DAVE LINDSAY
By Graeme Olsen
Meet the man behind the "Bunbury.....I
Remember When" series, Dave Lindsay.
| Many of you will already
know about the popular booklet series "Bunbury....I
Remember When", a 6 part series of
stories, poems, anecdotes, and photographs
about the recent history of Bunbury. People
were (and still are) captivated by the nostalgic
collection of memories from people who grew
up here.
One the main driving forces behind that
project, is Dave Lindsay.
Dave was born in Scotland, and in his
early years after school he started out
as an
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|
 |
| apprentice painter and decorator,
before joining the British army in 1951
and serving in the Royal Artillery in Germany.
While in Germany, his life headed down what
you'd describe as the typical path (boy
meets girl, they get married and start a
family), until Dave's unit was demobilised
and he and his wife returned to Scotland
to live. |
They didn't stay in Scotland for very
long, however, and in 1961 they emigrated to Australia
and settled in Bunbury. At the time they chose Bunbury
because that's where their sponsors resided, but
they fell in love with the place very quickly.
To earn a living, Dave worked a variety
of jobs, and for the last 20 years of his working
life he was a cleaning contractor, earning himself
the name "Jock the Cleaner".
So how did the "I Remember When
Series" come about? It all started when Dave's
brother and sister came out to visit him in 1996.
One of the presents they brought him was a five
volume series entitled "Auchterderran of Yesteryear",
a collection of memories from people who had grown
up in the region where Dave was born in Scotland.
As Dave read through the books, he
went for a stroll down memory lane, back to his
childhood, his schooldays, his teens, his first
love. Interestingly, Dave had started writing down
his own story of arriving in Bunbury, right through
to the present day, although as a project he had
shelved it some time ago as being too hard. But
reading the Auchterderran books rekindled the notion
that perhaps a similar project for Bunbury would
be possible.
Dave put the idea to his friend, Deputy
Mayor Judy Jones, who was very enthusiastic, and
an inaugural meeting was held in February 1997.
From that meeting, a committee of five people was
formed, and "Bunbury....I Remember When"
was born.
The first book was 48 pages long and
took 14 months to complete. But when it went on
the shelves, it became quickly apparent how popular
it was going to be, and they were inundated with
orders. They continued to produce more volumes,
until they reached the sixth and final volume, which
was launched on the fourth anniversary of their
inaugural meeting.
The committee wanted to get the books
into as many households as possible, so they kept
the retail price low. Sets of the books were donated
to school and public libraries and for a few years
they conducted a mail order service which sent copies
of the books everywhere to former members of the
Bunbury community who were now living elsewhere.
The series was very successful, and
the net profits from the book sales are, on an ongoing
appropriate. each or directly at basis, donated
back to the community to where the committee deems
most Stocks for the books are now limited, but still
available, at a cost of $6.60 $35.00 for the full
set. Enquiries about how to get copies can be made
to Dave directly at daveanneby@bigpond.com,
or on (08) 9791 2986.
And what does this ambassador for
Bunbury have to say about his own town? "Bunbury
is our home!".
I must say I agree.
November 2003
