By Alesha Capone
Tony Cassidy has many fond memories of fishing in Werribee South during the 1960s and ’70s.
The 75-year-old even owns a painting, which he inherited from his mother, of a group of boats – including a boat previously owned by his family – on the water, near a jetty on Beach Road.
Mr Cassidy said his mother Muriel bought the painting at the Myer store in Bourke Street, Melbourne.
“She was going past the store windows, saw the painting and said, ‘that’s my boat,’ and bought the painting,” he said.
The painting has an inscription, likely by the artist, which reads “C. Musil, 1970”.
Mr Cassidy, who has lived in Werribee and Werribee South for more than 50 years, said he knew all the boats in the painting.
He said they included a scallop boat owned by Sam Portelli, who also ran a shop on Duncans Road, and another vessel owned by local police detective and Werribee shire president George Cavanagh.
“We used to average 20 dozen whiting a day back in those days,” Mr Cassidy said.
“I even caught 200 flounder one night.
“Of course, there were no legal limits on what you could catch then. If we’d have known they would be introduced later on, we would have caught less fish.”
