Phil Sheather is the author of “Just Battlin’ On Regardless”
Phil Sheather, a prolific Australian Poet, was born in 1934 to farming parents. At six years of age, he rode his bicycle four miles to a small bush school for his primary education, and then for his secondary education the school received the lessons from Blackfriars Correspondent School and they were supervised by the local teacher. He is the second youngest of six siblings (Four deceased) and on leaving school he, with his parents, moved into the township of Grong Grong in NSW. The move was affected so as to facilitate the living arrangements of older siblings. Phil’s mother ran a small grocery -come -café style shop and initially, he helped out there, as well as becoming the night boy at the local telephone exchange.
When he was seventeen years of age his father died, and the responsibility of running the property fell on his shoulders, with input from older siblings, and help from a younger brother still attending school. When the younger brother married, Phil moved to Wagga Wagga, NSW. After a couple of fill-in jobs, he managed a machinery retailing outlet for five years, before buying a river farm and returning to the land. During a recession in cattle prices, he took a job with an international machinery manufacturing conglomeration that had relocated in Wagga. The Job was as the warehouse parts supervisor. Several months later he was elevated to parts manager, and twelve months later still to National Parts Manager. When his firm was bought out on the stock market by a rival and transferred to Sydney, Phil was offered his same job there but declined, becoming a machinery salesman for a local business instead. This was a job he pursued for five years, before finally returning to farming full time. Today he is fully retired, but until the Covid 19 Pandemic, was doing a minimum of fifty hours of charity work per week for his church, until being forced into self-isolation because of his age. He is now an avid gardener, a poet, loves walking, and dare we suggest it? He loves talking too! He is also the proud owner of a cat that he absolutely adores and vice versa! And he calls it Buddy! Just one guess, where does the name comes from? He has never written for publication before and has never published a single word previously. In fact, one could confidently say, he knows nothing about publishing, full stop!
- Fun fact. I played senior grade Aussie Rules when younger. In fact, much younger, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I would do it all again if the opportunity (hic) ever arose!
- Fun fact. During a game, one day, a disagreement between myself and my opponent escalated into a full-on fight, and this was after the game had drifted upfield and was in full swing at the opposite end of the ground. As a result the umpires, and as I thought, the spectators were unaware of it. However, late in the match, my opponent got the ball right in front of his goals, and was about to pop it through when the crowd yelled out to him,“ Watch out, he’s coming after you!” In his haste to get rid of the ball, he kicked it out of bounds. That was sweet, and did I get some great mileage out of it!
- Fun fact. I was playing in my very first senior game of football, and fourteen years of age. It was a very big occasion, particularly from my perspective. The ball was bouncing towards me, and all I had to do was pick it up and have a shot at the goal. What an opportunity! But I got one of those horror bounces and the ball dribbled through my legs and out of bounds! And there was nowhere to hide on a footy field!
- Fun fact. My cat Buddy was indoors, sitting on top of a cupboard at the window, with the blinds up and watching intently what I was doing. In mock response, I clicked my heels together and gave him a salute. To my amusement, Buddy raised his right paw as high as his head, resting it on the window glass. To all intent and purposes, it appeared as if he had acknowledged my salute.
- Fun fact. Buddy, my cat, was sitting on the window sill, making strange noises I had never heard him attempt before. I went to investigate, and found a magpie only three feet away outside the window, warbling his little heart out and intently watching the cat. Was Buddy trying to emulate the magpie? It sure appeared so.
