Jim Black (A Fortunate Life)
A Fortunate Life
There's something about ninety-two-year-old Jim Black's wiriness, unstoppable energy and matter-of-fact approach to life that reveals his Scots ancestry. When I suggested an interview, he was playing golf at Cottesloe Golf Club on Thursday, tennis at Cottesloe Tennis Club on Friday and bridge at the Village Club in Dalkeith on Saturday. So, we settled for Sunday!
But Jim really is a dinkum Aussie. In 1919 at the age of two, he sailed to Perth from Glasgow with his parents and older brother Maurice. 'Paid his own fare' he says. Except for six-and-a-half years war service he has lived all those years in WA.
When Jim finished school, he began work in the office of the Consolidated Pneumatic Tool Company. They transferred him to Kalgoorlie but when he turned 21 he was sacked. With war looking likely he and Maurice decided to join the navy early in 1939 while they had a choice. They had no wish to be drafted into the army.
Jim was stationed in Brisbane on the HMAS Menora in the latter part of 1939. War was imminent and the Australians were keeping a careful watch on an Italian ship in the harbour, the Romolo. When the Australian Prime Minister announced that we were at war with Italy. The Romolo tried to slip away. The Menora had been carefully shadowing her lost its prey in early morning fog. Then there she was, right in their line of sight. They sank her, most of her crew were saved and the Australian navy congratulated itself on a job well done.
In 1941, Jim joined the crew of the Australian destroyer, the HMAS Vampire which, with British ships including the prestigious battleships Prince of Wales and the Repulse and the destroyer, the Thanet, had been frantically trying to halt the rapid advance of the Japanese towards Singapore. At the end of 1941 both battleships were torpedoed. The Vampire helped rescue hundreds of sailors. It was a huge blow to the Allied war effort and to British pride. Months later the Thanet and Vampire were despatched to abort a likely Japanese troop landing at Endau on the coast of Malaya. Three powerful enemy destroyers attacked them and sank the Thanet. Sadly, Jim remembers, only 14 of its crew survived and it was a close call for the Vampire.
It was a dangerous and scary time to be in Singapore. Jim was based there on the Vampire as signalman and later coder as the destroyer provided escort for Allied ships. In April 1942, the Vampire and HMAS Hermes, headed home for well-earned leave. They were anchored in the tranquil waters of Trincomalee, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) when the warning came that the Japanese were about to attack. They scattered but on 9th April, the two ships were attacked and sunk. Ten men including the West Australian Commander of the Vampire, William Moran, lost their lives but miraculously the hospital ship, the Vita appeared to pull most to safety.
Jim spent the rest of the war based in Darwin and New Guinea. He came back to Perth after being demobbed January 1946 determined to do number of things. One was to learn tennis and join a club and so began his great love for the game. John Rigg's brother Peter remembers playing Jim in a competition when he was a young tacker. Jim remembers the first set: '15 love Mr Black, 30 love Mr Black, 40 love Mr Black' sang out a youthful voice and in no time, I'd lost the set. Mr Black rallied to win the match in three sets but the lad had given him a scare. While he says he was never an A-grader he loved his tennis - and loves it still - for the fun and company of good friends.
He met Madge Graham on a blind date - the last he's ever been on, he says, and they married in 1946. They have two children (one born on April 9th) and five grandchildren but the atter are disappointingly slow coming up with great grandchildren!
Jim began to play bridge in the 1970s at the Village Club and has had regular games ever since. Jill Millhouse was a good friend and occasional partner and there have been many others. He's only recently joined our club playing mostly with Dorothy Slater. With all that exercise for both mind and body, Jim should be around to celebrate his not very far off 100th birthday and I'm sure what he considers a fortunate life
Val Krantz
(December 2009 Edition of Trumps Plus)
