What I See with Peter Fiorenza: Chance encounter with former Geraldton local leads to night of reminiscing

Sometimes the strangest, yet most wonderful things happen. Recently, I was in Perth to watch and broadcast games at the country football championships. It’s always a great couple of days, which has been part of my annual calendar for some time. The group I spend time with love local footy, like a chat and a beer, and we immensely enjoy each other’s company. Each evening, following the broadcast we often head to a favourite watering hole, which over the years has become a regular mainstay. Interestingly enough, the establishment tends to be frequented by many locals who travel down for the carnival, along with a number of people who used to live in our neck of the woods. And this time around was no exception. In fact, we had the pleasure of catching up with someone who was a long-time resident of Geraldton, who now lives in Bali. To be quite honest, I really didn’t know him, but he certainly knew who I was. The company I was sitting with identified an older gentleman who looked to be on his way out the door. “Hey, Kenny Mac, what are you doing here?” At that moment the fella stopped, turned, and looked blankly, but his face lit up almost instantaneously. Before you could blink, he was sitting beside us with a beer. When we were introduced, he looked at me and said: “I know exactly who you are. I know your mum and dad well.” And so it came to bare that the man talking to us was none other than Ken McAuley, who has spent a better part of his life as a fisher and business person in Geraldton. He started telling me how he worked with my uncle, before learning the fishing game from the famous Tinny Bombara, and later running his own boat. His stories about early days in the fishing industry could be likened to Mark Twain’s tales of Huckleberry Finn. From the adventures he had at sea, to the characters who worked for him, Ken had the group of us in raptures of laughter and amazement. At times, the 82-year-old would stop and pause, with tears coming to his eyes. “Well, how great is this he would say,” obviously enjoying the reminiscing. For almost two hours, Ken did a lot of talking and we did a lot of listening. But it was so enjoyable hearing about the people and the past. We were the last to leave the tavern that night. And as we dropped old Ken off home, he shook all of our hands. “This has been one of the best nights I’ve had in a long, long time.” Back at you Ken. Peter Fiorenza hosts Sport Shed Saturday (9am to noon) and Fiorenza on Sunday (10am to noon) on Radio MAMA