Archie Walker was clever with his hands right throughout his life - whether it was shearing sheep, playing the guitar, French polishing antique furniture or crafting heirloom boxes from ancient red gum, he seemed to have a magical touch. Journalist Charmayne Allison looks back on the life of a stalwart of the Echuca-Moama community.
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WHEN people think of Archie Walker, they often think of his hands.
They were the kind that could mend anything, create anything, heal anything — could strum the most beautiful chords on the guitar or hold your own hand tight so you knew you were safe and loved.
“They were the most creative hands I’ve ever known,” daughter Vicki Walker said.
“There was nothing he couldn’t fix or make better. Whenever the nieces went to his house, they’d always race over to hold his hands.
“And when we were kids and got splinters he’d gently remove them.”
On February 12, they were what his family held onto in his final moments.
Standing around his bed, his wife Olive, four children and their partners and nine grandchildren held his hands for the last time and said goodbye.
And, at 90, the proud Yorta Yorta man and beloved member of the Echuca-Moama community breathed his last.
Leaving behind a legacy of hard work, respect, dignity, integrity and, above all, love.
“He’s touched the entire community,” Vicki said.
“People just loved him and were drawn to him. He always made people feel special and gave them a feeling of importance.
“I always say he was the first man I ever loved and the best man I’ve ever known.”
Born at Cummeragunja on July 21, 1928, Archie was one of Winifred and Edward Walker’s 10 children, delivered by his grandmother Nanny Florrie, who was the midwife there.
Growing up in Echuca, he left school at 11 and cut wood and picked fruit until he was 20, when he learnt to shear.
Quickly discovering a knack for the clippers, it was the beginning of a 40-year career which would see him develop into a shearer of legendary status.
It was in his first year of work at Windoorin Station in New South Wales that Archie met the love of his life.
Her name was Olive Hearn.
The daughter of the station’s cook, 16-year-old Olive, had decided to come and help her mum in the sheds.
She was standing by the window of the station when a car pulled up and the shearers spilled out — and Olive spotted tall, handsome Archie Walker, about to celebrate his 21st birthday.
“And that was it,” she would always say.
Their first date was a walk along the riverbank (with Archie’s brother Neil following a few steps behind).
And in 1951 they were married in Echuca and their children Joy, Denise, Robert and Vicki soon followed.
During this time, Archie’s second great love blossomed: music.
He started playing guitar with his mates in a band called ‘The Crescents’ and later formed a band named ‘Dallas’.
When he and his bandmates decided to bring in a pedal steel guitar, Archie taught himself how to play – and throughout the years his talents saw him back a wide range of artists and feature in recordings.
But even more than performing live, Archie loved to use music to serenade his sweetheart.
Every morning, without fail, he would go out to his shed, take out his steels and play ‘I Love You Because’ to his darling Olive.
As his daughters grew up and started bringing home boyfriends, they had to pass the ‘Archie Test’.
The girls knew if he gave a boyfriend a nickname, he was out.
And then, with his daughter Denise, there were the coke bottle glasses.
After being introduced to a boyfriend, Archie would say to Denise, “Oh love, you haven’t got your glasses on, put on your glasses.”
He would then produce the biggest, thickest (ugliest) glasses and make Denise wear them in front of the boyfriend – if this happened, he was out as well.
And as Olive said: “He got it right.”
Throughout the years, it seemed like Archie’s hands never stopped.
Easing into retirement (or so Olive thought), he decided to take lessons in French polishing and quickly excelled, their home now filled with beautiful antique furniture he brought to life.
He also used his skills to craft heirloom boxes from old fence palings or ancient red gum for his grandchildren, placing inside a photo of himself shearing, a piece of merino wool and a shearing handpiece he’d used.
“He was the kind of guy where if anything was broken, people would take it to him — he could fix anything,” Vicki said.
“When he passed away, all these messages flooded in from people who had something fixed by him.”
When he wasn’t creating or playing something beautiful, Archie was often playing pranks.
One day he and Olive hosted a wedding at their home in Moama and everything was going smoothly until the groom went to place the wedding ring on his bride’s finger.
No matter how hard he pushed, he couldn’t get the ring on.
“Oh Archie, tell him to stop or he will never get if off,” Olive said.
But Archie, who was in charge of the rings, was just grinning cheekily — before the wedding he’d been busy crafting a new wedding ring out of a piece of pipe.
It looked exactly like the real thing — but was an entire size too small.
At Archie’s 80th birthday party Olive said to him: “You will have to make a speech at your party, darl.”
Archie said: “Thank you for coming and I will see you in 10 years.”
At his 90th party last year, Vicki encouraged him, once again, to make a speech.
And again he said, “Thank you for coming and I will see you in 10 years.”
On Friday, February 22, Archie Walker was laid to rest in Echuca Cemetery.
There was a mixture of tears and laughter as family and friends (including his 10 great-grandchildren) remembered the gentle, funny man they all loved.
And in true Archie style, there was music.
A recording of his grandson Benny Walker singing ‘Sleepwalk’ played as Archie was carried to the graveside.
While a song written and sung by his granddaughter Madi Walker-Colville played as the family said their final goodbyes.
The song was called ‘Hands’.
Madi had shut herself in her room and written it right after her grandfather passed away.
It represented the final chapter in Archie’s life — when his family stood around his bed, held his hands, and said goodbye.
Senior Journalist