When you are told that the person you will be talking to worked in “the pie shop” you expect to be interviewing someone from the Railway Refreshment Rooms. However, that was not the case.
The Railway Refreshment Rooms were, however, a wonderful place to meet Des Littlewood and chat over a pleasant cup of tea; although his story was nothing about pies.
Des began his life working for the railways at age nineteen when he became a Junior Clerk; prior to that he had worked for his Father at their corner store. Perhaps that’s where he had something to do with pies? Narrandera was his first appointment from April 1960 to June 1960. He was not fully qualified when he was sent to Werris Creek just before Christmas. He married Junee Girl Jenny in 1962 and they spent five years at Werris Creek where his daughter Cheryl was born. Like her Dad, Cheryl worked with the railways at the DLE –Wagga Wagga before moving to Queensland. Des’s son, Brian did not follow him into railway work becoming a cabinetmaker instead.
Although offered a position at Casino he was advised to stay at Werris Creek and when he was given the option of relief work in Junee Des took it and returned to the Southern Line. Sadly for Des, Jenny became ill, requiring open heart surgery during this time.
Back in Junee Des took on the job of Time Keeper Clerk. He was responsible for the time sheets that came from Loco, Firemen and Drivers. He recorded the information from the time sheets and transferred it to the pay sheet. It was Des’s responsibility to work out the appropriate tax and superannuation payment and arrive at a net payment. This information was then sent off to Sydney to the Pay Clerk who would make up the pay envelopes which were returned by rail to Junee. Along the way the pay train would stop and fettlers would be paid and anyone else that might have been relocated to another station along the line. Public sector brown pay envelopes were always a welcome sight. Later of course, this process was computerised. Des wasn’t convinced that computerisation did the job as effectively as there was one occasions when a payment that was needed didn’t get made for six months. The personal touch of timekeeping had been lost.
One of Des’s anecdotes reminded me of how valuable the railway workers were to the community of Junee. When celebrating the 1975 centenary, a group of lads from the office (no names mentioned) decided to obtain an old fire engine and place it in the space where the skatepark now is. Some staff were given the day off to attend the Centenary Celebrations and they used the time to put up hessian around the tennis courts for the tournament that was to run. They were reprimanded by the Principal Clerk for not using the day off appropriately.
Tennis, it seems, was quite a focus of Des’s mates and looking out for each other was part of the work culture. Occasionally a signature was needed to enable a claim to be made or to allow a pay claim to go through. This personal approach often meant that families were able to eat while their father was off work.
Like most railway employees Des had his share of Railways Institute courses and he became somewhat proficient in shorthand (using his own when taking telephone messages at times) and a typing course done at the Narrandera TAFE also stood him in good stead. In 1982 Des became an Assistant Staff Clerk in “the pie shop”. It seems that this title was bestowed on the staff working in the offices a tthe Junee Railway Station as they were able to go and get the pies from the Refreshment Rooms for lunch. The mystery is solved. As Des said the winds of change were blowing and many of the smaller stations suffered staff losses and a good deal of the rostering was done by phone. Workers had to be contacted and their details recorded so that they could be paid. To be effective it required a good working relationship.
In 1994 the pie shop closed. Time keeping was done from Picton to Albury and on the south west line Griffith to Tocumwal. Individual workers did not always get to speak to the clerk and for some this was very difficult. Des was offered a redundancy and as his wife’s health was failing he took it and retired in 1999.
Des may have retired from the railway but he has been a busy active member of the Junee community. He has a deep faith that sees him ministering to the ill and disadvantaged. He was on St Luke’s Parish Council for over twenty years, being treasurer for ten years and he also volunteered ten years to Prison Ministry. A card party discussion lead to Lawson House’s twenty two units being built and Des was Chairman for two terms and was honoured with Life membership. I would say Des came up trumps! In 2013 Des took over Management of Annie’s Op Shop for a number of years. He enjoyed working with Principal Alan Slater when he was Secretary of the P&C at Junee Public School. As Des says it was a pleasure to work with such a great group of people. Cricket was another volunteer area for Des and he mentioned Don Willis and Jack Charlton as standout volunteers.
It was a pleasure to meet Des and his wife Lorraine who he married in 2017 and to hear his optimistic approach to life with all its ups and downs. Des remains positive despite health issues of his own and his years spent on the railway is a story that gives a different perspective of what it means to be a Junee Railway man.
-Noelene Milliken as told to her by Des Littlewood and with the assistance of Gail Commens.
