‘Wagga to Albury’ Road Race in 1950, as the highlight of his career.
He was 19 at the time, and rode off scratch in an event which attracted most of the best cyclists of the region – and beyond.
After they left Wagga the riders had to contend with dirt roads all the way…..And, to make matters worse, a stiff breeze and soaking rain accentuated the inclement conditions….
Many competitors had the misfortune to puncture on the journey, and Larkins ‘copped’ his blowout nine miles from home……Despite riding the rest of the race on a flat tyre, he finished with ‘Fastest Time’ honours.
“ A bloke from the crowd came up, handed me a beer, and said: ‘Here, mate, you deserve this…….It was my first-ever beer……”
Charlie became aware of the ever-present dangers attached to cycling when he saw a young rider, Jim Kelly, killed at Shepparton’s New Year’s Day Carnival.
Eerily, two years later, the Danish champion Karl Kabiljo steamed home to win the Wheelrace at Deakin Reserve…. Momentarily distracted after crossing the line, he hit the wire fence, cannoned into a light pole, and was also killed
“I vowed that I’d never ride at Shepp again, but a few locals talked me into going over with them one year and I was lucky enough to come away with a ‘Double’….”
***
Charlie married the love of his life, Dot, in 1954.
They resided in Manley Crescent at first, but moved to Vincent Road in 1960……. Rovers footballer Les Clarke had accepted a coaching appointment at Terang, and he and his wife Rita, who were great friends, invited the Larkins’ to avail themselves of their house, in their absence.
“We loved it there……By a stroke of luck, when the family returned to live in Wang, the house next door became available and we snapped it up…..”
“They were terrific neighbours…..Dot had been Rita’s bridesmaid….They’d have a cuppa together every morning, about 10 o’clock, and solve the problems of the world……We were all mad-keen on sport and the kids got on well together…..I’m still here 64 years later….”
Charlie and Dot ran the ‘KG Milk Bar’ (next to Wangaratta Furnishings) in Murphy Street for five years…..
“It was rewarding in many respects……the people you meet, and the friends you make….. but it was also pretty hard yakka….Seven days a week….” he says.
A few years later he returned to his initial vocation when he took over the Vincent Road Hairdresser’s Shop – a mere 50 metres from home……which hundreds of Yarrunga residents made their port-of-call for a period of fifteen years…
***
But Charlie still made time for the bikes….
He rode competitively for a decade and a half, then helped the riders with motor-pacing, and acted as a masseur, among assorted other things…..
“At one stage I was rubbing down Ian Petts, Dave Wohlers and Barrie Burns…..I’d be stuffed of a night after doing that…..”
And he still loved getting out for a ride:
“It’s in your blood,” he says……”When I started back riding in the Veterans I was heading off for a training ride one morning……Glenn Clarke, who was only about 10 at the time, poked his head over the fence and said: ‘Unc, is it alright if I come with ya’ ? …..He hopped on his little bike and rode out to Mundara Hill, on the Greta Road, with me…..”
“It gave me a thrill to follow what turned out to be his terrific international career….”
Charlie Larkins’ next-door neighbor Glenn Clarke holds off Steven Pate, to win the Wangaratta Wheelrace.
“I was also doing a lot of Motor-Pacing when Des Woods came and saw me…..He said: ‘Dean’s riding in the World Junior Titles in New Zealand in a couple of weeks and he’s not going so well…..Could you take him out and put a bit of speed in his legs….”
“I did that for about a week and it gave me a huge kick when he went on to win the World Championship……That, of course, ignited his career…..”
Charlie’s nephew, Pete Simpson, credits his uncle for his own cycling obsession.
“Charlie persuaded me to ride in some amateur races which had been organised by the late Pat Toohey……He gave me a pair of Bamboo Wheels, which were reputedly much faster than the alloy wheels……I was hooked..”
Much to Charlie’s delight Pete reached the pinnacle of his career when he took out the 1980 Wangaratta Wheelrace……
The legendary Sid Patterson presents Peter Simpson with his Wangaratta Wheelrace Trophy.
Charlie Larkins pacing the field at the Wangaratta Carnival.
***
He’d just bought an E-Bike and, with the wind in his nostrils, was marvelling how quickly the kilometres were ticking by…….A nasty tumble ensued and, despite wearing a helmet, he suffered bleeding on the brain, which caused some consternation for the family…..
“I took the kids’ (Greg and Ange) advice that it might be a good idea to give it away……” says the super-veteran.
Ian Petts takes out the local Wheelrace.
A Cycling Club Presentation Night in the ‘50s.
This story appeared first on KB Hill’s website On Reflection and is used here with permission.
All photos sourced from KB Hill’s resources unless otherwise acknowledged.
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