Robert A Talbot

Robert A Talbot was born 23rd October 1925 at Sylvania, New South Wales, Australia, on the foreshores of Botany Bay, where the Christmas tides flowed into the bottom of our land.

My Uncle Jack lived next door with my grandparents. He was a very good woodworker, mechanic, bricklayer and builder. He built wooden model sailing boats for we three boys to sail on those waters. He built many toys for us such as aeroplanes, cars and cowboy guns. The guns were simple wooden shapes with a cotton reel for a cylinder and a nail for a trigger.

Because of my love for all things mechanical it wasn’t long before I was following in his footsteps. Times were hard, material and tools were scarce. I learnt to make my tools and to salvage timber that floated across the Bay from the boat builders yards, and so, managed to turn out reasonably satisfactory models. Boyhood friends were of the same making and we encouraged each other. One of them, Roy Craven, and I became almost inseparable and very competitive. We built boats, sailed and fished the beautiful waters of Botany Bay and Cronulla, as well as building model aircraft. He is a very talented man and he still designs and builds boats. He and his sons hold many records in offshore power boat racing craft that he built. Roy is a lifetime friend.

We both attended Hurstville Central Technical Trade School where we became skilled in wood and metal works, fitting and turning as well as trade drawing. Our masters were fine teachers, encouraging and demanding high standards, and we responded well. In a semi-rural area firearms were commonplace. I had joined the Rifle Cadets at thirteen, training with and shooting the service rifle. As was common practice, I took it home with me after parades and target practice. We learnt self reliance and responsibility at an early age. My interest in firearms and aircraft were now firmly set and along with my love of wood working became a combined lifetime pursuit.

With WW2 looming, Roy’s father joined the RAAF leaving Roy aged 14 and me at 15 to run and manage Miranda Picture theatre. This we did without a hitch for over two and a half years. At 18 I joined the RAAF ground staff as an Aircraft Electrician and after training in Adelaide, where I met Josephine Keane, I spent most of my service in the North Queensland where war became a reality to me.

Aircraft recovery, service and maintenance work in this very large area demanded a high standard of skill and endurance. Many times I was most thankful of my early life style and am now grateful for the people who guided me through all the good and bad experiences that are common in war service.

When the war ended I came to S.A. to start the serious business of earning a living, then courting and marrying my Josephine, building a home, a future and raising two sons. I worked in the aircraft electrical trade then changed to automotive electrical. This skilled me in many facets of the trade and I became very competent and respected for my abilities and rose to Service Manager.

By this time I was back to my wood work and guns, collecting and restoring antique and collectable firearms. I joined the Metropolitan Rifle Club and shot full bore rifle at the Dean Range. Not satisfied with my rifle’s performance I rebuilt it! My work came into demand I built rifles for other shooters, many of whom achieved success around the world.

By this time I had moved to the power tool industry as the Service Manager of David Trembath Agencies, whose reputation in this trade was very high, and I remained for the next 10 years. Back problems forced me to give up shooting and seek a different style of employment. I went back to producing wooden model handguns. They were accurate in detail, had some working features and attracted much interest. One was even featured on the front page of The Advertiser, the major Adelaide newspaper.

They were very labour intensive so I stopped making them when I started my own business restoring antique firearms, stock-making and building custom rifles and shotguns. My work was in demand and many fine arms were produced. One set of rifles were used to hunt in Africa and many shotguns and rifles have done well in competition. In the last couple of years before retiring and coming to Victor Harbor, I built some more of the wooden guns on request from old customers. I also wanted to use up the walnut off-cuts that I could not bear to throw away. The demand for them continued until I officially retired from my business.

After trying to retire to idleness I began to toy with the idea of concentrating on revolving arms and making them fully working. I even thought it might be possible to make wooden springs. After a challenge from a friend, followed by lots of failures, the first fully functional model was produced and with further refinements the techniques developed became practical.

Now at 77 years of age I am still capable of setting myself high standards. I am now producing work that even I could not imagine was possible in the past. With the outstanding work of my computer graphic friend Ken Lewitzka we are now able to realise my ambition of displaying my pieces to far more people. He tells me that he has scoured the Internet and has not been able to find anything similar. We believe this work is unique and to me this is exciting beyond my wildest dreams… well beyond the ones I had as a boy when I picked up my penknife and started to whittle my first cowboy gun.

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