Welcome to the podcast, Therese Makes History,
Season 1, The Dairy Lane Project, Bomberdairy
to Berry. Today I present Episode 5, Devitt's
Lane. My name is Therese Sweeney and I'm a social
historian and now a podcaster. Part of the production
of this episode is supported by two local companies,
Turf Co. which is the highest agricultural employer
in the region and has been operating for 40 years
in Jaspers Brush, owned by Gavin Rogers. Additionally,
thanks to McGoldrick Estate Agents for coming
on board and supporting this important digital
project. The McGoldrick family has been selling
homes, farms and lifestyle properties in Bury
since 1987. Thank you, Tim. Before I introduce
Devitt's Lang with John Martin, I'd like to give
you some history on Maroo Meadows School. Maroo
School was originally established in an old church
in Pestles Lang in 1867. The building was crumbling
down, so a temporary site needed to be established.
A large tent was erected. at Wiley's Creek. It
was referenced as Little Meadow, the tent school,
in an 1882 Crown Survey plan. The tent was facing
the road on the south side of the highway. Turner's
Lane at this time did not exist. The population
in Maroo Village attended here from the age of
two. During that time, a permanent site was identified
in 1883 on the northern side of the highway.
Plans were drawn up to be a school made of brick
near the old house, which operated as Maroo Station
under the Berry Estate. The school opened in
1885 and kept the name Maroo. Then in 1923, the
name was changed to Maroo Meadow. The site still
stands to this day. Devitts Lane is located on
the northern side of the highway. Like many pioneering
families, the Devitts' journey began across terrain
in Jamboree to Woodhill Mountain and Broughton
Vale. The patriarch, John Devitt, migrated from
Donegal Island, indentured to Adam and Mary Boyd,
who had migrated earlier in 1853 to the Jamboree
area. John Devitt married their daughter, Eliza,
in 1860 at Kiama. They had four children. John
James, born 1861, Mary Jane, born 1862, Adam
Andrew, born 1863, and Susanna, born in 1865,
all at Broughton Vale. Between 1863 to 1869,
John purchased 320 acres of crown land at Woodhill
Mountain for one pound per acre. He then purchased
adjoining lots in Parishes, Camberwara and Broughton
for his two sons. By 1885, he had accumulated
490 acres, owning further blocks on the west
side of Brogas Creek. John James Devitt married
his neighbour, Mary Jane Brandon. in 1887 at
Guatemala. They had five children, one of whom
was Albert Devitt. Alexander Berry had the land
grant to the main part of the lower property
known as Devitt's Lane. Then a gentleman by the
name of Arthur MacLean purchased it in 1905.
Albert Devitt married Grace Shepard. Her father,
William Shepard, bought the property after MacLean
died from 1911. Grace was a boxel. The couple
were involved in Maroo Union Church. Both sides
of the family were heavily involved in the Methodist
Church and the Wesleyan Church prior to that.
William Shepard was the superintendent at Maroo
Sunday School. William and his family lived in
a slab house down near the creek where the cow
bales are, prior to the weatherboard house that
was built and divided into two homes. Albert
and Grace lived in this home when they took over
the property named Sunnyside in 1932. Their daughter
Valerie married Reginald Thomas Radford who came
from Queensland. He joined the RAAF during the
war and after the war was stationed at St George's
Basin. He met Valerie probably at church. All
the RAF men would jump in the back of a truck
and head to Nowra. on Sundays for church services,
getting dropped off at their preferred church.
They married in 1947 and settled in Wollongong
for a while. They were asked to run the family
farm with Arthur and Grace from 1950. Electricity
had been introduced that year as well. In 1950,
Valerie and Reginald's second son Arthur was
born. Arthur has provided the insight to this
era. via telephone to me recently. There was
a terrible flood that year he was born, which
caused some land to slide on sunny side. Half
the hill came down. Whilst at Sunnyvale, they
farmed with draft horse and plough. On the steeper
hills, they used a mole board plough, grew potatoes,
corn, hay, and had a range of fruit trees. They
never could afford to mechanise their property.
milking 30 cows twice a day. They were probably
the last property in the district to use horsepower.
Sunnyside is located in the top of the valley,
positioned near Wiley's Creek. The house was
positioned on the rise of a hill. A water pipe
ran from the creek, two inches galvanised, across
paddocks to the neighbours to get gravity fed
for the water. There were water tanks as well
around the house. Arthur recalls sitting on the
slide whilst his grandfather used a slithe to
cut hay. Then they'd use long pitchforks to lift
it on top of the hay shed where Arthur stamped
out the air. Their family were too poor to maintain
a living and sold the property in 1963 to Pat
Ryan from Berry. Arthur's family moved to Berry
and bought a house in Alexander Street. He caught
the bus. then to Maroo School and later to Nowra
High School. Over that 12 -month period, the
house at Sunnyside was rented out to an Englishman.
He was trying to breed chickens in the back room
and keep them warm with a kerosene heater, which
caught fire and the original homestead burnt
to the ground. It was originally reported as
an electrical fire, but the Englishman on his
deathbed told the truth. to Arthur's father,
Reginald. Lanes tended to be named after families
that lived at the higher point of the lane. Grace
had said it's because they were always writing
to the council for the road to be graded. The
Devitts were a prominent family. Arthur recalls
also that the Hitchcocks had farmed previously
on higher land, in Devitts Lane, as there were
remnants of a milking shed also. So now we get
to meet the current owner, John Martin, whose
parents purchased the property in 1964. They
ran a small dairy at Fairview, opposite Devitts
Lane, on the southern side of the Princess Highway.
They used the property to run their dry cows.
They eventually moved in permanently. to Sunnyside
in 1981 after building a home. Today, John Martin
farms beef cattle at Sunnyside and I welcome
John. I'm with John Martin from Sunnyside, 219
Devitts Lane, Maroo Meadow. Thanks for joining
me today, John. No, pleasure. What's your normal
routine here? What is it, Sunnyside? What a beautiful
name for a property. There's a bit of history
here, isn't there? Yes. We've owned Sunnyside
since 1964, October 1964 we bought it. And we
just used it as a dry run to run our dairy cattle
on until, oh, about 1980 we sold it. dairy farm
side of it, 1980s. Yeah, we had a dairy farm
just down across the highway opposite Devitts
Lane. So that was your original residence on
the highway? Yes, Mum and Dad were there for,
I think, about 35 years. What address was that?
The property was named Fairview. As I said, we
rented a small dairy there. I think it was just
Princess Highway, Maroo Meadow. Which side of
the highway, or was it both sides? It was on
the south side of the highway. How big was Fairview?
It was about 80 acres. The Maroo Hall was in
the western corner of it. I think it was on its
own. I just had a mixed herd of dairy cows. We
only milked about, oh, around 30, 35 head those
days. Mum and Dad came there and I think it must
have been about 1945. And they'd spent 10 years
on Bundannan. They had it leased from the McKenzie's
up the river. what was Arthur Boyd's place. But
McKenzie's were the original owners of it. Mum
and Dad and Dad's parents too came out. Dad and
his parents, two brothers, they came out from
Northern Ireland, born in Belfast. Came out here
to Australia and Dad worked about on different
farms. I think that's going back when they came
here was around about 1925 or 29. So your grandparents
came, migrated from Belfast? Yeah, on Dad's side
of the family. So the paternal side. What were
their names? Their names were Martin. And that's
where my name comes from. Grandfather's name
was John Frederick Martin. I think she was a
herd, Margaret Herd, the original name. And she
married John Frederick Martin, the grandfather.
Yeah, they came out here to Australia. But anyway,
they moved on to Bundan and up the river, which...
Well, everybody calls it Bundanon, but it's not.
It's Bundannan. So they always correct that.
They had at least from McKenzie's who owned Bundannan.
What were they doing there? And what was happening
at Bundannan? They were a dairy. What sort of
cows do you know back then? What were they? Oh,
I think they're just a mixed lot of cows. Probably
mainly Illawarra's, I'm not sure. Is this before
your birth? Yes, yes. So you're going off stories
you were told or photos? Mainly, yeah, mainly.
I can remember a fair bit of the history of what
Dad used to say because we'd been back to Bundennan
a few times over the years just to have a look
at the place. Last time we went up there, it
was an open day. And that was when Arthur and
Yvonne Boyd were there. I said to Yvonne that
day, we got talking to them, had a good yarn
to them, a lovely couple, down to earth. And
I said to Yvonne, I said, pronounce the name
Bundanon now. I said, it should be Bundanon.
Yes, she says, I agree with you. I was with all
these schoolteacher yuppies on the board that
they had changed it. But anyhow... When was that?
When did you...? They stayed there until 1945.
I think they came from there to Maroo. At Bundannan,
how were they dairying and how would they get
the milk? I think it was mainly milking by hand.
I'm not sure. How do you imagine they would have
got the milk to...? A depot? Oh, they used to
take it down to the river and put it on a punt,
and the punt used to cross the river and connect
up with it. It must have been a milk carrier.
Oh. Or in cans those days. I think it was about
1 ,000 acres in it, and it had a big old two
-storey homestead on it, which... Grandfather
Martin lived in and his wife. Mum and Dad, when
Dad got married, Mum, she come from down Tilbury
because Dad worked on a couple of farms earlier
on down around Tilbury and Cobargo. Do you know
any of the families, the names? Oh, he worked
for Vic Tett's farm down at Cobargo, out west
of Cobargo there. Then he worked on Harry Bates'
farm. That'd be going back, oh, 1929, 1930s,
31, 32. Not sure when Dad married Mum. It was
1929 or... When did your grandfather migrate
out? Well, they all come together on by ship.
Took them about six weeks to come out. And how
old was your father on the passage out here,
do you know? Might have been only about 25, I
think, when they left Bundannan. What was the
circumstances around them leaving? Oh, well,
it was only leased. I suppose once the lease
ran out, they decided to leave it. I think Mum
and Dad went on to a farm over in Farm Meadow.
I think they lived next door to Turner's Farm
in Farm Meadow. for a while. Then they must have
come here in 1935, I think it was, to Fairview
Dairy, down on the highway there, just opposite
Devitt's Lane. Do you know what they would have
paid for it, or how that came up, or who owned
it? It belonged to... Tom Hitchcock, I think,
owned it. But I wouldn't know what they paid
for it. Don't think Dad ever said he might have.
We were there next door to the Mullers for about
35 years. I came along in 1948. So what's your
full name? John Frederick Martin. And did you
have brothers and sisters? I got a sister. She's
older than me. She spent three years on Bundana.
I think she's about six years older than me.
Did your father have brothers and sisters? He
had two brothers. There was Jack Martin and he
had a dairy farm out on Harley Hill. Then there
was Lou Martin. He was the youngest. He worked
for John Darling, the stock feed people. In Sydney.
Lou Martin and the wife then moved to Foster.
So you were on higher ground where you were?
Did you have any flooding where you were? On
the highway? Down on Fairview. I know we were
up on a hill there. But it ran down onto a flat.
It used to flood around the creek a bit, along
the creek, follow the creek down. Did you have
to build a dairy there? No, the dairy was already
there, I think, when Dad bought it. Did it have
silo? No. So what are your first memories of
the dairy as a little boy? As I grew up on the
dairy and learnt how to drive tractors and learnt
how to do most things on the farm. All self -taught.
Was it a hard life? Was it a hard life for your
parents to make a dollar? Well, it's what you
know. I wouldn't say it was a hard life, no.
What sort of tractors were you driving? I started
off with a T20 Ferguson tractor and that was
the first one I learnt to drive on. We used to
change them about every 10 years or so. We moved
up to a massive Ferguson 35. Then we moved up
to a Ford 3000. Then when we got this farm, we
needed a four -wheel drive tractor and we moved
up into four -wheel drive tractors and had one
ever since. Well, we've had... Two or three,
I think, four -wheel drive tractors over the
years. Will they make a difference, wouldn't
they? They're much safer on the hills. You didn't
really need them down on the flat country, but
up here you need a four -wheel drive because
safety -wise on the hill, steep, hilly country.
Do you know how much milk you were producing
each day on the Fairview? Going back in the cans
a day, four or five cans a day or so. And then
we got the bulk milk come in. I think it was
a 200 -gallon bulk milk tank. Mum and Dad got
to retirement age and it was sort of too small
for one person to run. So we sold... Sold part
of the dairy farm to Muller's next door. When
was that? What year? Oh, 79, I think, 1979. We
started building this house in 1979. It took
them about 12 months to build it. There was a
nice old weatherboard home on this. on Sunnyside,
on this place, and it had got burnt down about
12 months before we bought it. Do you remember
pre -mechanisation at all, or were you fully
mechanised on the farm over at Fairview? Oh,
I think we were fully mechanised. We had milking
machines and all that. We didn't have to milk
by hand. Did you grow crops at all? Mainly a
bit of oats. Sometimes a paddock and mill it.
If we worked up the paddocks, ploughed the paddocks
and that, just for planting grass, ryegrass and
clover. How did you store it or harvest it? We
used to make 2 ,000 to 3 ,000 bales of hay every
year. So is that in the plastic wrap you're saying?
No. There was none of that about it in those
days. It just baled up into small squares. We
used to have to pick it up by hand and cart it
into a shed and stack it up in the shed. That
part of it became a bit automated. We had a bale
stacker on the side of the trailers to pick it
up in there. Paddy, bale loader, I should say.
And then we had a bale stacker up in the shed,
an elevator that put it up high in the shed,
if need be. How did it keep in the shed? Oh,
it kept very well. It would keep for a few years,
if need be, because it was fully dried, cured
before it was baled. It'd only be there for a
couple of years at the most and we were using
it during the wintertime, feed it out. No, we
didn't have any feed stalls or troughing or anything
like that, but the cows used to get a bit of
dairy milk as they were being milked in the bales.
So you used to bring cows up to Sunnyside? Yeah,
we bought Sunnyside in 1964, October 1964. Going
right back in the history of Sunnyside, it was
originally owned by a William Shepard. William
Shepard sold it to Albert and Grace Devitt and
they then sold it on 1963 and they had a daughter,
Valerie. And Valerie Devitt married Reg Radford.
They must have bought it. I've got a copy of
the deeds there. Give all the dates and that.
How much land is it? It's about 140 acres. I
think on paper it says 138 acres. It's 55 .97.
I think it's because they're the last property
on the end of Devitts Lane because there used
to be a gate just down the hill there. But the
right of way of Devitts Lane always went up through
here and up and it joins up with the top end
of Graham's Road. They were in the back of Maroo
there. But anyway... What were they doing here?
Do you know anything about...? They were... Devots
were dairying on it. They used to milk about
20 or 30 cows, mainly air shears, I think they
were. And Valerie and Reg Radford, they would
run in the dairy side of it. Yeah. So really
there was a lot of land for not a lot of cows.
Probably didn't have the fertilisers those days
like we've got now. Used to catch the milk truck
down at the end of Devitts Lane. So they'd have
to deliver the cans down there? Yeah, take the
cans from here down to the end of the lane and
put them on a truck down there which got taken
into Bomaderry. Do you know who was carrying
then? A chap named Bert Mitchell, I think, was
picking up from Devitt's Lane back through Jesper's
Brush. The trucker used to pick up our milk from
the dairy. He'd come right into the dairy and
pick it up. That was Jack Atfield. He did it
for quite a few years and then he sold his milk
run to Bill Schofield. Jack Hatfield died a good
few years ago, but Bill, I think, is still alive.
He lives along Maroo Road there. And he used
to go around all Maroo and up into Bell's Lane
picking up milk. I think they had about 21 or
22 suppliers to pick up. This dairy across on
your property, is that the original dairy they
would have used? The Devots? Yes. Yes. Did you
use that? We never ever milked cows on this place.
We just ran our dry cows and reared our heifers
on it. What sort of raising then? Oh, we had
mainly Frisians and Illawarras. Where did you
source your cows? Oh, Dad used to buy them around
some of the clearing sales. I think he might
have bought a couple out of the... Sale yards
over the years, but not many, I don't think.
Bred most of them. Had a bull room. We used AI.
Of course, had contractors going around AI and
the cows. Did you train yourself in that? No,
I didn't. So what was your interest? Because
you've got beef cow on the property now, yeah?
Yeah, I was more interested in the beef cattle.
We used to rear a few beef calves on the dairy
farm and sell them. What type were they? Mainly
the Hereford type. What was the thinking there
for you at the time? Well, when Mum and Dad got
to retiring age, I was more interested to continue
on with the beef side of it. dairy farm, most
of it to mowers and then we kept about 30 acres
on the eastern end of the dairy farm. It didn't
have any sheds on it but it used to be part of
Morshall's farm. George and Len Morshall, they
lived down the bottom end across the railway
line down Morshall's Lane. What do you remember
about them? What were they growing and did they
have cows? They had a small We milked a few cows
down there. The piece of land that we had on
the eastern side of Fairview, as I said, it originally
belonged to, I think it was George Moore Shalone,
that part of it. I think there must have been
about 60 acres in the block. And Albert Muller
bought the bottom end of it. and we bought the
top end. Morse had sold it to, or people called,
sold the block that we got, people called Elvin
bought it. Sam Elvin, I think his name was, and
he ran beef cattle on it. He had Hereford cows.
And then we bought it from them in the end, yeah.
Bought it from Elvin's. That 30 acres. Why would
they have sold it? Oh, I don't know what their
excuse was that they sold it. Yeah, I don't think
they were making much out of the beef cattle.
Probably a bit too small. They probably sold
it because they wanted to buy a bigger place
or retire or something. What cows are here today?
I've just got the Santa Catrutas now. Tell me
how you started your journey with them and where
you got them. When we give up the dairy and we
had Hereford cattle and for a while up until
about 1986, Hereford cattle, they didn't really
have enough milk and weren't big enough in size
and they used to get eye cancers and that. Always
had a passion for Santa Catrutas and used to
go to the King Ranch sales over in Barrow years
and years ago. That's going back about 50, 60
years ago. Anyway, in 1986 we started using Berry
Veterinary Clinic. And they were doing a bit
of AI work, so they eyed some, I think, about
13 or 14 cows with Santa Catruta semen. I think
I got a bit or half a dozen calves out of that.
And then from then on, we started buying Santa
Catruta's bulls. I bought my first bulls from
Jumping Rock Stub in Bundanoon. We must have
had three bulls we got from Jumping Rock. In
the first few years, used to deal through F .A.
Wallace and Sons and Mossfair Stock and Station
Agency. When we sold cattle and used... When
we got into the beef, we used to send most of
them to the Mossvale sales, weekly sales over
there, and we used to sell through F .A. Wallace.
We did sell through Nowra sales through A .J.
Campbell and Sons for quite a few years when
we were on the dairy. Moved up here and the dairy
side of it was sold. I mean, I still do send
most of my cattle to Mossvale. Is it a profitable
business? I suppose it would go up and down,
yeah? It pays the bills, that's about it. Yes.
What do you think of the breed? Oh, they're a
good breed, fast -growing. I don't try to rear
velas from the Santa Catrutas. They're not really
good. For velas, they tend to look magnificent
for a couple of weeks and then they start growing
again. But the Santa Catruda cows, they've got
plenty of milk and they've got the size and bone
in them. The feedlot buyers, they generally like
to buy me steers that I sell. So just taking
you back to when you... Just getting back to
that point with the... Hereford cattle, so the
sun was too much for their eyes here, was it?
Oh, well, I suppose that would be one reason,
yeah. Well, they'd get grass seed in their eyes
during the springtime, late spring, and you'd
have to get the cancers treated in their eyes.
But I think mainly now they breed Hereford cattle
that have got a bit of red. pigmentation around
the eyes and that's got rid of that problem quite
a bit. Who were the vets you were using back
in when you were a young man? Oh, we used to
use vets in Nara. There was one vet called Chisholm.
Otto Ordo. Otto Ordo. I think his name was. We
used him for quite a few years. He was a migrant,
was he? Yes, yeah. He used to... It was when
we had the dairy farm and still looked after
us after we'd come up here for a while. All the
vets then, I don't know, they retired and sold
their business and the last vet we used in now
is only a young fella. Switched over to Berry
Veterinary Clinic. I've been using them since
1986. It was run by Geoff Scarlett and Geoff
Manning in those days. Then they sold the business
to Anthony Bennett. Brydon Krebs, I think his
name is. Now it's run by Brydon himself, Anthony.
He passed away and he's got a team of vets there,
two or three, maybe four lady vets and another
American, Jordan. What other sort of issues might
have arisen with your dairy cows back in the
day, you know, in those earlier years? Was there
any illnesses or diseases that you had to contend
with? I think milk fever was the main problem
with them after they'd carve, freshly carved
cows, and they'd go down with milk fever and
you'd have to call the vet. They'd give them
a dose of, I think it was calcium and that. They'd
have them up on their feet within five or ten
minutes. Where did you get your supplies and
things? Oh, well, now a dairy company. What sort
of vehicle was your dad driving? Holdens were
our main vehicles. We didn't have a truck when
we had the dairy farm. Stuff used to get delivered
by the milk carrier. He'd pick it up or, like...
dairy mail and stuff and then as the years went
on there was a chap called Ken Bryce he started
off a dairy feed delivery business and he had
a bulk a bulk truck and used to buy the dairy
pellets Get them stored on the farm. He used
to fill a corner walled off in the barn that
was beside the dairy and he'd fill that with
the pellets. What were you wanting to do with
your life? At school, what were you thinking?
And did you like school? I just worked on the
farm. I left school when I was 15 and come home
and just continued on the farm. Over the years,
I used to do a bit of contracting work with the
tractor. Mainly, that came later in life. I'd
go around and do a bit of slashing for people.
Did a lot of slashing over the years for Ketteringhams
who'd had a farm down end of Devitts Lane. There
was a couple of blocks up in Boxers Lane and
Grahams Road as it's known now. Used to go up
there to slash a couple of blocks. A couple of
the neighbours around me here used to get me
to do a bit of slashing. Pretty high up on that
Graham's Road, isn't it? Yeah. I don't do any
of that now, only for one chap that's got five
acres down the lane there. He's Greek, George.
He doesn't live on the place down there, but
he comes down once a week and if he wants a paddock
slashed, he always gets me to do it. So this
current herd, this... These bulls you have here
that are very attractive -looking bulls... They're
pure Santas. I started crossing them with the
Herefords. It took about four years to get up
to the... Four to five years to get up to the
purebred Santa stage. So you started crossing
them to begin with? Yes. Why would you do that?
Tell me about that. They did cross very well
with that. We had crossbreeds for a few years,
but gradually worked into that pure Santa. Tell
me what you know about the breed. How did you
find out about the breed? Probably just through
in the land papers, reading about them in the
land papers, country magazines, because over
the years you get to know them. different studs
around. What are some of the studs that you're
impressed by? King Ranch, because that was a
bit out of my league a bit, but I was always
very interested to go and see there. They had
a bull sale pretty well every year, I think.
Used to go to their sales, but I never ever bought
any bulls from them. So it was after 1986. Probably
the first bull we bought would have been in 87,
and we bought that from Joyce's, Phil Joyce at
Bundanoon. Jumping Rock Stud, they used to call
it. It used to go to their sales too. But then
to buy our sander bulls, we used to go through...
Peter Wallace, he was the son of F .A. Wallace.
Keith Wallace, stock and station agents in Mossville.
How many beef cattle have you got here? Well,
there's about, I suppose, counting the calves
that I've got now, there must be about around
60, 65 head. It used to be up around the 80 head
mark, but with the droughts and dry years and
that. Cut back a bit, keep all the heifers pretty
well, rear them, and they replace the cows that
I sell. I generally let the cows go for about
three carvings, four carvings, and then push
them off and heifers replace them. When did you
leave Fairview? You sold that 30 acres or have
you still got it? No, we sold that. We left Fairview.
I think it was the beginning of 81 we moved up
here into this house. So who moved here? Mum
and Dad and myself. Did you ever marry? No, I've
never married. Mum passed away in November, 1st
of November 1994. She was 84 and Dad lived on
until 2003. 9th of November 2003, Dad passed
away. How old was he? He was 94, and he was good
right up until the last... Oh, he just started
to go downhill in the last three months of his
life, and he spent the last month in a nursing
home in Bomaderry, which was fortunate, really.
What did you do for social life, your family?
Who did you mix with or where? Not much of a
social life. Did you go to the hall at all? Yes,
they used to have dances at the halls. We used
to be involved in arranging them. Dad was secretary
of the P &C quite a few years. They used to have
a Christmas night in the hall every year. And
Muller's Picnic Days, do you remember them? Yeah,
Muller's Picnic Days, yeah. That was with the
Maroo Church, really. Religion's not one of my
favourite subjects, so I didn't go to Sunday
school most Sundays and that, but I never, ever
liked it much. Who was your teacher at Sunday
school? Pearl Feeney she was. She's Pearl Biggs
now. What didn't you like about it? Oh, I don't
know. It just never ever grabbed me, the religion
side of it. What about your parents? I'm still
the same. I get the JWs coming in sometimes.
I said, don't start talking about religion. I'm
not interested. So what are you interested in?
Were you a sports person? No, not really. Bit
of a loner? Yeah, you'd probably say that. Being
the only boy in the family, just myself and me
sister, always doing things alone when I was
a kid, building billy carts and that sort of
stuff. Do you listen to the radio? Yeah, I still
listen to the radio now. Television's me main
entertainment now. What do you like on television?
Mainly these lifestyle type of shows. Were you
a member of any club? No. You're a bit like David
Marshall, aren't you? Yeah, David and I are pretty
much the same, I think. It's interesting. I find
it interesting. Yeah. I met David here a couple
of weeks ago. castrol oil shop along maroo road
there and i hadn't seen him for oh must be 30
years seen him and yet he's got a block that
joins me over the back of the hill back of the
ridge it runs from my place out to the highway
there which he still owns and but anyhow we had
a good yarn there for half an hour or more on
the steps At the castrol shop. Did you meet Anne?
Haven't yet, no. I've got to get a photo of Anne.
That's his sister. She lives beside him. Here
you are on your 140 acres in Devitts Lane. What
are some of the key sort of issues you have on
the farm that you have to manage today? Mainly
weeds and that. Got to keep the slasher going
and do a bit of pasture harrowing. A couple of
times a year, but mainly just looking after the
pastures now. And some of them, weeds now, there's
fireweed about and paramedic grass. Older for
it, you can't keep up as much now. Do you remember
having to clear land when you were young? No.
Was it cleared when your family had the property?
It was already cleared. Over the years down on
the dairy, we had the tractors and slashes and
pasture hair and fertilising and ploughing and
that sort of thing. But up here... You can't
go out and plough up a paddock or anything because
you'd be afraid of it getting washed away, of
a big storm coming. What's the weather like up
here? Is it a different climate here compared
to down where you were? Not much difference,
I don't think. The average rainfall was reckon
around 52 inches a year. You can get up to...
to 60, 70, 80 inches in a year. Or you might
only get about 35, 40 inches in a year. Some
of the dry years and that we had only got up
to about 40. I've got records there of all the
rainfall over the years. You seen any logging
trails around or butter trails? They used to
get cedar logs out years and years ago across
the mountain here. Because I can remember there
used to be a lump of wire rope laying on the
ground up the top end of my farm there for years
and years. But that's gone back way before our
day. We're looking at the creek here behind your
property on Devitts. Just describe what happened.
with this rock? Oh, this rock, as you can see
in the creek, it got piled up with the rainbomb
we had in March 2024. There must be at least
a million tonnes of rock piled up down through
my place here. Fortunately, it didn't do any
damage to me. Water supply, I've still got it.
It's a... A pipeline that's been there for 100
years and it's fully licensed. And where's that
based? It's just gravity fed. It comes out of
the creek way up above my place there. A waterhole
you were saying. Yes. Unbelievable. It comes
across. It used to go right across to Duncan's
property next door to the Maroos School. But
now it only goes through my place and into one
neighbour. The rest of it, they use town water
supply. But you're not supplied by town? No,
got no town water here. So it's gravity fed,
about an inch and a half pipe to start with,
and then it goes down to one inch. It used to
be all galvanised steel, but now it's all polypipe.
Oh, well, it's underground, so it depends if
it's near a coral tree or something. The coral
tree roots mangle it up sometimes. You've got
a lot of coral trees on your property. Yeah,
there's quite a few I've planted over the years.
For your cows? Not anymore now. I don't plant
them anymore. So they're eucalyptus trees? Yes.
They're called woolly butt because they've got
a bit of rough bark around the butt end of them.
And you've still got cedar here? Oh yes, there's
still a lot of cedar on the farm. They just couldn't
get to it at the time? No, you need a bulldozer
and that. with a winch on it. But the really
good cedar trees are right up in the mountain.
You can't touch them now. They protect it. Excuse
me, John. I just have to take this call. It's
Ray Strong. Yes, Ray. I'm just in the middle
of a recording at the moment. Hi, Therese. Listen,
I'm wondering where your podcast is going to
get into Jasper's Brush. You did a lot of our
recording some time ago and we're still waiting.
Oh, yes. Look, sorry, Ray, I'm still in Maroo
Meadow and I've just found someone in Fletcher's
Lane and I've got to speak to a refrigeration
guy whose dad ran the milk factory at Bomaderry.
So I'm trying to get to Jasper's Brush. I won't
be long. Something else I missed telling you
while we were speaking ages ago. I've forgotten
to mention I used to run the bar. I had the liquor
licence at the very show. When was this, Ray?
It was back in the 80s and the 90s. And was that
a fundraiser? Yes, we run it on behalf of the
Berry Rugby League Football Club. Can you share
a story with me, Ray? I hear it might have been
a bit wild back then. Well, I don't know about
while, but it was pretty busy. Everybody appeared
to be pretty thirsty on both days, Friday and
Saturday, when we run the bar. Can you tell me
a story, Ray? Just one. There were probably a
few, but there's a lot I can't tell you. Anyway,
this particular one, because I was a licensee,
the local constabulary used to want to keep a
check on us from time to time. And we had a pretty
good sergeant in town at that stage. He was great
for the community. Anyway, he'd come round on
the Saturday night, which was our busiest time,
and check when we were going to close the bar
and I'd tell him the time. He said, OK, well,
I'll come in in the vehicle and I'll do the rounds.
He said, you be loaded up with the rest of the
gear out of this joint with whatever money you've
got in your vehicle and tuck in behind me and
we'll both drive out of the showground together,
which we did. Heading towards town and Alexandra
Street, we got up to the School of Arts and the
sergeant in his vehicle, he pulled into the kerb
ahead of me. So I thought I'd better do the same,
which I did. He got out of the vehicle and he
came back to me. He said, we'll have to wait
a little while because there's a radar unit set
up in the main street here. So I've got to move
him before we can move on, which happened. That
was all very good and we proceeded back home
to my joint. So the chaperone had to clear the
booze bus type thing? Pretty much, yes. So it's
not all ginger beer and Jesus then here in Berry,
is it? Listen, I've got to get going, Ray. I'll
be in touch. I'm sorry it's taking a bit, but,
you know, we've got to be thorough here in Maroo
and Jaspers will get a good spread too. Yeah,
looking forward to it, Therese. Sorry, John.
Ray's a bit high maintenance. He's very passionate
about Jasper's Brush, getting its history done.
And he's been on my back about it. Well, I did
his recording in November. Do you know he drove
racing cars? Anyway, I'll get back. We'd better
get back. Where were we? Do you want to go for
a walk to this dairy? I want to have a look at
it. Thanks, John. I'll put some images up on
my website that reflect today. The dairy. the
cows, the creek with a million tons of rock,
and some of the flora around that creek. In coming
weeks, we'll hear more about the Devitt family,
but where they're positioned in Jasper's Brush
with brother Adam Andrew Devitt and his descendants.
But I'll save that until then. That brings us
to the end of the recording. that I have initiated
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Thanks for listening. Join me in a few weeks
for episode six.