Wild Man Story 2 Too
Johnny Chester
I too have a story of the wood chip bomber, that man of myth who lived/still lives alone(?) in the forest with his horse and dogs.
My story of this man relates to a time in the mid to late 1990s when I was living periodically in the forests near Nannup. Returning to my old camp one day after some time spent forest blockading, I wandered towards St John Brook at Cambrey for a wash in the stream. I did not get too far before I soon noticed with some mild trepidation, a decapitated head of a recently dispatched grey kangaroo. Its head was fresh and it lay off one the paths leading to the brook.
I had proceeded only a short distance when to my worry, I entered a clearing where a "pack" of large dogs lay lazing in the shade, and suddenly they sat on their haunches and showed their teeth and I could hear their snarling.
I wanted to quickly back step, but was frozen, until a white Irish wolfhound came towards me with its tail swishing rapidly back and forth and its tongue protruding from the side of its mouth.
"Hello!" I said. Any port in a storm is a welcome one. And this dog kept coming. It reached me with an inquisitive eye and a friendly tongue. Maybe it was the scented lolly or chocolate wrappers in my pockets, I don't know. But within a moment a voice was telling the rest of the pack to lie down. And from the shade came a friendly welcome from a bearded man with an Akubra hat.
"Any friend of my wolfhound is a friend of mine" he said.
His white horse stood off to one side, tethered to a branch and from our first introduction it became clear he was the woodchip bomber. I said "You're kidding!?" "You're a legend" I told him. I think he liked my attitude and together we swapped some small talk about our lives. He said he was pig hunting and followed the tracks through the forest where ever they took him. He was something of a wild man, and my memories of him are now magnified remembering that day.
Some years later I also saw him gallop his horse into Northbridge and his horse stood on its hind legs in front of the Alexander Library with police running from all directions. I think he was bare chested and although I knew it was him, I wondered what he was doing there. His forest cover and hidden sanctuary was a long way from where he now sat in his saddle.
He had a free spirit and I suppose he is still out there and so too is that Irish wolfhound of his or its offspring. I wonder what stories he swaps with those he meets, and whether he is as hospitable as he once was with me. I hope so.
posted by McCabeandco @ 7:51 PM
8 Comments
8 Comments:
Great Tim! Another Johnny told me yesterday that he may have died. But he wasn't sure.
Nah, I don't believe he is dead. He was already a ghost and man myth like character. Even if he has 'passed away' I bet he is still living the bush riding high in his saddle, phantom like... :)
Nice, I am glad I saw this guy on his horse....
JOHN ROBERT CHESTER. IMPORTANT LATE 20TH CENTURY AUSTRALIAN ENVIROMENTAL ACTIVIST AND BUSHMAN. THE SON OF GWEN AND BOB CHESTER .
TO FIND THIS POSTING WAS OF GREAT INTEREST TO ME AS OVER THE PAST 40 YEARS I HAVE HAD INFORMATION WHEN AVAILABLE ON JOHN SENT TO ME IN VARIOUS PARTS OF THE WORLD . TO ME HE IS STILL A HERO. THE LAST BUSHMAN WHO BELIVED THE LAND WAS SACRED AND OWNED BY NO ONE. HE HAD HIS FAULTS LIKE US ALL BUT HE BELIEVED IN DIRECT ACTION AND FOR BEING ONE OF THE FIRST SERIOUS ENVIROMENTAL ACTIVISTS OF THE TIMES IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA HE SHOULD BE RESPECTED AND REMEMBERED FOR THAT AND NOT JUST FORGOTTEN. THERE MUST BE A THOUSAND PEOPLE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA WITH MEMORIES OF JOHN CHESTER AND IT’S A SHAME NO BOOK ON HIS LIFE HAS BEEN WRITTEN OR A DOCUMENTARY MADE WHILE PEOPLE WHO KNEW HIM ARE STILL ALIVE. MY JOHN CHESTER STORY IS SHORT AND EVEN THOUGH THIS WAS THE ONLY TIME I EVER MET HIM IN LATER YEARS I WAS SENT PROFILE PHOTO OF JOHN ON HIS HORSE BEFORE THE LONGBRIDGE EPISODE. THIS PICTURE I PRODUCED IN SILKSCREEN IN AN ART STUDIO IN FRANCE c 1990 AS A PRIVATE EDITION OF 50 COPIES TITLED ’ FAMOUS AUSTRALIANS. JOHN ROBERT CHESTER’
THIS IS MY JOHN ROBERT CHESTER STORY AND MUST BE TAKEN IN THE CONTEXT OF THE TIMES c1972-73
AFTER BEING EXPELLED FROM CHRIST CHURCH GRAMMER SCHOOL c 1972 I SPENT MUCH OF MY TIME AFTER THIS STAYING DURING THE WEEK AT KAREN AND MIKE NELSONS HOME BEHIND THE COTTESLOE GOLF CLUB AND JUST SURFING COVE AND SECONDS WHENEVER IT WAS ON.
KAREN NELSON FORMERLY CHESTER WAS JOHNS SISTER AND MY MOTHERS BEST FRIEND AT THE TIME. ONE EVENING KAREN SAID HER BROTHER WAS COMING OVER FOR DINNER, TO ME A THIRTEEN YEAR OLD SURFER WHO EVEN AT THAT AGE HAD LISTENED TO MANY STORIES ABOUT JOHN IT WAS REAL EXCITING STUFF.
JOHN ARRIVED THAT EVENING AND WAS LARGER THAN LIFE TO ME AND I REMEMBER TO THIS DAY KAREN ARGUING WITH JOHN IN THE KITCHEN REGARDING ME HAVING A SMOKE WITH JOHN, JOHN WON THE DAY AND TWO TOKES AND I WAS IN HYSTERICS ALL EVENING TO THE DISGUST OF KAREN, BEFORE HE LEFT THAT NIGHT HE SLIPPED ME A THUMB SIZE PIECE OF THE FINEST WEED I HAVE EVER SMOKED BEFORE OR SINCE. WHEN I WOKE UP THE NEXT MORNING HE WAS GONE LIKE THE WIND.
K.J.THACKWELL
LONDON
Thank you K.J.THACKWELL for your comment. Yes Johnny Chester was a character and one that a book should be written about. And like you, I am surprised that a book or a film hasn't been made. I know Sarah Toa (see comments) had proposed an idea to do it, and I know she'd like to hear from you. Like you I liked his direct action against the beast. Sometimes the cries of the many (re environmental destruction) are lost to the words (economic ambitions) of the few. The destruction/rape of southwest Australian forests was one example and there are numerous others. The lure of the dollar meant (continues to mean) more than nature. I see something similar is happening in Sussex right now where an ancient Woodland is being drilled for oil by Northern Petroleum against the wishes and voices of the many... Where is England's Johnny Chester?
I sat next to a John Chester in college . I was born in 1949 . Until reading this post , I believed that he was the bomber . Now I would like clarification on this . In the 1990’s John was living in the Forrest in the potongurups near Albany . I had seen him on his horse in York street in Albany . I was unaware that it was John Chester. The horse was a bay at that time. I was told he carried a pet rat around with him on his Person. In class a John Chester sat across the aisle opposite me .
I saw someone outside Albany post office circa 1990. Was told he was the woodchip bomber. He had a horse and a dog that from memory was tied to the horse's leg. He had a considerable beard.
A couple or so years later there was someone who rode a horse on the freeway in Perth and the police cornered him in the City somewhere. I think it might have been him.Story made the "Sunday Times"
I've also been told John lived in the old Coogee power station for a while ?
I grew up in the forestry settlements of Manjimup and Harvey. I actually encountered this man one day in the jarrah forest near Harvey when I was about 8 years old in 1998. John was riding a horse and was carrying a double barrel shotgun presumably for pig hunting. He exhibits a Ned Kelly vibe.
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