The Red Lamp - a digital story by John Dorl (Lake Illawarra MAP Project)

SYNOPSIS: A young boy plays a prank on the people prawning in Lake Illawarra
SCRIPT: Years ago we had access to the Lake foreshore. And when I was about 10 or 11 I used to go prawning with my father in Windang at a place called the mud hole.

That was good. We'd go on our own. Early in the season it wasn't too bad because it wasn't crowded but as the season went on there were more and more prawners.

With all those lights it was hard to tell where you were. Problem: trying to find out where you had to come back in when you'd finished your drag. There'd be anything up to 150 - 200 hurricane lanterns and we were dodging one another.

Back then and we're talking 60 years ago they used to use hurricane lamps with red glass in them to mark out roadworks in progress. My father in his wisdom, knocked off one of these from Wollongong Council. He lit it up and took it down to the lake. Climbed up and hung it in a tree each time we went prawning. You'd know where to come back in then.

Out prawning you'd hear people saying, Where are we? So many lights to the left or so many lights to the right of the red one.

But one little smart alec one night had finished prawning , blew the lamp out then moved it about 50 or 60 metres then lit it up gain. People were coming in at the wrong place everywhere. Dad knew what was going on, he knew it was me but said nothing. I would have been killed if I'd got caught.

We waited a few minutes watching the shamozzle of people trying to get back in to their friends on the shore. Then we blew the red lamp out and went home.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Lake Illawarra
• digital story
• prawning
• Windang