This blog, the photo and video of the Gibbons monkey (same as the gibbons monkey in the story) were taken from correspondence sent to me by John Winter who lives with his wife in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. John is retired from Bawden Drilling where he was employed as Rig Mechanic/Repair and Maintenance of Bawden's Rig Trucks.
This monkey business took place in Indonesia in the 70's when Bawden was on contract to Stanvac.
The Gibbons monkey who later became known as Leroy, was dropped off by a Dowell Schlumberger employee at the Bawden base camp in Sumatera, Indonesia. He was relocated because It seems he had been causing a lot of chaos with the local Indonesian people of Pendopo. Leroy was a thief - guilty of taking laundry that had been hung out on a line to dry or going into the homes of the locals and stealing food and other items that appealed to him.
Leroy apparently settled in quite quickly to the Bawden way of life, often going into the office, sitting down on a swivel chair and picking up the microphone to put to his mouth. He was a pretty entertaining addition but it seems Leroy had not overcome his criminal behavior and was still "lifting" food and the likes from the kitchen.
John recalls one day while the crew were working on the drawworks when there was a loud scream from Anne who was one of the senior Indonesian camp staff,. Leroy had obviously been in the kitchen again and Anne was chasing him out and across the yard with a broom in hand. Apparently he had taken a steak that has been thawing out on the counter. During the chase the monkey suddenly stopped, dropped the steak to the ground and pulled the broom out of Anne's and started to chase her until the crew came to her aid.
Another indulgence of Leroy's was a tin of beer. The only problem he had was lining up the opening on the beer can with his mouth while he scrambled up the leaf covered shelter that was built in front of the U-shaped camp layout. As a result there was beer spilling down on to anyone who happened to be passing under that spot at that moment.
Leroy was eventually taken (or stolen) by the Indonesian food supplier who had admitted to taking him. His unlikely story was that the monkey had attacked him while sitting in the front of the vehicle but he had somehow managed to get the vehicle door open and Leroy ran off into the jungle.
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