Member profile: The man and the sea

15 Jun 2016

As a young lad, Probian Bert McAuley spent much of his life at sea, where he worked as a marine engineer.

During his career, Bert worked on a 16,000-tonne turbo electric tanker, a Doxford engine (with “a big, hairy engine”) and a 40,000-tonne tanker which sailed over the Red Sea, stopping at Capetown in South Africa and went down to South America, as it distributed crude oil all over the world. Bert learnt the ins and outs of each of the different ship’s engines and how to operate it all on board.

“I chose going on tankers for the simple reason that I loved the peace and quiet. We worked four hours in the engineer room, eight hours off, four hours in the engine room, then eight hours off. You did that seven days a week, 365 days a year. It made no difference if it was Saturday, Sunday, Christmas, Boxing Day or whatever,” he recalls.

“I enjoyed every second. Anybody that has ever been a marine engineer knows they must get used to the challenges and they must either conquer them or give it away.”

However, Bert always knew that as soon as he found someone to settle down with, he’d leave his life at sea, which happened after six or seven years into his career.

“I had just left a ship and was back home on leave and decided to go to the Ballyclare Mayfair. I just happened to meet a tall pretty 19-year-old lass who used to play with my sister. The last time I’d seen her before I went to sea, she was 12 years old,” he says. “Of course, she had a boyfriend at the time, but I was well-accustomed to challenges by that time in life and he didn’t stand a chance!”

Bert and his new wife Sheila then moved from the UK to Australia, where Bert got a boiler house engineer’s job at Yallourn Power Station.

“We had our 59th anniversary in November. This year will be the big year for us, so I need to keep her for at least another year!” he jokes.

These days, Bert can often be found with his friends from the Maryborough Probus Club or prospecting in the bush, which he began when he retired 35 years ago.

“It’s a challenging hobby. You need to buy the best metal detector you can find, study maps and then find the areas where the old miners once found gold and search for it yourself,” he explains.

Bert has been quite successful since he first began searching for gold. A few years ago, he found a half sovereign from 1855 in Scarsdale, which he sold for $7,000. 

However, the best find that Bert has unearthed so far was a 34-ounce nugget in the Tanami Desert in the Northern Territory in 1985, which he sold to the Perth Mint for around $14,000. Sheila and

Bert then went on an overseas holiday and returned to the UK for the first time in 27 years.

While the extra money has been a lovely surprise, prospecting has really allowed Bert to enjoy the great outdoors since he retired.

“You cannot retire and just  do nothing. I think it’s extremely important to be active. Prospecting is ideal for me. The bush is beautiful, there’s peace and quiet and you can listen to the birds and watch the kangaroos and wallabies.”