Ted Wale: I’m good thanks.

Ted Wale: You'd like to know my full name?

Ted Wale: George Edward Wale.

Ted Wale: That's Ted, short for Edward. King George, Prince Edward (laughs).

Ted Wale: Cabramatta.

Ted Wale: 1910. Just before World War One.

Ted Wale: 93 last year.

Ted Wale: I was born in Coventry, England.

Ted Wale: No, I'm Australian.

Ted Wale: I've been in Australia since I was nine. So I don't know much about England. I spent all of my life, the main part of my life around Lithgow and Sydney. I came to Sydney in 1941 and I've been here since. Beginning of World War Two on account of the work. Anyhow, my father died when I was three and my mother came to Australia with my sister and I, to Lithgow. We stayed with friends for a while and we moved into our own house which had a dirt floor, bag walls whitewashed, little shutter for the window and a wooden floor for the bedroom which was more or less the same construction. Fence was made of split saplings. I had to carry the water from the creek. My mother was doing nursing where, she did obstetric nurse and home nursing but as... as it was, when you practised in England you need one certificate, when you come to Australia you need two certificates. She had one certificate but she did most of her work with a doctor which was the requirement.

Ted Wale: Yeah, I got two children. The eldest one is Jim ..

Ted Wale: Yes... they were born at Lithgow but the... the son was born in a private hospital and... my daughter was born at home at 1 o'clock in the morning. We got the nurse out to have a look at the wife and I said, ‘all right, we better go and get the doctor.’ she said, ‘what for?’ and I said, ‘well isn't it the usual thing to do to get the doctor?’ ‘well, she said, ‘if you feel you ought to get the doctor, go and get him, but,’ she says, ‘you don't need to.’ So anyway I got in the old Morris Cowley that I used to have and I went down and the doctor said, ‘I'll follow you out cos I don't know where you live and I'll follow you,’ he said, ‘I'll come round.’ So he came round in his pyjamas and dressing gown and followed me out. We got to the house, we walked inside and there, here is the nurse, the wife and the baby all sitting up having a cup of tea together.

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Nowadays I think that a lot of people use doctors when they don't really need to. Comparing to my time, you know. So...

Ted Wale: When I was in Lithgow I was apprenticed at the small arms factory where we made machine guns and rifles to shoot enemies with. And I served my time there, a five-year apprenticeship and I went to the Sydney Tech, Lithgow Branch

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for six years and... anyway I left there during the war, when the war started. In 1941 I answered an advert for a position at Commonwealth aircraft at Lidcombe where we were making Rolls-Royce engines, Pratt and Whitney engines and repairing different other engines like Alison and one or two others for the Air Force.

Ted Wale: Well I've been here about 48 years…

Ted Wale: I was living in this house in Strathfield, with a lady I think her name, (.. unclear ..) known. She lived up at Lawson and we were in this house and I wanted to get a Housing Commission place and if you were in a good steady job, especially if you were a tradesman, you could get in the ballot and get a draw for a house. And I was eight years in that ballot. And the old lady that owned the house she said she wanted the house back, she wanted to come to Sydney on account of her ill health. So, I couldn't get out of the house, I couldn't get anywhere else to live and I was waiting on this draw which didn't happen. Any rate she took me to court over it. And the funny thing about that, at the same time that I went to court, we got a letter from the Housing Commission saying that I'd got a draw for a house. What a coincidence (laughs) I don't know how it happened. Anyhow, I was in the courthouse in the corridor and this lady picked on me, she says, ‘you've done nothing about it,’ she says, ‘you haven't even tried.’ And I said, ‘haven’t I,’ I said, ‘read this letter.’ ‘oh well, you've got a house.’ So we went into court and the magistrate, someone came out and told her to shut her mouth anyway. (laughter) Anyway we went into court and the magistrate says, ‘all right,’ he said, ‘we'll dismiss the case now.’ He said, ‘you've got a draw, ‘and he said, ‘you'll just let it go at that and as soon as you get the house you move out.’ So I came down here to Cabramatta.

Ted Wale: Oh, the art business?

Ted Wale: Gees, I've been painting for over 50 years. Just after the war I used to go to Joe Holloway’s sketch club in Sydney at the back of the Tivoli, not the Tivoli, the Capitol, the back of the Capitol theatre and during the war, Tuesday night, five bob a night, we get the trained model, professional model. You want to hear about the models?

Ted Wale: Well, we had one there one night and she had beautiful lily-white skin. She was laying on this old curved leather covered settee and I'm painting, drawing away, we used to use charcoal cos it was only sketching. And I just got down to her face and her mouth and all the sudden her chin dropped and she started to snore. Any rate, it was a cold night and we had the kerosene heater, this vertical round thing, some of them call them Beatrice. And if you turn them up too much they actually smoke. It was a bit cold and Joe turned it up and went around and he's looking at us and talking to us and we're all busy... nobody noticed it but he turned it up too high and the smoke was coming up and then long streaks of soot coming up with the smoke. And all deposited on this beautiful lily-white skin. So when she woke up she saw this and she went to brush it off and of course (.. unclear ..) it used to be funny. We had a young policeman there, he used to come in there and do some drawing, I think he liked it better than doing his beat. (laughter)

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Ted Wale: I picked it up. I learnt a bit when I was going to high-school. I'll tell you the high-school teacher said that I had a bit of talent, he said I should keep it up. Once I got older, working and apprenticeship and that, you don't... you don't get much chance and in Lithgow there was no opportunities, no teaching, no schools, nobody they could help you. But when I came to Sydney which was later on after a I was married I really got involved in it. So I went to Joe Holloway's and I did the model sketching there and then they got this Art Society going in Cabramatta when I shifted out here. We used to go to Burwood evening school at night and do a bit of art down there cos as I said there was no opportunities.

Ted Wale: Well I do watercolours and charcoal, charcoal sketching and pencil... water paint, watercolour but I'm, I'm what you call a Realist Impressionist. I don't, I don't begrudge anybody their ideas or what they should paint and that. Everybody's got their own likes in painting. You've got modernists, you've got abstracts, whatever... and anyone who wants to paint, they paint the way they want to paint as long as you paint.

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