The second installation of Benalla Stories looks at the life of well-known local, Richie Castles.
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Richie Castles was a star in two fields, football and work.
With football, he had a lot to live up to, with a relative like Uncle Dick Reynolds who won three Brownlows.
With work, he had another great role model in his dairyman brother Charlie.
The Castles family worked a seven-day week starting at 1am each day. Not a life for the faint-hearted.
Central to this lifestyle was their home at 29 Barkly St. This was not only a home but also an office, dairy and stables.
The horses knew the milk round as well as the ‘milko’, but they were not without their problems.
Ritchie recalls breaking in a new horse on a wet night in short streets, which made turning the horse difficult.
The horse took off down Coster St, dragging an entangled Richie for several blocks and across the highway, dodging traffic.
With help from Tom Sherlock, they caught the horse when it stopped to deliver milk at the first house over the highway.
Another episode involving the horses was the ‘Circus’ that Richie and his friends established on a vacant block.
Charlie was unhappy with the horse being galloped around the block when they had enough dairy work to do, so he gave the boys a flick with his whip, usually reserved for the horses.
It must have stung because Richie never forgot it. Corporal punishment in those days wasn’t a joke.
The Castles' home at 29 Barkly St was also a dairy and stables.
As a star footballer for Benalla, Richie would do the milk round from 1am to 9am and then catch the footy bus to wherever the match was.
After the game he came back to Benalla on the bus and was off on his round again at 1am.
He received £3 per match, which went into a Provident Fund to be paid out on retirement.
He subsequently joined West Torrens with his Uncle Dick, who had been replaced as Essendon coach by John Coleman.
There, Richie got £15 per game for wins and £10 for losses.
‘Milko’ is a book written by Richie’s brother, Charlie.
It captures the nostalgia of an era in which milk deliveries came via a billy hung on the gate of each house, or later with an exchange of empty bottles for full ones.
Notes left for the milkman by patrons were collected by Richie’s mother and in a sense captured the role of the ‘milko’ in providing some of the glue that linked the community together.
The following are some of these notes:
“Milkman when you leave my milk, knock on my bedroom window and wake me because I want you to give me a hand to turn the mattress.”
“No more milk please. I’ve had enuff (spelt as it was on the note).”
“Sorry for not having paid your bill before, but my wife had a baby and I’ve been carrying it around in my pocket for weeks.”
Dear Milkman, our dog is missing and our cat is very sick. So we won’t need as much milk. When our dog comes home we will take more milk. We have 5¼ bottles of milk in our refrigerator. No milk please. Yours Sincerely, Mrs N Pryslipski.”
“From now on please leave two pints every other day and one pint on the days in between, except Wednesdays and Saturdays when I don’t want any.”
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