A former resident of Bell Island has penned a history of Wabana unlike any other.

History often centres around people, places or events, but some of the most evocative memories that people have are of the animals in their lives.

Dave Careless recently wrote a little history of the dogs and cats of his childhood spent on Bell Island in the late 50s and early 60s.

Careless’ family came to Bell Island from England when his father Tom took a job responsible for ore production and projections at the DOSCO mine operation.

He has fond memories of his childhood on Bell Island and wrote a piece for his friend Gail Weir’s Historic Wabana.

At the time, people had cats and dogs, many of which would roam the community, and were familiar to all.

“Our dog used to go down and visit, this friend—he’s still living on the island actually, Jim Hearn—he used to go down every Saturday morning and lay around in his kitchen for an hour, and go down again the following week.” Careless says it was a different time. “Nobody worried about where they were, because it was pretty safe…and there was not much traffic, so it was a good little life they had going there.”

Careless regrets that when they left the island, they left their pets behind with the understanding that they would be brought down to their new home when they were settled—but that never happened. It’s something that still bothers Careless to this day and was part of what prompted him to write about the animals that he recalls so fondly.

“I can remember them all,” says Careless, “I always felt strongly about how it all kind of ended, and saddened by it really.”

The link to Careless’ memoires can be found at Gail Weir’s Historic Wabana website.