I Had A Dream

I had a dream last night, as I do most nights. In my dream the Demons won the premiership. Then I realized it wasn't a dream.

But seriously, I did dream last night. As usual, I could remember little of it, about all I could remember was that a bloke I knew many years ago, Milton Lilburne, was in it, and, in the dream, I was looking at some old kiwi fruit vines he'd pruned hard. Now I haven't seen or heard of Milton for maybe 25 years so why he should be in my dream I don't know.

Milton, an ex Kiwi, had a kiwi fruit farm at Avonsleigh. He bought it from an old bloke named McClean, who had it as an established plantation way back in 1973. When we planted Kiwi fruit in 73 at Chamomile Farm in one of our early escapades we were told of McClean's orchard by the Dept of Ag horticulture advisor (Harold Marshall was his name...gee my memory surprises me) from Knoxfield. Kiwi fruit were a novelty back then. My father Lyle had some discussion with McClean, I think they got on OK. I did most of the grunt work in 73 putting up the trellis, then pulling them out many years later when we needed the ground for other things.

When I came back from Wangaratta in 1981 I kept bees as a sideline and Milton approached me to put bees in his kiwis for pollination. I did this one or two years, then the next year I think I'd reduced my hive numbers so I put Milton onto Redpath's Beeline Apiaries who either provided the bees or arranged someone else. I regarded Milton as a friend, he'd pop in to the farm with his wife. They both worked at Monash University, Milton a lecturer in law, his specialty was contracts. He was about 50? and I recall him drinking a can of beer at his orchard quite early in the morning.

As I lay awake this morning a whole heap of memories flooded back from the years at the farm, including the above. I couldn't think of Milton's wife's name for a while but it did come to me. Christine. I think she was a second wife, a good bit younger than Milton. As I write it has come to me that during the time I knew them Christine gave birth to a boy, named Wilson if I'm correct. He'd be about the same age as our boys now. None of this may be accurate. Later they bought a house and some acres on the old Emerald Rd on the way to Monbulk, just north of the creek at Butterfield Park. None of this matters but I'm excited by the memory of it and am pleased to write it down. They were looking for things to grow as foliage or other ideas. I suggested they plant euc pulverulenta along their fence and they did.

When I entered a contract with Australian Herb Supplies (originally Melbourne HS) in the late 1980's which gave them exclusive rights for 10 years to our produce, for a sum, there was in the contract, that AHS had to buy a minimum $amount each year. AHS had the contract drawn up by solicitors Klieger, Katz and something and when I was telling Milton about it, after I'd signed, he asked to see it. I showed him and he pointed out that the problem with that minimum clause was that I'd be left doing all the hard stuff they couldn't easily get elsewhere. That is exactly what happened, in pretty quick time. He also said it was a shabby document that was full of holes if challenged and frankly wasn't worth the paper it was written on. I had this is mind when things didn't go well, and found other customers. AHS continued as a customer for a couple of decades in cordiality, no-one mentioning the contract. Funnily, in the Herald Sun a year or two later I read that solicitor Katz was up for murdering someone. Don't know how that ended. AHS sold to a big NSW company several years back. They bought from us for a few months then wanted a supplier contract signed with stipulations about guaranteeing supply or something so we said no thanks and never heard from them again.

So I lay in bed thinking back over all this, and many other things, and people, from that era. When I got up and saw our Demon friend, my thoughts were very much with florist Ben who gave it to me.

For many years Ben came to the farm and bought posies and foliage, maybe 48 weeks a year. He was Jewish, his shop I think was in Balaclava area. He was probably our favourite customer through the 90's, so pleasant and reliable, always payed happily without question. He was a big footy fan, he followed Nth Melbourne. I can't remember his surname. He knew Joe Gutnick who was president of the MFC and very high profile at the time. Nth Melbourne had a strong team winning flags in 96 and 99. Around that time I gave Ben an LP record of the 1977 Grand Final replay (North won) by 3KZ, with the commentary by Ian Major and Jack Dyer, which I'd purchased at the time. I figured he'd get more pleasure from it than me. He was rapt. The next week he turned up with that Demon carving which I've had since. Being a bit of an entrepreneur he'd commissioned a guy in Bali, where he went every year, to make these things in AFL club colours. He had prototypes of most teams and was intending to have them produced in big numbers to sell in Australia, but the AFL said no he couldn't do it, to do with licensing or something. The Balinese guy was a bit confused with gridiron Ben said, hence the ball in the right hand raised to throw.

To end the Ben story, he died of oesophageal cancer in a few short months after diagnosis about ten years ago.

We have some great Demon stuff made by our friend Owen Murray.  A lead light candle surround, ceramic shields and other inlaid glass window hangers. I don't have to dream about a Melbourne premiership anymore. It's reality. We have plenty of reminders, and the finals and other games recorded. Not sick of watching them yet.