Live Wires Interview Transcripts

Live Wires! - Bob Bassett

Live Wires! - Bob Bassett

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Linesman, Bob Bassett was interviewed at his home in Grenfell. He had come to Australia from the UK when he was 16 in 1954 as part of the Big Brother Movement. The father in the family he was allocated to worked for the Grenfell Municipal Council Electricity Department and that was Bob’s introduction to the industry.

“One night under storm conditions, I was out repairing high voltage fuses on transformers. And I had to climb over a fence, and I was dressed in a wet weather suit, and I was straddling the fence and I felt this cold slimy thing go up my leg… and I grabbed it just above the knee… now what do I do? And I’m sort of standing there for about five minutes, I don’t know what to do. If it’s a snake, (‘cause I’m terrified of snakes) … sort of standing there, and the next thing I feel this cold water running down my leg and I thought ‘hello’,’ its not a snake’, and it was one of those big green and yellow frogs… (laughs). I was never so glad to feel something wet run down the inside of my leg in my life!”