Ron McCall’s life could have turned out very differently if he hadn’t been quite so tall. At 16, he ran away from his parent’s Prahran home and hitch hiked his way up to Queensland where his height enabled him to get work on adult wages, drink in pubs and get his license whilst still underage.
‘Yes, I was a naughty boy,’ he confesses. It was a desire to get away from his strict parents that prompted Ron to leave home so young. ‘I wanted to be my own person. I hated being dictated to. I wanted freedom.’
Ron was born in 1932 and left school at the end of Year 9. ‘I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do. I left home at 16 and went to Queensland. I ended up out in Charleville. I was working for the shire council. I was only 16, but I was being paid a man's wage because I was so tall. I was a babyface man.’
Living outdoors
He camped in the bush at night and worked during the day cutting down burr weeds to clear cattle tracks for stock routes. ‘I had to rely on myself and became very independent.’
Ron tapped out at six foot three, which enabled him to get into pubs and start driving when still underage.
‘I did a lot of things that I shouldn't have done, but I was able to do because I was so tall.’ He travelled to Brisbane and worked at an ice cream factory for a while.
‘They had the best canteen I've ever been to. Honestly, you had a proper meal at lunchtime and the sweet was always ice cream and the current fruit.’
Police force
At 19, a friend persuaded him to join the police force. ‘I didn't last long in that because I didn't like the idea of taking the liberty of other people. I gave that away.’
He headed to Sydney and worked as a jack of all trades, including detailing cars and spray painting. ‘I was very fortunate in as much as I could turn my hand to anything.’
Ron has outlived two wives and two of his six children. He met his first wife, Judith, at 21 through a friend. She was the mother of his children, but the family had to move frequently until she died suddenly of a heart attack.
‘She wasn't the nicest of woman because she used to like running up debts,’ he says.
Happy marriage
Ron was on his own, with the youngest children, for three years before he met his second wife, Lynn. Lynn was the single mother of one of his son’s friends and they had a happy marriage together.
Ron’s favourite, and final, job was driving trucks, mainly on the east coast, which he did for 20 years until his retirement.
‘I would've driven twice around the world. Mainly in Melbourne and Sydney but also there was the occasional trip to Brisbane and occasional trip to Perth. I never got to Darwin or, of course Tasmania — the truck wouldn't swim,’ he laughs.
Reviewed 30 January 2024