Joes Place

For 45 years Joe lived at power pole 251 on National Highway One. Living under a tarp with his radio as his best mate. A few who traveled the road frequently got to know him, bringing him water, food, magazines, books, batteries for the radio and the occasional treat.
Hidden away from the world Joe lived his life with the few things he needed, but his friends knew where to find him. Almost deaf , with little vision and missing a few fingers Joe lived his life, but still kept up with the *footy, particularly Port Power who he could tell you almost anything about.
In May 2007 Joe was found on the side of the road. He had fallen and broken his hip so he dragged himself to where he might be found. In hospital Joes health declined and he agreed to move into a nursing home, never having registered for the **dole or pension this was also arranged for him.
Sadly, after his health deteriorated Joe past away 27th June 2007. He never got his first pension cheque.
Joe was 85.

* Australian Rules Football

** Unemployment benefits.

*Pretty much the only photo of Joe taken a few years before his death, sitting there on the end of his bed.

After his passing Joe Sutton was cremated and his ashes spread at his home camp, free in the place he loved.
Joe's place still remains today. A memorial has been placed at his old camp  and a plaque has been placed on power pole 251. Visitors can also sign a memorial book located at the site.
A Geocache has been placed in memory of Joe to preserve his story as long as possible. Hidden just off the highway its another piece of history that shouldn't be lost in the scrub.

RIP Joe
14/1/1922 - 27/6/2007

My Opinion.

In this modern world we don’t see things like this anymore, I was one of the millions who traveled that road from time to time and whipped past old Joe without ever knowing he was there, less than 100 metres from the nations busiest East/West highway.

I found his camp after he died when it was first made into a Geocache, we walked into it feeling like it was someones home because that’s how it was set up. His bed and clothes bundled under a low tarp against a tree which in which hung an assortment of personal objects. Glasses, comb, watch, a hat, a coat. The area directly around his bed was swept clean with a dry branch leaned against a tree and further away an enormous pile of old food cans, each with the label removed no doubt for fire starting. His hearth was tiny so he obviously only used it for cooking as the area still had bountiful supplies of fallen wood.

We looked through his things and walked the whole area wondering where he got food and water out here in Summer.

He never told anyone where he came from or why, his last name wasn’t even known until he was forced to apply for a pension and he only did that so the free hospital coverage would pay for his treatment. 

*The camp as we approached it from the road, his bed to the left under that tree, his only chair placed to get the afternoon sun

 

What would you call this old man?

I'm tempted to say he was an old time ***Swaggy but he didn't move, he just stayed there under his tree.

He wasn’t a Bum in the sense that he didn't ask for anything, he took no money and those that dropped by did so because they wanted to have another chat with Old Joe.

You can see by the pictures we took that he didn't have much, what he did have would barely fill a small cardboard box. I walked the camp and could make out that it had been shifted a few times over the 45 years but was still within 30 metres of where he finished up.

* The view to the North, nothing but small trees and a far off range of hills.

 

I've traveled the bush a fair amount and I often come across remnants of camps, you can see by the refuse how long they were there and when they were abandoned.

In the middle of bloody nowhere I've found old boots, a broken bottle or some long ago forgotten thing that says a man once passed this way.

How many Old Joes are there out there?

How many dropped dead where they were and are still?

***A Swag is a bed roll made of a blanket and any clothes etc you might have, it's slung over your shoulder as you walk. Swaggies walked the country looking for work or just living off the land.

*Looking through the trees to the West just on sun set.

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