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Vale "Craigie"

Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 3:50 pm
by Matt Flynn
I wrote a forum article a week ago about Brian "Craigie" Craig who passed away recently, but it was lost in the server crash.

I write this here to record the passing of my old mate, the King of the Adelaide River, who could pull a fish out of a puddle and keep you laughing while he did it.

Re: Vale "Craigie"

Posted: Sun Aug 04, 2013 3:32 pm
by berniew
Hello Matt
I'm wondering if the Brian you mean was my uncle who used to be an electrician in Kempsey and then moved to Darwin?

Re: Vale "Craigie"

Posted: Sun Aug 04, 2013 6:12 pm
by Matt Flynn
Yes, that would be him.

Re: Vale "Craigie"

Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2013 7:36 am
by berniew
I used to hero-worship Brian as a kid and for a few years I'd spend my school holidays with him in Kempsey.
He taught me to fish and shoot (and how to crawl under houses or through roofs running cables!).
I have many enjoyable memories of dawn rock fishing around the coast near Cresent Head or catching what he called "perch" in the creeks and rivers around Kempsey or places in the New England area, and I learned a lot about running electrical cables, too!

He once made the papers in Kempsey when working on the Kempsey bridge.
One of the other tradies fell off and Brian dived in to save him.

Last time I saw him was for a quick cuppo in Darwin in 97 when I was passing through.
He was a bit crook with a broken arm and other things but still working.
A tough man.

Glad to see from one of your earlier posts that he was able to keep fishing
Sorry I missed catching up with him again.
cheers,
Bernie

Re: Vale "Craigie"

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 11:54 am
by Matt Flynn
Yes, he was a top bloke, we had some very enjoyable fishing trips, sliding a small punt into the upper Adelaide River at dawn for morning casting sessions, always caught a few barra no matter how cold it was.

He had some great stories, he told me he had to get a high-powered rifle into the NT for buffalo shooting in the old days when such rifles were restricted here, so he stamped ".320 Ferguson" or some other fictional jibberish on the breech to get it through Customs. I thought it was a tall story coz he loved stories both tall and true, then one day he showed me the rifle. Fished his own way, loved using a weighted trace with a Stalwart or Spearhead, and he caught heaps.