Back to the Farm

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I seem to have taken a 'photo break' at the moment so I thought I would show you where I spent 22 years of my life, right up until the day I got married (see yesterday's post). I was only two years old when I moved with my parents and two older brothers to this 100 acre dairy farm in Gippsland, Victoria, so in my heart it is still 'home' even though it is no longer owned by any of the family.

The area shown in the photo was once an overgrown orchard but after Dad removed some of the old trees, mowed the grass and planted a range of ornamental trees and shrubs, it became a delightful extension to the house garden, and was usually referred to as 'the Park'. This photo was taken soon after it was remodelled; by the time I left home all the new trees were several metres tall and nearly as wide in some cases.

On this day ..... "I Thee Wed"

December 16 1967 Richard and I were married at Christ Church, Drouin in Victoria. It was a beautiful, early summer's day, with many family and friends gathered together. The reception was held in the Church Hall and superbly catered for by the Ladies Guild. Our Honeymoon was four wonderful weeks in New Zealand.

Coloured photos were a rarity back then, unfortunately.

'All dressed up, with somewhere to go!"


With my sister, Rita, and my father.


With our wonderful attendants, John and Rita.


With our parents.


I did manage to find one coloured slide after all.


Thirty nine years later we are happily retired, and very proud of our four children (photo taken about 6 years ago - must be time we got together for a new one).

Cool pool.

The trip to Junee and Young last weekend wasn't all hot, dry and depressing. Okay, there were no cherries left to pick but we did buy some delicious ones, and the model trains at the Roundhouse Museum weren't working but the rest of the exhibition was interesting.

One of the highlights of the weekend was our accommodation in Young. The motel advertised it as being a cottage sleeping 2-8 people. It was in fact a whole house, well-equipped and old enough to be interesting. The motel also had a much-appreciated pool, which was enjoyed by us all in the hot weather.

The grandchildren and their mother. The grandparents are all a bit camera-shy (especially this one).

A Simplistic View

I know that Stuart always likes a good debate (see comments on my previous posting) but to suggest that farmers should relocate to areas where there is plenty of water is no solution at all. The whole situation is far too complex to deal with in a blog, and I certainly don't have the answers, but a few points worth considering are:

1. The areas most affected by this drought - large areas of South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland - 'normally' have sufficient rain for most of the agriculture undertaken in these area, ie. crops, beef, dairy, wool, etc.

2. The majority of this land is highly productive land - it is definitely NOT the Sahara.

3. Areas where there is ample water at present are mainly in tropical regions, unsuitable for the staple agricultural crops grown in the south.

4. Farming is not 'just a job' where you can move from place to place with little disruption. Farming is a 'way of life' which incorporates the entire family, and in many cases, has done for several generations.

5. A country like Australia needs its Primary Industry - we cannot compete with many other countries in the fields of manufacturing and technology, and service industries are not income generators in themselves.

Having said that, I personally feel that many farming methods over the past 200 years have unwittingly created many of today's problems, such as:

1. Wholesale clearing of timber for farming has resulted in salinity, erosion of topsoil from wind and water, and created larger, drier areas with decreased rainfall.

2. European methods of farming are in many cases unsuitable for the drier, hotter climate of Australia. Multiple cultivation of the soil exacerbates these problems.

3. Some of our crop choices are dubious, eg. rice and cotton. Although I have read that more water is required to produce a kilo of beef than a kilo of rice (usually quoted by non-meat eaters). Perhaps that is true.

4. We used to be able to produce most of our Primary Industries without relying so heavily upon irrigation. What's changed?

These are just a few of my random thoughts on the subject. No doubt I'll go away and think "I should or shouldn't have said that, etc." But I would be interested to read what others think on the subject, even though I know that I won't always agree with what I read.

It's even worse ....

... than these photos show. These are about the only photos I took of the countryside during our trip to Junee and Young at the weekend. Whilst there were many scenes that would have made good photos, it seemed too much like photographing the death of so many farming communities. I have NEVER seen the country looking so heartbreakingly dry and barren, and we're only in the second week of summer. Very few sheep and cattle to be seen - little wonder as most of the land is as bare as a board. However, most of these farmers are a resiliant lot, even if they are up to their necks in debt, and hopefully, when the drought breaks, they will still be there and ready to get on with the job again.

Bone dry creek bed.




No doubt this crop was planted with high hopes. Alas ...


Typical country scenes just outside Junee.

Green Thumb Sunday

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Once again I've almost missed Sunday entirely, but we left home at 7.30 on Sunday morning and didn't return until late Monday afternoon, so perhaps I can be excused.

These photos were taken on our trip on Sunday morning. Michelle, Shay, Zoe and Luca are trying to interest these cows in some additional green grass, handpicked especially for them. They are watched by Michelle's father, Richard, and her mother-in-law, Berta.

Success!


The photos were taken

"Where the dog sits on the tuckerbox, Five miles from Gundagai."

Gundagai is in New South Wales, about 90 minutes drive west of Canberra, and the above line is taken from one of the best known Australian 'folk' songs. The actual statue is dedicated to the early pioneers in the area, but the story behind the song is shown in the photo below.

Another BLACK FRIDAY?

This map was issued this afternoon and shows where fires are burning in the State of Victoria. There are at least 70 fires burning, many of them out of control, and with the worsening weather conditions - very high temperatures and strong northerly winds - forecast for the weekend, it is feared that several of these fires will join up creating a massive 600,000 hectare (1.5 million acre) fire on a 100 klm front. Several towns are being threatened and at least 24 schools have closed.




Many thousands of firefighters from all over Australia and New Zealand are racing against time and the elements to contain these fires ahead of the deteriorating weather conditions. The situation is so bad that it may replicate Friday 13 January 1939 - now known as Black Friday - when millions of hectares of bushland were burned, whole towns destroyed and 71 people died.

God forbid that this should happen again. Please, please pray for everyone in Victoria, especially the firefighters and those whose homes are in danger, and those who have already lost so much in the way of livelihood.

Although I left Victoria more 33 years ago, it's still my home State in my heart.

WHY would you do it?

This photo was taken at Cape Hauy, Tasmania, by a rock climber and photographer, Simon Carter. My knees go weak just looking at those climbers on that rock, and thinking what might happen if they fell. For more fantastic photos of rockclimbers throughout the world, including many in Australia, visit the Gallery at Onsight Photography

(Click on photo to enlarge - and really go weak at the knees!)

Summer is here - so is the Cricket.

It's summer time in Australia, and with it comes cricket. No, not a black shiny insect, but a sport played by more men than women, in teams of 11 players usually dressed in white. If you are unfamiliar with this sport, then let me explain :-

Cricket is quite simple. You have two sides, ours and theirs, one out in the field, and one in. Each man in the side that's in, goes out, and when he is out, he comes in, and the next man goes in, until he is out. Then, when they have all been in, and are all out, the side that's been in the field, comes in, and the side that's been in goes out, and tries to get out, those coming in. Sometimes you get men still in and not out. Then, when both sides have been in and out, including not outs, that's the end of the game. It's really very simple.

Where town and country 'meat'.

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I was so busy yesterday that I forgot about Green Thumb Sunday, but as it's still Sunday in some parts of the world, I thought I would sneak this photo in. These are not our cattle. They were in a paddock (field) close to a park where we went walking last week. During our walk we saw dozens of kangaroos, a large shingleback lizard, and around 15 different bird species.