Ian wrote, 'one day in the early 1960's six of us - John Dahlstrom, John Grummet and myself on horseback. Barry Haslem, Stephen Hunter and Len Murphy riding in a jinker had all decided to go down to Crystal Pool and ride around there for a bit of fun.

We were making our way along Railway Parade, in those days it was just a winding sandy track with dense tea trees on each side. As we were travelling along it Frankston Police pulled up beside us in their wagon and started questioning us. They asked us where we were going, what our names and ages were and what our intentions were. Once they were satisfied with our answers they proceeded to examine our jinker to determine if it was roadworthy. Particular notice was taken of modifications made to the horse’s harness and the fencing wire we had used to hold parts of it together. They lectured us saying it may have been okay 20 years ago using something like that but it certainly wasn’t allowed these days, we were told to fix it.

When the 'roadworthy' check was over they told us to get on our way. Then one of the Constables looked straight at me and said', “Hunter if we get any reports of any of you ‘Carrum Cowboys’ causing any trouble in the area we’ll come straight to you because you're the oldest and we’ll hold you responsible”.

'We waited for a few minutes and I thought how unfair it was that they singled me out. What if someone found hoof prints on their nature strip and reported it, or for that matter any other horse riding misdemeanors around the area. It seemed like I was going to be held responsible, I thought to myself, "what a load of "shit". With it racing around in my mind we all galloped off down the dirt road heading to the Crystal Pool. We ended up having a great time and I didn’t hear anything else from the Frankston Police which certainly put to rest any concerns I had. ^[1]

Crystal Pool was an old disused sand mining site that had filled with water,

it lay between Armstrongs Road and McKenzie Way Seaford.

Acknowledgements

1. Ross C Interview Ian Hunter. 2009

Photo Courtesy of

Barry Priestley