Wonderful Dogs – Lightning and Spotty
"I had a dog named Spotty and a cat named Tiggerty. And this other dog was Lightning, he was my Dad’s dog, see. He used to hang around my Dad all day, help him round up the pigs at the piggery. And sometimes he would go hunting with his dog, Lightning. He was never around me.
And one time they went out hunting, this way walking. My Dad went walking with his dog, he went hunting to this other swamp. And when they came back Dad had to leave the dead kangaroo somewhere there in the bush with Lightning looking after that dead kangaroo, minding him, while he would come and pick up me and Mum. He would come and pick up me and Mum, you know. He told us: “I’ve got a kangaroo there but the dog’s minding the kangaroo."
Maureen at the old piggeryHe would come to pick up spade and maybe knife, salt and pepper, he’d load up things on to the wheelbarrow. Mum would put flour, sugar and tea and we would go with this other dog: that was Spotty, he was my guard dog. He used to look after me, Spotty. You could see that dog siting there. My Dad had to dig a hole for that kangaroo. Then me and Mum would collect firewood, Mum would light the fire. Then Dad’d get the guts out of the kangaroo, cut his tail and legs you know. Then she’d singe the fur off the kangaroo and scrape it off and put it back in the hole and cover it up, Mum. Then she’ d make damper and tea while Dad was tired, lying under the tree.
And the other time. There was this two pigs. Two male pigs. There was this one in another yard, a big pig and a young fella one. My Dad got this pig out from the yard, we were walking, through the middle. He should have taken him round that way, we were coming through and we didn’t see that pig. That pig just got up from over the fence. That two pigs was fighting, I was crying, I was scared you know: my Dad would get hurt or my dog.
My Daddy got a broomstick you know, put it between the pig’s mouths, try to stop them from fighting but Lightning jumped over the fence, he grabbed hold of that pig’s ears, that big one, he pulled that pig down, right down, But he got cut from one of the pig’s tusks. I was crying, I thought my dog was hurt. But he was alright! He was right because that dog (Lightning), was there. He was a good dog. I’ve never seen a dog like that. He was the most wonderful dog I had ever seen, I’ve got good memories of that dog. I wish I could find a dog like him but you can’t these days.
Maureen's dog Smoky rests in the artist's working space.
But Spotty he was my guard dog. He used to look after me, stay by me when I was sick and play or maybe play with friends or little dogs. He would sit beside me. One night, it was a moonlight night, I decided to go for a walk. I was walking, walking near the kungaberry bushes. I was sitting down beneath them.
They were looking for me, my parents. They were looking everywhere for me, they couldn’t find me. They said: “Did you see the little girl? Where did she go?” Then Dad seen Spotty sitting near, outside the kungaberry bush. ‘She must be in there!’ If it wasn’t for the dog they wouldn’t find me! But that dog he never left my side too. Spotty, he was always there, watching me, watching what I was doing."
