Brian Parkes – the last driver of the ‘Green Frog’, now retired in Byron Bay
Even though The Green Frog, as it’s affectionately known, has no work at the moment, the little diesel engine is lovingly maintained by its last driver, Brian Parkes, who will show off his pride and joy to any visitors to the town…
IN 2002, Byron Council voted to ask the State Rail Authority if it could lease the section of unused railway line from the Lawson Street crossing to Kendall Street at Belongil Beach to run a light rail service.
The idea was to use the little diesel engine known as the Green Frog, once a familiar site in the town, to haul the carriages.
But nothing happened and is not likely to either because the council five years later voted to take no further action on the outstanding resolution.
So today, the little engine sits in a shed next to the rail line near Kendall Street and is lovingly cared for and maintained by its last driver, Brian Parkes.
Parkes rides his pushbike from his Tennyson Street home out to the shed at least twice a week mostly, he says, to make sure there are no rats nests in the machinery.
His main concern is that the rats may rub off the sump oil he covers the engine with twice a year to prevent rust – the mortal enemy of any piece of machinery.
That’s a good enough reason, but you’ve only got to talk to Parkes to know that it’s not the main one – he just loves being around the Green Frog. A big chunk of his life has involved the little engine and he loves the part it has played in the town’s history. There’s not too much – if anything – he doesn’t know about it but he is also concerned about what will happen to the Green Frog once he goes, or if he is no longer capable of continuing his labour of love.
The little engine was brought to Australia by the North Coast Steam Navigation Company to replace horses. It was built in Bedford in England at a cost of 1100 pounds, and started its working life at Byron Bay on the “old” jetty at Main Beach hauling cargo to and from the company’s ships.
When the “new” jetty was built at Belongil Beach across the road from the then Anderson’s meatworks, the Green Frog continued its work there and in 1954, when whaling started at Byron Bay, Brian Parkes’ father, Len, took over as driver of the Green Frog from the first and long-serving driver, Arthur Ritchie. Strange to think these days but part of his job was hauling whales to the processing plant at the meatworks.
As a young boy, Parkes often used to ride with his father on the engine and he recalls ‘driving’ it for the first time when he was only nine. He started driving it officially in 1968 when he got his certificate hauling, among other things, refrigerated trucks, coal and cattle for the meatworks.
Finally the Green Frog’s working life came to an end in 1983 when the meatworks, then owned by IXL-Elders, was closed.
By that stage, Brian who was working in the boiler room at the meatworks, was only driving the engine every couple of weeks bringing cattle to the works.
Both Brian and his father continued to maintain the Green Frog until Len died in 1990 with Brian then becoming the sole carer.
While he is more than happy to continue doing what he’s doing, he would dearly love to see the engine get a permanent home in town so it could be more accessible and visited by more people.
Brian sees the engine as a vital link to the past and a piece of Byron Bay history which has been associated with all the major industries in the town since early last century. With his connections, Parkes says there are plenty of railway associations who would love to get their hands on the Green Frog and he hopes a permanent home could be found at Byron Bay for it sometime soon.
“Ï would love to see something happen before I go,” he says.
Gary Chigwidden
