an employee engine driver & fireman of the Co.
from January 1937 to December 1973."
I discovered this little gem fourteen years ago when we still had our two little dogs Malty and Rover. We had driven to Ulladulla where we strolled along the picturesque harbour to walk off some of the lunch we had overindulged in at the local bowling club: pumpkin soup and a large Fisherman's Basket washed down with a Chardonnay and followed by a slice of cheesecake.
Who was Jack Myers? Did he have any dreams and ambitions beyond being an engine-driver and fireman at Mitchell's Mill from January 1937 until December 1973?
Perhaps the point of this tale is Jack Myers' pointless life. Perhaps Jack Myers would've been engine-driver and fireman at that Mill much longer had it not been for the Mill's closure in 1974. Perhaps the highlight of Jack Myers' life is this plaque to his extraordinary ordinariness.
Please don't get me wrong: I am not knocking Jack! Jack and the many millions like him are the red blood cells that hold our society together.
All I know is that nobody is going to put my name on a plaque for having lived the same year thirty-seven times over.
