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by Fred Seers
Copyright © 2006 Campelltown & Airds Historical Society Inc. All rights reserved.
("Grist Mills" Vol. 3 No. 5, December 1987) Samuel Jesse Cooper was a labourer who lived in "the long white house" on the eastern side of Queen Street near the Club Hotel and, during the time of this episode, in a house behind the shops of Brown and Moore in Queen Street.
Much of his working life was spent in the construction of storage dams as he worked on Cataract and Cordeaux Dams, so he wasn't a stranger to the shovel or to handmixing of concrete, which was done then by a team of twelve arranged as a square, three abreast along the four cardinal points of the compass.
At first the central heap of sand and aggregate was turned over to the north, returned to the centre, then to the south, then the east and the west in rotation and the cycle repeated twice.
The cement was added and the procedure repeated, and again, with the addition of water.
The mixed concrete was then transferred to hand trolleys which looked rather like rickshaws and transported to the dam site.
Over the years, the hands of Sam became gnarled and calloused and it was almost impossible to straighten his fingers.
In the evening, by the colonial stove, he would pluck a live coal from the lower grate with thumb and fingers and transfer it (without apparent pain) to the bowl of his pipe.
Why he used this method to light his pipe is not known - the usual method of the period was to ignite a folded paper spill in the fire, ignite the pipe and extinguish the spill with breath or snuff it out with the fingers and lay it aside for further use.
Sam was of nuggetty build, quick tempered, swore like a trooper but had a methodical manner of doing things.
Apart from labouring, he collected firewood with horse and dray. An accident (and consequently an interesting incident) happened when Sam was working one day. A log slipped and a projecting fragment of wood pierced the palm of the hand between the bones and projected out the other side.
Sam trimmed the splinter and brought horse, cart and load home, unharnessed the draught mare Violet and fed her.
He then sat down calmly to his evening meal and only then went to the surgery of Dr William Mawson.
The doctor swabbed the wound with tincture of iodine, raised the affected hand and, with his other hand, grabbed a forceps.
After a pause Dr Mawson said "do you see that spider passing over the ceiling Sam?"
As Sam glanced up at the ceiling, Mawson dropped the forceps, grabbed a book and slammed its spine onto the projecting splinter, dislodging it. Such was emergency surgery of the 1920s.
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