In July 2019 the joy of celebrating our 10th anniversary was tinged with sadness with the passing of two or our beloved members – Life Member Tony Bendiech and Jim Eccles.
Anthony “Tony” Bendeich passed away peacefully Saturday evening 6th July, 2019 at Port Private Hospital.
Nancy and Tony Bendiech
Tony and his wife Nancy joined Hastings Fly Fishers about five or six years ago—perhaps even longer. He was an instant success as a member, bringing with him a range of useful talents.
Tony was a keen angler and had been a fly fisher for many years. He also enjoyed chasing Blackfish down at Stingray Creek in Laurieton — what we fondly call “the Dark Side.” I often joined him there, though he would usually catch ten to my one from his favourite spot on the bank.
A Skilled Craftsman
We soon discovered Tony’s impressive skills in machining and metal turning. He owned his own lathe and often used it to craft fly reels and fly-tying vices. Ask Dawn; she proudly owns two of his vices, along with the presentation boxes I made to go with them.
One of Tony’s reels was a “Spey” model. He borrowed mine to size it for a #9 weight rod, and the result was stunning. His craftsmanship was so admired that we all bought raffle tickets hoping to win one. Tony sourced marine-grade aluminium offcuts from a boat builder in Taree and spent many hours producing reels complete with drag systems.
Left to right: Tony’s handcrafted fly reel, Tony at work on the lathe, Iain with Tony’s vice, Tony’s recycled cable spool rod holders, Tony’s rod holder.
Supporting the Club and Native Fish
Don, Tony and Rodney at the Ellenborough River release site
He was also a driving force in the club’s fundraising for the Native Fish (Bass) “Dollar for Dollar” program. He organised reel raffles and a 100 Club to support the effort. Tony often joked that all he wanted was the beautiful box the prize came in. He never did win one, so I made and presented him with a “special edition” in Tasmanian Blackwood and Huon Pine.
Tony was active in releasing Bass fingerlings and Rainbow Trout fry with Dawn, Rodney, Iain, Bob Dove, Dave Wiggins, David Hall, Robin, and Ron. He joined us on several trips to check release sites and always enjoyed the day out. We kept a close eye on him—after all, he was in his early nineties. I often called in for morning tea with Tony and Nancy. He loved his coffee maker, and I was always happy to share a cappuccino with him.
I have “soggy eyes” putting these few words together; he reminded me of my father, as he was so much like him. We are all better for having known him and we will miss him dearly.
– Don Dixon
“When did you start fishing?”
December 2014 – During a lovely Christmas lunch, Ron asked Tony “when did you first start fishing?”
During a lovely Christmas lunch, Ron asked Tony “when did you first start fishing?”
…and he said “Well, I was born in 1925 at home at Dora Creek, which is half way between Gosford and Newcastle, near Awaba and Morisset. I was the 8th child of 9, and had 5 sisters and 3 brothers. My Father was a railway fettler. My Dad had a rod and reel but us kids had to use saplings with some line attached to the end of the sapling. We mostly caught bream, flathead and blackfish and of course collected heaps of Tassie Scallops. Sometimes we would boil up a chaff bag full of them.”
“When I was five we got electricity and street lights and then the travelling picture show would come to town once a month. I went to primary school at Dora Creek and then to High School at Gosford by train leaving home about 7:30am for the 1 hour trip to Gosford, returning home by 5pm each school day. My elder brothers and sisters used to ride horses but they don’t have brakes on them so I haven’t been on one since I was about six years.
“I left school in 1940 and became an apprentice in the motor trade. This was at the Ford dealer in Gosford. After working at Ford I then did motorbike repairs. I owned a 1925 Douglas, it was a 250 twin belt drive with no clutch and a 2 speed gearbox with no kick-start. You just pushed it, jumped on and hoped it fired up. I was in the Gosford motorbike club in the 40s and 50s. We had a race track at Somersby, it was a mini TT track and we raced against Newcastle and Sydney clubs.
In 1952 I went to work at the Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Authority at Tumut Ponds. I did mechanical work on Yankee Dodge trucks and Land Rovers and Leyland tip trucks, Hippos, Octopus and International Tractors (bulldozers) and TD24s, they weighed 24 tonnes. While I was there I did a bit of bait fishing and lure fishing.”
“In 1955 I moved back to Gosford Ford and graduated to Service Manager till 1965 when I started my own business at Terrigal. It was the Terrigal Neptune Garage, Service Station and Repair Shop. I had the Victa Lawn Mower agency there as well. I had that for 7 years and then went back to Gosford where I bought the Ampol Service Station at East Gosford.
I was presented with a plaque from the INSTITUTE OF AUTOMOTIVE MECHANICAL ENGINEERS after fifty years of membership. I met Nancy in 1979. She lived near my service station. About then I gained my pilots licence and bought a Cessna 182. After that we bought a fast food shop at Toukley. We sold that in 1982 and moved to Lakewood and bought the Pizza and Cooked Chook Shop in Laurieton.
In 1984 we opened a second hand shop at North Haven. We sold the Pizza and Chook shop and, in 1986, we bought 42 acres at Kew near the Golf Club, built a house on it then sold it. Nowadays I can’t stand eating or even touching chicken after cooking it and selling it in the shop. We bought a block of land at Harrington and built a house on it and lived there for 15 years before moving back to Laurieton in 2003.
I had started fly fishing for about a year before meeting John Macleod at a HFF Demo Day at Lakewood Village.
Some of the motorbikes I have owned were, a 1928 350 Douglas chain drive with a clutch, 350 Ariel, 500 Matchless, 650 Panther, 350 Velocette, 1949 AJS 500, I bought that one BRAND NEW, 49 Matchless 500, a Honda 750 four, also had a Honda XL 175, which I bored out to 200, 2 BSA Bantams, a Russian Cossack, a Triumph Speed Twin and a Honda Dream.”
So after lunch and a bit more talking, Tony dished up our dessert, which HE had cooked using a recipe from his mum’s cook book. We had the most delicious stuffed apple dumplings with hot custard. YUMMO! Anyway, Tony just happened to have cooked five of them, so I just had to have TWO! YUMMO! YUMMO!
I hope you all enjoy reading as much as I did listening to Tony talk and writing it down.
