SDS originally posted this blog 25 February 2015. This version been reformatted, it contains a short video and additional material from Gary ‘Gooselegs’ Vaughan who now lives & surfs in Noosa region Queensland ……enjoy 😊
Big Eyes Bros
Leederville brothers Bill & Frank McVeigh surfed South West WA in the late 60s to mid-70s. The boys had large eyes and the older brother Bill was nick-named ‘Big Eyes’ and young Frank was known as ‘Little Big Eyes’. Their father owned a holiday shack in the Miami area (now Falcon) near Mandurah.
Bill McVeigh (Big Eyes)
Older brother Bill fancied himself as a world class rally driver in his FJ Holden and used to entertain punters with burn-outs in the old gravel car park at Yallingup beach.
1967 Big Eyes (Bill) doing a wedgie at Yallingup. Still frames ex CBSR Super 8 Movie film.
City
Beach surfer Ross Utting was age 17 when Bill assisted him & his surfing
mates Gerard Waddell & Norm ‘Dot’ Kitson on two trips down south in ’69,
putting himself at some inconvenience.
Ross Utting “First time Gerard Waddell’s FX Holden panel van broke down in Australind late on a Friday night. Big Eyes stopped, diagnosed the problem & got us going within an hour. We were only 17 and had no idea. Then about 2 weeks later we hit a tree head-on near Guthrie’s farm on Caves Road. Wrecked our car & needed hospitalisation. Bill was first on the scene heading to Moses Rock for a surf. He towelled up our wounds, took us to Margaret River Hospital & stayed with us till we were discharged. Bill then found us all a place to stay at Eagle Bay Cottages & then drove us back to Perth the next day after he had a surf at Yallingup. What a guy!“.
Gary
‘Gooselegs’ Vaughan “I
knew Big Eyes well because for a couple of years myself, Terry Garrett, Bob
Monkman and Ron Waddell
all hung in the same crew driving around in Bill’s FJ Holden.
He would actually go round and pick us up one by one on a Friday night for the weekend surf trips to either local, Mandurah or Yalls.
If you remember we all wore 50’s three piece suits my grandmother Rose Ford altered to fit us and we would pull up at a location, hats and all.
Quite a generous soul and thankfully I have made contact over the years though I haven’t seen him for some time recently.
Your SDS post jogged my memories of Big Eyes and this is a classic…..
It was late summer 1967 and we were roaring down Rockingham Road heading to Surf Beach and the reason for our haste was to beat the dreaded see breeze or the Fremantle Doctor, as it is affectionately known.
On board
the “FJ” was Big Eyes the driver, myself, Terry Garrett, Bob Monkman and Ron
Waddell.
We were heading around the long bend about to cross the Rockingham Railway Bridge overlooking the shunting yards when Big Eyes muttered that something wasn’t quite right with the “FJ”.
Suddenly the “FJ” lurched violently to the left sort of sideways skidding toward the safety rail on the bridge, screeched to a grinding halt, just as we all later discussed we all thought we were about to go over!
In an instant I leapt out of the car, as no way was I going “over” the edge and was immediately flattened to the ground by the wheel that has detached itself from the rear of the “FJ”.
Yep the
wheel had come off the spindle and proceeded to follow the “FJ” and shirtfront
me!
The rest of the crew jumped out and when they realised what had happened to me, proceeded to cry with laughter, with no sympathy for me what so ever.
When the dust had settled the “FJ” was a sorry sight and we all thought that this time it had finally died as it had a torrid life with some of the places we had travelled to, down horrendous tracks, beaches you name it, we did it.
In the
meantime a lot of bystanders had gathered and a generous crew offered to get us
back to Scarborough, but Big Eyes stayed with the “FJ”.
We all
thought that he was flogging a dead horse this time because he normally had
that many spare parts in the boot he could fix it on the spot.
Not this
time, the damage looked terminal.
That’s it, we all thought unless the Eyes buys a new car we had no wheels for an indefinite period.
When we got back to Scarborough I hitched home to Ninja Land (I lived south of the river). The beach crew named it that as they couldn’t get their heads around the fact that someone would live way out there.
Had dinner with Mum and Dad and crashed early as I was knackered after the day’s event.
Slept like a log then I was sort of dreaming that I could hear the horn of Big Eyes FJ and him yelling “hurry up Gooselegs, we can’t be late getting the rest of the crew”.
Yep, you
got it!
It wasn’t
a dream Big Eyes had done it again, got the “FJ” repaired and we were back on
the road in less than 24 hours.
When we all asked where he got the parts on a weekend, his reply was “don’t ask”!
Eyes was older and bigger than us groms, so we just nodded our heads and shut up because all that mattered was…………we had wheels and we were going for a surf”
Frank McVeigh (Little Big Eyes) R.I.P.
Young Frank started surfing on a coolite at City Beach before progressing to a surfboard. He surfed well down south, but with red hair, fair skin with freckles and sun damaged eyes it was difficult to spend a lot of time in the sun.
When he surfed on hot days, he would wear a large hat pulled down over his face with two eye holes cut out so he could see.
1967 Little Big Eyes (Frank) with his coolite at City Beach. Still images ex CBSR Super 8 movie film.
He loved surfing in the South West and lived in a cave south of Left Handers surf break for a whole summer.
Frank suffered from kleptomania and would take anything he could, but he was a good guy and popular with other surfers.
He rode to surf spots with his surfboard attached to a big old motor scooter and a regular on the dirt track to Rocky Point.
Little Big Eyes lived a tragic life and his life ended prematurely in India in the mid-70s.
Foreword
SDS originally posted this blog 25 February 2015. This version been reformatted, it contains a short video and additional material from Gary ‘Gooselegs’ Vaughan who now lives & surfs in Noosa region Queensland ……enjoy 😊
Big Eyes Bros
Leederville brothers Bill & Frank McVeigh surfed South West WA in the late 60s to mid-70s. The boys had large eyes and the older brother Bill was nick-named ‘Big Eyes’ and young Frank was known as ‘Little Big Eyes’. Their father owned a holiday shack in the Miami area (now Falcon) near Mandurah.
Bill McVeigh (Big Eyes)
Older brother Bill fancied himself as a world class rally driver in his FJ Holden and used to entertain punters with burn-outs in the old gravel car park at Yallingup beach.
City Beach surfer Ross Utting was age 17 when Bill assisted him & his surfing mates Gerard Waddell & Norm ‘Dot’ Kitson on two trips down south in ’69, putting himself at some inconvenience.
Ross Utting “First time Gerard Waddell’s FX Holden panel van broke down in Australind late on a Friday night. Big Eyes stopped, diagnosed the problem & got us going within an hour. We were only 17 and had no idea. Then about 2 weeks later we hit a tree head-on near Guthrie’s farm on Caves Road. Wrecked our car & needed hospitalisation. Bill was first on the scene heading to Moses Rock for a surf. He towelled up our wounds, took us to Margaret River Hospital & stayed with us till we were discharged. Bill then found us all a place to stay at Eagle Bay Cottages & then drove us back to Perth the next day after he had a surf at Yallingup. What a guy!“.
Gary ‘Gooselegs’ Vaughan “I knew Big Eyes well because for a couple of years myself, Terry Garrett, Bob Monkman and Ron Waddell
all hung in the same crew driving around in Bill’s FJ Holden.
He would actually go round and pick us up one by one on a Friday night for the weekend surf trips to either local, Mandurah or Yalls.
If you remember we all wore 50’s three piece suits my grandmother Rose Ford altered to fit us and we would pull up at a location, hats and all.
Quite a generous soul and thankfully I have made contact over the years though I haven’t seen him for some time recently.
Your SDS post jogged my memories of Big Eyes and this is a classic…..
It was late summer 1967 and we were roaring down Rockingham Road heading to Surf Beach and the reason for our haste was to beat the dreaded see breeze or the Fremantle Doctor, as it is affectionately known.
On board the “FJ” was Big Eyes the driver, myself, Terry Garrett, Bob Monkman and Ron Waddell.
We were heading around the long bend about to cross the Rockingham Railway Bridge overlooking the shunting yards when Big Eyes muttered that something wasn’t quite right with the “FJ”.
Suddenly the “FJ” lurched violently to the left sort of sideways skidding toward the safety rail on the bridge, screeched to a grinding halt, just as we all later discussed we all thought we were about to go over!
In an instant I leapt out of the car, as no way was I going “over” the edge and was immediately flattened to the ground by the wheel that has detached itself from the rear of the “FJ”.
Yep the wheel had come off the spindle and proceeded to follow the “FJ” and shirtfront me!
The rest of the crew jumped out and when they realised what had happened to me, proceeded to cry with laughter, with no sympathy for me what so ever.
When the dust had settled the “FJ” was a sorry sight and we all thought that this time it had finally died as it had a torrid life with some of the places we had travelled to, down horrendous tracks, beaches you name it, we did it.
In the meantime a lot of bystanders had gathered and a generous crew offered to get us back to Scarborough, but Big Eyes stayed with the “FJ”.
We all thought that he was flogging a dead horse this time because he normally had that many spare parts in the boot he could fix it on the spot.
Not this time, the damage looked terminal.
That’s it, we all thought unless the Eyes buys a new car we had no wheels for an indefinite period.
When we got back to Scarborough I hitched home to Ninja Land (I lived south of the river). The beach crew named it that as they couldn’t get their heads around the fact that someone would live way out there.
Had dinner with Mum and Dad and crashed early as I was knackered after the day’s event.
Slept like a log then I was sort of dreaming that I could hear the horn of Big Eyes FJ and him yelling “hurry up Gooselegs, we can’t be late getting the rest of the crew”.
Yep, you got it!
It wasn’t a dream Big Eyes had done it again, got the “FJ” repaired and we were back on the road in less than 24 hours.
When we all asked where he got the parts on a weekend, his reply was “don’t ask”!
Eyes was older and bigger than us groms, so we just nodded our heads and shut up because all that mattered was…………we had wheels and we were going for a surf”
Frank McVeigh (Little Big Eyes) R.I.P.
Young Frank started surfing on a coolite at City Beach before progressing to a surfboard. He surfed well down south, but with red hair, fair skin with freckles and sun damaged eyes it was difficult to spend a lot of time in the sun.
When he surfed on hot days, he would wear a large hat pulled down over his face with two eye holes cut out so he could see.
He loved surfing in the South West and lived in a cave south of Left Handers surf break for a whole summer.
Frank suffered from kleptomania and would take anything he could, but he was a good guy and popular with other surfers.
He rode to surf spots with his surfboard attached to a big old motor scooter and a regular on the dirt track to Rocky Point.
Little Big Eyes lived a tragic life and his life ended prematurely in India in the mid-70s.
Thanks Ross & Gooselegs for your contributions.
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