THERE were two fishermen by the name of ‘Westy’ Davis.

‘Old Westy’ – Alfred George – was born in Nelson Bay in 1890.

He enlisted in the 1st A.I.F in 1915 and was a member of the first group to be sent overseas.

Old Westy served with distinction but was wounded in action and returned to Australia on board the ‘Karmala’.

In 1920 he married Elizabeth Pedelty and the couple had six children.

The eldest, Richard, was the skipper on the old ‘Lugerina’ and the ‘Koondaloo’, the punts that crossed the Hunter River from Stockton to Newcastle.

When they stopped running in Newcastle, both punts, along with the Sydney ‘Showboat’, were towed up north where they struck bad weather off Treachery Beach, Seal Rocks.

All three were washed ashore where they remain to this day, rusting in the sand.

Bill, Reece, Mary and Margaret followed before the youngest, Keith, the next ‘Westy’, was born in 1934.

With still plenty of fight in him Old Westy reenlisted in the Forces in 1940 at the age of 50 years and two months and was later discharged medically unfit.

He died in 1959.

Interesting to note that commercial fishermen were not expected to go to war, although most did choose to go.

Their contribution to the war effort was seen as providing food.

Ron ‘Tekka’ Tarrant remembers Old Westy’s Army service with a smile.

“Old Westy Davis was in the Army – him and Cec Bagnall,” Tekka said.

“They were down at Fort Scratchley in Newcastle but Old Westy got caught AWL in Hunter Street walking along with his boots slung over his shoulder.”

His punishment was to be transferred.

“Whatever you do,” pleaded Old Westy, “don’t send me to that bloody place they call Tomaree at the entrance to Port Stephens. Don’t send me there. I won’t go.”

“You’ll go where we tell you,” the Commanding Officer told Old Westy.

“You are being transferred to the base at Tomaree.”

Well, according to Tekka, he was never there.

“He was up the Myall prawning and all,” Tekka said.

“He would rest his gun on the sentry box, take off his boots and head up into the Myall with all the fishermen.”

When Old Westy hit Shoal Bay beach on his return it seemed that he was in more strife as the replacement guard intended to arrest him at gunpoint.

“Don’t worry about it mate, I’ve got all these for the boss,” Old Westy said, wading ashore with a basket of freshly cooked Myall prawns.

“Free to pass,” declared the sentry.

‘Young Westy’, Keith Alfred Davis, started fishing at an early age – literally following in his father’s footsteps after losing his mother at age ten.

The boy lived in his father’s shadow and began learning the fisherman’s secrets early in life.

Young Keith wasn’t entirely convinced that he could be a fisherman, so he decided to work at the Masonite factory. After three months there was no doubt in his mind – he was going to be a fisherman.

Young Westy married Sue Holbert in 1999 and they made a great team from that day.

After speaking to all the old commercial fishermen from around the area, one of the few constants is that Young Westy was considered to be the undisputed, number one crabber in the port.

Everyone can catch a crab, but when it comes to making a good living over many years, it takes far more than a hit and miss approach.

Young Westy knew from experience the seasonal movements of the crabs, their reaction to changes in the wind and water temperature, and even their habits and behavioural patterns.

Some reckon that he knew every crab by name.

He would set his mud crab traps in creeks and salt water drains that others would consider to be out of reach or too difficult.

There is no doubting the words of long time fishing partner Trevor Holbert.

“He would go to extraordinary lengths to catch crabs,” said Trevor.

“The ‘Crab Man’ had a chainsaw in the boat and he would motor way up into the narrowest of feeder streams when they were little more than a drain flowing into the main streams.

“He would saw back the branches that hung across the creeks so that he could get further up to set his traps, many times in less than a metre of water.”

By John ‘Stinker’ CLARKE