Paul de Wolf

My Mum was invited by all the Generals who were there at the time to sing. She had awards for singing and was quite well known in Australia. She had a terrible fear of snakes, an absolute terror of snakes. They had set up a stage between the palm trees and hung lights. While she was performing, this massive giant python came down from the palm tree and was swinging over her head. My father came into the audience and spoke to everyone in Dutch so my Mum wouldn’t understand or panic. They asked everyone to move their chairs and they brought the jeeps in with spotlights shining in the snakes eyes. When they were ready Dad grabbed Mum who had no idea what was going on, and pulled her off to the side of tthe stage. They shot it which today makes me sad but we were in Borneo and that’s what they did back then. They measured it and it was 35 feet long which isn’t unusual in the jungles of Borneo. The next day the tribal people skinned it. Mum had a coat and a large handbag made out of it and wallets for a few people.

 

We went from Balikpapan to Holland via India, Pakistan, Middle East and Egypt. My parents had a policy to never fly at the same time in case something happened to one, the other would be there for my brother and I. My father worked for Shell and preferred being sent to tropical locations. I was educated in Dutch first because I had to go to school in Amsterdam. Amsterdam was very different then to what it is now. People were hungry because the Germans had taken all the food from the farms to feed their army but it was fun playing in the snow. We lived there from the time I was 5 until we returned to Australia after a short time living in the jungle in New Guinea which was beautiful. I would row around the coral reefs in old canoes. I was 9 when we came back here.

 

My Dad arranged for me to stay with my grandparents, go to school in Casino and be educated in English. The year after I arrived the bridge was washed away in Casino by the ’54 flood. Being educated in Dutch had spelling consequences here. I remember the first word I learnt to spell was ‘was’ I couldn’t understand why it wasn’t spelt ‘woz’. The teacher went off her head when I left an ‘e’ off a word so I was so worried I put an ‘e’ on the end of everything. I was never marked down for my knowledge, only for my spelling. I went to high school in Casino and then I was sent to College in QLD which was a big shock. In Casino I was top of all my subjects but in QLD they took a mark off for every spelling mistake.

After school I did an apprenticeship as a Fitter Welder. In those days it was 4 years of College and a 5 year apprenticeship. In the final year I did a special welding ticket and got a job at AEI welding transformers that had to be perfect for at least 20 years.

 

Throughout my life I have loved Photography. I took my first creative photo at 9. My uncle had built me a sail boat to sail at Evans Head. I borrowed the camera and took a photo of my sail boat with the sun behind it. I took the film in to a guy called Ray Kinder who had a studio and developed photos. When my grandmother went to pick up the photos, Ray said, Who took this photo? That’s the first decent photo anyone has put through here in 10 years.

 

At 13 my father gave me one of his cameras. It wasn’t until later that I used it. I went with a friend to the Flinder’s Ranges and it was magnificent. We would go every weekend. I set up a studio in my home so I could work at it through the week as well. I got involved in glamour and fashion photography doing portfolios and I gained quite a reputation and got a lot of work that way. I met a lot of nice people.

 

I taught Photography at the Institute of Science and Technology because they heard about my work and I was invited to come in as a guest Lecturer.

In the meantime I had become a Commercial Pilot. I had done all my training in Casino, Evans Head and South Grafton and had been offered a Chief Pilot position at Whyalla Air Taxi in South Australia. Through that I volunteered flying for the Air Ambulance, eventually going to full time. I loved it as it’s a magnificent country to fly in.

 

I had some interesting moments as a Pilot with Air Ambulance. I did a course in Intensive Care and an Ambulance certificate in case I was needed. There was an accident half way across the Great Australian Bight where they were building a new highway. Two riders on trail bikes with no headlights, one leaving camp at 90kms ph, and the other coming in at the same speed hit head on without helmets, so we flew out in the middle of the night to bring them back to Wyallah Base Hospital. We were running low on oxygen due to leak and I had to come down to 10,000 feet for safety which had us in clouds and there was chunks of ice coming off the prop which were hitting the fuselage. This meant I didn’t have near enough fuel to go there and come back, so we had to land and refuel on the way there and back… Both boys lived which was a miracle. Another time I had to fly to Coober Pedy because a chap had fallen down a mine shaft and there was a massive cold front half way, which is where I met my wife actually. This chap had broken so many bones in his body and I knew it was going to be a rough flight through the storm. We had to shut an engine down twice. Lucky he was on heavy duty pain relief.

 

My wife was a Nurse and had volunteered to fly on Air Ambulance with me. On the way back from Adelaide, the full moon came up and I invited her up to the cockpit. We’d both just come off a messy separation and we started talking about everything. We both liked and disliked the same things and long story short we ended up marrying.

 

I never stopped though with my photography. I did fashion photography for Prue Acton, did work for the state Government Tourist Bureau and I was the official Photographer for some of the ballet companies…Australian Dance Theatre, The Royal QLD Ballet and more. I love photographing dancers. I’ve taken photographs of the models for Playboy which was very tame back then. I have the record for photographing Shannon who was the youngest model for Playboy and she ended up the Playmate of the Year. Shannon and her boyfriend bought a block of flats on the Gold Coast with the money she won and that has set them up for the future. I’ve done some great model portfolios. I’ve also done Gunsmithing, building high precision rifles for people to use competitively so I’ve had a very varied career.

 

My wife and I separated after 14 years. One of the problems was I’d be off flying or she’s be in operating theatres and we’d be leaving notes to each other. We wouldn’t see each other for 5 or 6 days so that made it hard.

 

I live in Lismore, still doing my Photography and I’ve enjoyed teaching it. I still have a darkroom. I taught Jacqueline Wagner and she was my best ever student. I also love hiking. My goal is to stay alive until I’m 100 but a man at my age probably shouldn’t buy green bananas. I might cark it before they ripen.“