NEWS
Popeye – or Sarge – has lived in the Warry Street social housing complex since the place opened five years ago. He was born in Christchurch, New Zealand 70 years ago, and if you’re wondering why he’s called Popeye, it’s because in a mugging in Newstead 10 years ago he lost his right eye.
And after a bad fall six months ago he has back and leg trouble – hence the scooter he bought and now rides about on, terrifying the natives in the Valley. But there’s a lot going on in that battered old head.
Popeye joined the New Zealand army as an RNZA cadet out of high school, and finished his education in the army. He is qualified in munitions and destruction of explosives and bomb disposal. He served through three wars – the Malayan Emergency, Borneo and Vietnam, from Wigram Base outside Christchurch.
Popeye was involved in the controlled disposal of thousands of tons of New Zealand military 2.5 calibre shell cartridges and field 3.7 anti-aircraft munitions, through their deep-sea dumping or detonation. He then joined the New Zealand police for a stint but over the following years he’s been roaming – from Christchurch to Lightning Ridge, Cairns to Fortitude Valley.
He’s been married four times along the way, been a boarding house manager, dairy farmer, mechanic, electrician, travelling tobacco sales rep, scaffolding foreman, and president of the Grawin Miners’ Association on the opal fields 60 kilometres from Lightning Ridge.
An occasional series by Philip Robertson
