Laurence ‘Larry’ John Skewes was Wagga’s most famous and controversial resident. Photo: Chris Roe.
Laurence ‘Larry’ John Skewes was not everyone’s cup of tea, but he was undoubtedly Wagga’s most recognisable resident.
Love him or hate him, you couldn’t ignore him.
When the news began to filter out on Thursday that the 71-year-old from Leeton had passed away, it sent ripples through the community.
When Region confirmed that Larry was indeed “deceased” after a stint at Wagga Base Hospital, the city felt somehow quieter.
Homeless he may have been, but the whole of Wagga was his domain and he roamed far and wide, pushing his esky in a spray-painted pram and greeting passers-by with a shout, an obscenity or a honk of the horn.
Everyone knew Larry, and he knew many of us by name, although for some reason he always called me “Craig” before quickly correcting himself and shouting, “Nah it’s Chris”.
In his final years, Larry slept rough, dividing his time between the Edel Quinn shelter, Wilkes Park and various favourite haunts.
Every day he would loiter outside chemist shops and local businesses and often take a nap in the sun before he was moved on.
The last time I spoke to Larry was a couple of weeks ago and he said he was keeping out of the cold down in Wilkes Park sleeping in the disabled toilets at night.
“Me chooks and me goat are out on the farm now,” he declared, referencing the small menagerie that wandered the campground.
He’d also detailed on many occasions how he’d almost died last year after consuming a bottle of brandy and rupturing an ulcer.
“Should have killed me,” he shouted in his distinctive bellow, before adding darkly, “Wish it did.”
“I don’t care if I died. I’ve done a lot and it’s been a good life,” he told me at Christmas.
Also known as Pockets because, “I’ve got short arms and deep pockets”, he was rarely short of a quid despite his circumstances.
Larry lived on a disability pension and said he retained some money from the sale of his house in Narranderra a decade ago, but poor physical and mental health and the booze kept him on the streets.
The tattoo on his left forearm read “Born A Winner”.
Larry sheltered at Wilkes Park as the floodwaters rose in 2022. Photo: Chris Roe.
Larry was a divisive figure. When Region published a Christmas greeting from Larry in December last year, the story went viral and we were flooded with comments.
Most were positive but many were angry or disappointed that we had platformed a man who made them feel unsafe on the streets.
As I reflected on the choice to publish his Christmas message to Wagga, I thought about the comments and how polarised they were. Most people related to him as either a cartoonish larrikin or a menace.
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There is no doubt that Larry could be crude and offensive. Many women felt uncomfortable under his barrage of inappropriate comments and steered clear, while others told him off.
He also had more than a few run-ins with the police and was convicted last year for threatening an officer.
He could also be genuinely funny, warm and even generous.
Larry was a deeply flawed human, neither innately good nor bad, battling (or succumbing) to his demons and making his way through life.
Farewell Larry. Photo: Chis Roe.
A few months back he was booked for applying a fresh coat of black spray paint to his esky on the street outside Bargain Buys.
“The coppa reckoned I was painting the footpath!” he explained before showing me a spot on the street, clearly devoid of paint.
When he went to court he told me he used my name while making his case to the judge.
“I said, your honour, Chris the editor did the story where I wished the police a Merry Christmas and told them to leave me alone,” he said when I ran into him on Fitzmaurice Street.
“And I said they bloody should have read it!”
He claims the judge laughed and let him off with a warning but, like all of Larry’s yarns, they are best taken with a grain of salt.
Love him or hate him, you couldn’t ignore him and I do feel a genuine sense of loss that such a familiar figure will cause a ruckus on our streets no more.
His death from cancer, homeless in the grip of winter is a sobering reminder of the deeper issues in our community, and I would like to pay my respects to the team from Wagga Base Hospital who cared for him in his final days and Wagga’s Edel Quinn shelter.
If you think of Larry, raise a glass in his memory, and more importantly, make a donation to Edel Quinn Homeless Support Services .
They are on the front line of the crisis that consumes many Australians who, unlike Larry, will go unremembered.
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