Billy

Firstly my name is Bill Sherman, I come from a small town Dumbleyung!





Well, I spose some of you want to know a little about me?

I am a 34 year old Western Australian country bloke, I am and bred in Dumbleyung, and spent my 17 years here, did my high school in Dum, I was the only boy in my class with 8 other girls from year 8 to year 10, then I went to the boarding school in Narrogin, about 100kms away. Loved it there, had some fantastic mates there, got suspended a couple of times, once for cheating in an exam ... no happy .... that I got caught! And the other time I got suspended was when I got caught with some scotch hidden in my locker! But overall I did pretty well at school. Oh, me and a mate also held the record for the most "Extra Duties" we had to do after school, I think 120 days we had to work after school

Ever since I could remember I had wanted to join the Army, why, well my family had a strong military history, and I am proud tosay my old man served in the Army for 25 years and did his tour of Vietnam.

I joined the Army in 1989 at aged 17, I wanted to become an Infantry Soldier, but I am coloured blind, so I was pretty restricted to what I could do ... so in the end, I decided to become a chef in the Army, to get a good trade behind me.

In the end of my career I did seven years, I left the Army in 1996, when I met and fell in love with a beautiful dutch girl , she was a backpacker and I envied here freedom and I decided to get out of the Army to travel overseas for a bit more life experience.

I spent 2 years overseas, working and travelling around Western and Eastern Europe some of the Middle East and some of Asia.

I spent about 7 years with my dutch girlfriend and in the end we went our seperate ways, due to certain reasons .... aahh long distant relationships ... dont go there. But I don't regret a thing about it, she was the most beautiful girl I have ever met.... and I still think of her quiet often.

In between that time I worked on the mines, cooking, worked at a roadhouse in the Pilbara Western Australia, managed a small country club for a couple of years ... then I got bored with my life and decided to join the military again.

So here I am now, having been in the navy for 4 years, having seen manynew countries, China, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Korea and much more in my short career.

I wont deny it does have many bad days, but the good days outweigh the bad ones. I have done pretty well in the Navy, my Job in the Navy is a Naval Stores Sailor / Logistics Sailor or in Navy lingo a "Stores Basher" or "Box Packer" and unlike what the media says it pays bloody good money!

I love my job, I have made some of the best mates ever, I am in the process of getting promoted to Leading Seaman, so I cant wait until that happens.

BeautUtes.com Why did I create this site?


Anyhow back to BeautUtes.com, I decided to set this forum up because I have noticed that there are hardly any decent forums dedicated to owners of Beaut Utes in Australia and New Zealand, so I decided to register Beaututes.com

I will admit that I am a little biased towards Holden cars, although my last car before my ute was a beautiful NA Ford Failane, but it was too fancy for my liking and one day I was driving home to Dumbleyung and was 40kms from home in a town called Wagin home of the Wagin Woolarama, and I saw this beautiful 308 Purple HZ 1979 Holden Ute on the side of the road opposite Wagin Panel and Paint with a for sale sign on the window.

From the moment I saw it, I knew it was mine, so I found the owner, a spray painter who did worked at Wagin Panel and Paint, who actually did the custom Metallic paint job, asked how much it was and went for a test drive.

I told him I would sus out my money situation and a few days later agreed on the price. A week later I was driving it around.

It was in pretty mint condition, but I had ambitions of turning it into a beautiful rural ute.

I used too own a beautiful old 1972 Red HQ Holden that had been in my family since brand new, my dad gave it to me when I turned 17, so thats why I am definately a Holden Man.

That old HQ had been everywhere, across the Nullabor Plain 6 times, when I was a baby and small child, I can still remember the holes I burnt in the back seats with the old plug in cigarette burner when I got bored on that last long Nullabor trip.

Then I had driven from Perth to Darwin in the old HQ, for work, not once did I have to change the radiator water, and a couple of years later I drove from Darwin to Townsville, and three years later after that I drove all the way back to Perth in it Queensland via the Territory and back down the coast to Perth.

One day I got an offer by some local fellas that they wanted to buy it off me, I thought about it, and decided it was time to farewell the old Red Devil ( it was Purple once, then it was called The Purple Terror) Anyhow I sold it for $500, something I now regret, because I grew up in that car, and in the end, it was my best mate, someone I grew up with, and not once did the Red Devil ever let me down.

So when I hop into my HZ now, and if its a warm day and you can smell that old vinyl car smell it always brings back many memories of my old HQ Holden Premier, memories as a child, memories of taking it for a drive around the streets when dad was working late at night, I was 13 years of age or so, and would bunny hop around the streets of Dumbleyung, doing circle work in it on the old gravel roads, memories of the first accident I had doing circle work in a wet grassy paddock and the brakes failing and ramming the back of my mates beach buggy, writing off the front end, only days after it had received its first brand new red paint job.

These are memories we all receive when we drive around in our first cars, our first old holdens or fords, something we will never forget, the smell of the interior of the car, the smell of petrol, the smell of the summer air, the laughs of mates as you drive around with a smoke in your mouth and a cold beer between your legs.

The memories of the first girl you ever kissed in your car, ACDC and Guns N Roses playing full boar through the cheap speakers.

Finally just want to say, if you decide to sign up to BeautUtes.com, I hope that you will enjoy your stay here, use the forum as much as you like, advertise your local Ute Musters and B & S Balls, Ute shows and all the other things that are country related.

I just ask you one thing.... pass the word around to all your Ute mates and ute girls that BeautUtes.com is ready to rock n roll, the more members the better. If you see me driving around Perth or the Western Australian Country side on Albany Highway, in a lowered 1979 HZ Purple Ute with www.beaututes.com on the front windscreen, four big rectangle spotties on the rollbar, possibley a five poster bullbar and a W.A country number plate ending in 888 maybe a little Jack Russel named "Cloggs" hanging out the drivers window... well thats me and my ute and my best mate Cloggs

Where the bloody hell is Dumbleyung?

Copied of the internet!
The Dumbleyung Shire is located 267km south east of Perth in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. Dumbleyung is known for its grain and livestock production and various biodiversity industries including: cereals, summer crops, oil mallees, yabbies, emus, poultry and trout.
Covering an area of 2551 sq km, the two towns of Dumbleyung and Kukerin service the Dumbleyung Shire which has a population of 701 (2002 statistics).

Both towns have all the necessary amenities and facilities to comfortably cater for tourists and visitors.All popular sporting and cultural organisations are available to the community and visitors.

Dumbleyung

The name Dumbleyung is thought be derived from the Aboriginal word ‘Dambeling’ meaning large lake or sea.

Pioneers arrived in the district in 1875 and established their farms out of virgin bush having to tolerate a shortage of fresh water, finance, medical supplies and loneliness.

Sandalwood cutters and pastoralists began to settle at Nippering, north of Lake Dumbleyung. By 1915 the post office and hall were the only remaining evidence of township at Nippering, with Dumbleyung 10km east becoming the larger and thriving township where the terminus of the Wagin-Dumbleyung railway was located.

Kukerin

The name Kukerin is thought to be a combination of the names of two sandalwood cutters – Cooke and Ring, omitting the ‘g’.

By about the mid 1870’s John Holland (Hollands Track) had taken up a pastoral lease of 9,000 acres at Merilup spring and established a sandalwood depot. Following this period, much of the surrounding area was opened up by the sandalwood cutters.

In 1904 the Rabbit Proof Fence was commenced, a huge undertaking from north of Yalgoo to Point Anne in the south.

The arrival of the railway line to Merilup (later renamed Kukerin) was a bonus for settlers. On 7 September 1928 the Kukerin Hotel began trading and is still operating to this present day providing drinks, meals and accommodation.

Lake Dumbleyung

The first recorded sighting of the lake was in 1843 by explorers, Landor and Lefroy. It is the largest open lake in Western Australia’s southwest at 13km in length and 6.5km wide, covering an area of 5200 hectares.

Despite the extreme salinity recorded, the lake continues to provide a habitat for many varieties of water birds.

Lake Dumbleyung received world recognition when Donald Campbell broke the world water speed record on 31 December 1964 travelling at 276.3 miles per hour (442.08km) in his boat ‘Bluebird’. A unique granite memorial to Donald Campbell can be seen at Pussy Cat Hill, a prominent feature and vantage point to view the entire lake area.

Kukerin also has a yearly ute muster and tractor pull.

Read more about Dumbleyung here http://www.dumbleyung.wa.gov.au/


Nice to meet you all... enjoy my Australian Ute Website!

__________________