Barry Scott - humans of 2484

Barry Scott, Scottie to his neighbours, was born in Murwillumbah's Sunnyside Hospital in 1934. When Scottie was 2 his father was killed by a speeding laundry truck, push-biking to work.

His earliest memory is of his father calling out "where are you skinny legs?", Scottie hiding under the bed.

His mother eventually remarried and two more siblings arrived. At 14, when his stepfather passed away, Scottie left Mt St Pats, to provide for the family. He worked at a dairy farm, trained at McLeods in Blacksmithing and Oxy welding, and helped build the Post Office on Main Street.

After three years of National Service, he was called up to serve in the Korean War. It finished weeks before he would have gone.

Travelling North for more dairy and sugar work,he was offered a job as a gardener on Hayman Island in 1969, and he remained until 1999. A highlight of his time there was "Lady" Ansett throwing him a party for his 60th birthday, sharing the resort Champagne, and posing with him for a proud photo he still cherishes. He would return to Murwillumbah 2 weeks every year to see his mother, returning permanently when he retired from gardening.

He remembers Murwillumbah as a big family, with little difference between friends, neighbours, and family members. Despite three significant relationships, he never married, saying he needed to help his family.

At the family home in Railway Street, he lived to help his community, mowing lawns for elderly neighbours, and doing their shopping. He remembers everyone working hard, but no-one really having any money.

From any point in town you could spot a banana patch, he recalls...”when the dairy farms were planted out with sugar cane, we became can cutters." ” There were seven pubs those days, an extended family". “There was no violence, everyone trusted each other.”

Scottie reminisces for the old Murwillumbah. It can be hard coming to terms with our current times…the number of closed shops, high rents, and little work. “ Life is harder for people now.”

He worries we don’t take care of each other enough...“people need more money these days and rarely have enough…it keeps them isolated from each other. In my time people worked for little money…but could live within their means”. “They had each other, and could count on it.”

Within his family, no new clothes were bought after turning 65. They wouldn't need them for long. At 85 Scottie is sticking to this tradition. He's the last survivor of his family

Scottie loves to help people out, in whatever way he can. He's known in his neighbourhood as someone who keeps an eye on things, cares for the children and the animals. It's where his from, and it's what he believes in.

His nephews and nieces still call him Skinny Legs.

Interview and story by David Neely, photo by Chelle Wallace