EULOGY FOR ARTHUR CLIFFORD DATED 18TH JUNE 2020

Good afternoon everybody, for those of you that don’t know me, my name is Ben Boyle.

I had the privilege of knowing Arthur since I was a young boy, and over the years developed a very close friendship with him.

It is an absolute honour to pay respects to Arthur with you all today.

BACKGROUND

Arthur Ernest Clifford was born on September 15, 1934 and lived all his life in the Huon Valley.

He was the sixth of 10 children to Jack and Beryl Clifford of Cliffords Rd, Deep Bay.

His childhood home was in the paddock adjacent to the pine trees near Deep Bay Creek, about 700m behind.

His father, Jack, used to farm raspberries and potatoes of the highest quality.

I recall Arthur telling me one day that as a child they used to store the potatoes in tree stump covered by sawdust and a damp hessian bag down by the creek as they didn’t have a fridge. His mother used to walk to Cygnet to buy the groceries.

Arthur left school in grade eight to help with providing for the family. Arthur’s childhood was a tough existence.

Arthur met his wife Judy at the Bushy Park woodchop and were married on November 12, 1959 by the Reverend Davies.

For the first six months of their marriage, Arthur and Judy lived with Arthur’s parents and soon after Arthur out of necessity as he told it “forged a hut out the bush with his axe and saws” which was to become their home for more than 50 years.

Arthur and Judy started their married life with next to nothing. No house. No money, and only an old car with the bonnet missing. It was a tough start to married life, one almost unimaginable by the standards of today.

Arthur was the father of five children, grandfather to more, great grandfather to even more and great, great grandfather to one – little Khalen. This in itself is a remarkable feat.

Arthur’s first grandson, Nick, was nipping at Arthur’s heels his whole life and they forged a close and special relationship.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Arthur was a champion axeman and was elite in his craft. He began his woodchopping career at the age of 23.

At the age of 28 he took up tree felling, won at the Royal Hobart Show and then had success at all the major shows in Australia.

Arthur was associated with the Cygnet chopping club for many years.

He was a pioneer in the woodchopping field. He designed a new axe head and had great skill in free hand grinding of axes. He made axe handles out of Tasmanian Blackwood timber and also found ordinary crack willow was very light and strong and more superior for shoe boards used in the tree felling competition and is now recognised as the preferred shoe board timber. He designed and innovated the tree holding clamp which saved 25 per cent of the pole wood and the modern clamp is an updated version of Arthur’s design which has spread throughout every state of Australia.

Among his many achievements, he had over 130 chopping victories, he was Tasmanian Axeman of the year in 1998, he is a member of the Axeman’s Hall of Fame, he represented Australia many times at the international level, claimed gold at the Masters games, and at 70, won the Royal Hobart Show tree felling handicap.

At age 82, he was still chopping at the Sydney show. It’s probably fair to say that the world will never see an axeman of Arthur Clifford’s calibre again.

CHARACTER

I would like to talk now about Arthur Clifford, the man. He epitomised the men of his generation, working tirelessly, turning his hand to everything and anything and always with good humour.

Arthur had a strong work ethic and high standards and expected the same from those in his

sphere of influence.

As a young boy, he was a role model who instilled sound and positive values and ethics which form the foundation of who I am today.

This is the experience of my elder brothers who as boys also worked with Arthur.

I know it is also the experience for Nick, his grandson, other members of his family like Mitch, Sam and Trae and I can guess it is the experience for a lot of you here today.

Arthur’s legacy is as a teacher – a mentor to many.

He was the hardest and toughest man I know. Arthur worked and operated this mill for over 60 years. During my teenage years, I spent a lot of time working right here for Arthur in this mill after school, on weekends and during school holidays.

When I joined the army, there were tough corporals and sergeants who where three pick handles across the chest yelling at us new recruits – terrifying for most – but not for me, I took it in my stride – it was nothing compared with working for Arthur Clifford in his prime.

I remember one tough week working at Arthur’s place – two-and-a-half days holding pipes in a freezing cold dam and then two-and-a-half days hoeing blackberries in the paddock, wind howling, rain coming in at an angle and hitting me in the face.

Whenever there was a decision to make he would ask me what I thought and if I hesitated would bellow, “Hurry up answer man – your soldier’s lives are going to depend on it!”

I recall another story when I was a boy of about 13, I was working with Arthur and old Dart

Duggan knocking up apple bins when he sent me on a task “charge down to the axe handle shed and fetch the plumb hammer.”

I remember starting to amble down to shed when I heard this roar behind me, “Charge I said!” and off I went like a rocket.

I remember running into the shed, panting, in a panic – looking for the hammer – I couldn’t find it, time was ticking, I was sweating and stressing – and be buggered if I could find that hammer.

A long few minutes later Arthur came into the shed, walked past me and straight to where the hammer was, picked it up and in a calm voice said, “See why some people are paid $5 an hour and others are paid $20 – come on Dom, Ben whatever your bloody name is, there’s a million things to be done and you’re still buggerising around on this thing.”

Arthur was quite particular in the way he wanted things done. He wanted things done in a certain way – it was Arthur’s way or the highway.

I know some of you right now are thinking, “Yeah – he was a stubborn old bastard”.

A few of you may even have stronger words in mind – me – I prefer the word forthright – you were never in doubt with what he wanted.

There was only black and white with Arthur – no time for shades of grey. As Arthur mellowed in his older years, he would use the line, “I hope you don’t mind me telling you boy and if you do – too bad – but do it like this.”

I recall a story, in the mid-2000s when Arthur and Judy attended the Brisbane show – he stayed with me for 10 days. My girlfriend at the time, who bordered on the feminist side of the line asked Arthur if there was any thing she could do for him – being a good hostess. Arthur replied, “Yeah could you make me some sandwiches for lunch tomorrow.”

The next day when returning from work, we were all sitting in the lounge room, my girlfriend, fishing for a compliment, asked Arthur how his sandwiches were – Arthur reply was priceless, “Yeah, not bad ... but they could have done with some cheese.”

I never laughed so hard in my life.

You will recall Arthur’s most renown attribute – spitting in both hands, wiping his hands together with the words “I say!”, “Who is the best man in the Huon”, and “Why am I?”.

Arthur marked a man on what he produced.

In fact, he often asked this question directly to men that he met. First, “What is your name?”, then, “Where are you from?” and then, “What do you produce?”

He was very proud of his property and the business he built over the years. He enjoyed

immensely showing my many visitors his property, the magnificent finished furniture he made,

the timber shed and machines with works in progress.

Arthur would make an axe handle, then finish with a display of throwing the axe and putting a log over the saw at the mill.

These tours took hours – which Arthur loved doing as he sometimes would get a sale at the end of it – much of his handcrafted furniture was shipped around Australia, beds and cabinets to Brisbane and Melbourne and tables to Sydney – many smaller items such as axe handles, morning tea trays, rolling pins and bread boards would find themselves around the world.

I recall one backpacker telling me she carried one of Arthur’s bread boards for 3 months in her luggage.

Despite his harsh exterior – Arthur had a gentle side. He loved animals. He would often say he liked animals better than humans. He loved his many family pets over the years – Earnest the hairless parrot, Spot, Midge and Tinkerbell and Moo – his dogs.

Although Arthur despised the greenies – he himself was a conservationist. I’m not sure he knew he was. He loved nature and wouldn’t tolerate the indiscriminate destruction of native bush and animals. He made a living from the bush – and used his timber wisely.

He loved singing and quite often would recite poems and songs that he learnt from school is one I recall with a smile – it’s Arthur’s version of a Bing Crosby song Home On The Range. He would boom this out over the property from time to time – please sing along if you know it, “Give me a home where the dingoes roam and the deer and go and antelope play.”

“What do you reckon about that boy? I say! I should have been a singer.”

He loved making up his own jokes “What did Fiji say after it ate Tonga for Dinner.”

“I want Samoa,” was the punchline.

He was renown for making up his own newspaper headlines “Deep Bay man slays adulterous neighbour” was one I recall.

Arthur had a thirst for knowledge and in his later years, after I returned home from serving 14

years in the Australian Army and three years travelling the world, I would spend countless nights telling Arthur stories of the countries and places I had visited and sites and experiences I had seen.

He listened intently and would ask inquiring questions about each country: “How long is the Panama Canal?”

“How much fresh water is held in Lake Superior on the US border with

Canada” and, “How many cities are classed as mega cities?”

He was always calculating and converting miles to kilometres and meters to feet in his head and he would do the crossword daily. So, I will give you a tip for the crosswords – four-letter word for sword is Épée and a South American native cat in six letters is ocelot. “Don’t forget it,” he would say.

He loved impressing prospective buyers of his crafted furniture when asked, “This is incredible – what timber is it?”

He would respond with a smile and glance my way “that is made from Eucalyptus Olbiqua (Stringy Bark), or Eucalyptus Globulus (Blue Gum) or Eucalyptus Regnan (Swamp Gum).

He also enjoyed using the word titivate which means to make minor enhancements to – he liked using it with prospective buyers because not many people new the meaning.

I think he just liked the sound of it – “titivate”.

Arthur was also a terrible show-off. He loved being the centre of attention – today he would have had a beaming smile – one of his endearing physical features – his chest would have been poked out with his long arms and large powerful hands down by his side – full of pride. Here is a fact not many of you know – Arthur is a cult hero an international cult hero.

One day, years ago – one of the visitors I brought up to visit Arthur was a documentary film maker from South Korea – don’t ask me how this came about – just take it from me that it happened.

The film maker just loved Arthur – they made a short documentary of him cutting a block, throwing an axe and much more – when it was finally aired the show topped the ratings. Overnight he became a cult hero in South Korea.

The film will be shown on the big screen at the Deep Bay fire Brigade later this afternoon.

It is a must watch.

CONCLUSION

Today, we are farewelling one of the last of a generation: bushman, timber mill operator, pine

tree plantation owner, cattle farmer, furniture craftsman, axe handle maker, saw doctor,

champion axeman, Deep Bay fire chief, National Service man, animal lover, nature lover – lover of anything to do with timber.

He will be sorely missed by everyone that knew him. I would like to take this opportunity to

publicly thank Nick and Susie, Grandson and Grand-daughter in law of Arthur for all the love and support they have provided to Arthur over the past years and in particularly your love and

support in caring for Arthur until the end. Nick, you have now been handed the torch of

responsibility and I have every confidence that you will make Arthur proud.

He will always be with you.

Arthur’s legacy is as a mentor and teacher. In his own way, he wanted people to be the best

versions of themselves and he took it upon himself to provide that information. He had a

positive impact on many young lives.

He was influential in forming the values in my life and I am a richer person for having shared some of life’s journey with him.

Arthur made many things in his life, but I think the most important thing Arthur made were men.

Arthur Ernest Clifford is a great man – one of his kind. He is a Tasmanian icon, an Australian icon and never to be forgotten.