Goon To Woy Woy

At the height of his fame Spike Milligan drew up plans to leave Britain permanently and settle in Australia.

Newly-discovered correspondence reveals that the brilliant but often temperamental comedian and author had decided to move his family to the NSW Central Coast.

In 1961 he wrote to the Gosford Shire Council asking it to help him identify a large block of land, preferably surrounded by native bushland, on which he could build a “contemporary villa”.

In the letter, Milligan, then a household name in Britain thanks to the Goon Show (1951-60), said he planned settle down on the Central Coast and devote the next 20 years to writing books – including one about the plight of Aborigines in New South Wales.

The former Goon’s parents, Leo and Florence, emigrated to Australia after World War 2 and had settled in the quiet seaside suburb of Blackwall, just outside Woy Woy. Milligan, who made numerous trips to Australia in the 1960s and 70s, famously described Woy Woy as “the world’s largest above-ground cemetery”.

Milligan, who was born in British India in 1918, was very close to his parents who were both flamboyant personalities in their own right. Leo was a soldier, weapons expert and vaudeville performer with a passion for the Wild West, while Florence was an accomplished horsewoman and singer. Both appeared on stage during their time in India.

“Spike could sit quietly in the study at the back of his parents’ house on Orange Grove Road and write – or talk to Leo about his gun collection or sing around the piano with Flo,” says local historian Geoff Potter. “Woy Woy was his sanctuary.”

Despite his scathing comments about Woy Woy (“the only town twinned with itself,” he once joked) the comic relished his time on the Central Coast, where he wrote three bestselling books, including Hitler: My Part in His Downfall and Puckoon.

“Spike loved the bush, the beautiful waterways and the relaxed lifestyle,” says Potter. “In Australia he could be himself – he wasn’t expected to ‘on’ as the zany Spike Milligan all the time.”

In his letter to the council, Milligan, who suffered from manic depression throughout his adult life, said that the Central Coast, then sparsely populated, offered the peace and tranquility he needed to write.

Potter, who has spent 10 years sifting through the Milligan family archive, says that despite his hurtful gags about Woy Woy he was serious about leaving the UK and settling permanently in Australia.

“Spike did buy land at Empire Bay (just east of Woy Woy),” he says. “It’s a magnificent piece of bush with beautiful views across to Riley’s Island. He paid rates on the land throughout the 1960s.”

Locals also claim that the famous British comedian owned a second piece of land towards Kincumber, another beauty spot overlooking the local waterways, but Potter has been unable to verify these claims.

Despite his barrage of Woy Woy jokes Milligan, described by Eddie Izzard as “the godfather of alternative comedy,” clearly felt right at home in freewheeling, classless 1960s Australia.

“In letters he wrote to his daughters Spike would never shut up about Woy Woy,” says Potter. “But the pressure of work and family in England meant that he was never able to settle here.”

Opened in July 2018, The Spike Milligan Exhibition at the Woy Woy Library contains a treasure trove of personal items, including his cornet, LPs and several manuscripts, gifted to the council by Spike’s much-loved younger brother, Desmond, a talented artist, who died in 1991, and nephew Michael.

Potter, who curated the exhibition, says the late comedian made a huge contribution to the Central Coast, where he was heavily involved in local causes, such as fighting a canal housing development and establishing a bird sanctuary.

“Spike did an enormous amount of good in the district, but being a private man he kept it to himself,” says the historian. “More broadly Spike was involved in other Australian environmental campaigns of the 1970s and ‘80, including stopping the Franklin Dam in south-west Tasmania.”

During his lifetime many people in Woy Woy naturally resented Milligan’s hurtful comments about their sleepy commuter town, but Potter says that the Goon often mocked places and people, including Prince Charles, who were close to him.

“Spike did call Woy Woy the largest above cemetery in the world but he often used the same line on stage but substituting the names of other towns,” he says. “Spike Milligan was a comedian.”

Six decades after he first set eyes on the Central Coast it seems the people of Woy Woy have forgiven the comic genius who once made them an international laughing stock – apart from funding The Spike Milligan Exhibition the council has named a pedestrian bridge in his honour.

“I think we owe Spike an apology,” says Potter.