WEBVTT 00:00:00.330 --> 00:00:03.390 Welcome to the podcast, Therese Makes History, 00:00:03.669 --> 00:00:08.650 Season 1, The Dairy Lane Project, Bomberdairy 00:00:08.650 --> 00:00:13.109 to Berry. Today I present Episode 5, Devitt's 00:00:13.109 --> 00:00:17.410 Lane. My name is Therese Sweeney and I'm a social 00:00:17.410 --> 00:00:22.129 historian and now a podcaster. Part of the production 00:00:22.129 --> 00:00:25.390 of this episode is supported by two local companies, 00:00:25.809 --> 00:00:30.829 Turf Co. which is the highest agricultural employer 00:00:30.829 --> 00:00:34.850 in the region and has been operating for 40 years 00:00:34.850 --> 00:00:40.189 in Jaspers Brush, owned by Gavin Rogers. Additionally, 00:00:40.409 --> 00:00:43.350 thanks to McGoldrick Estate Agents for coming 00:00:43.350 --> 00:00:46.329 on board and supporting this important digital 00:00:46.329 --> 00:00:50.429 project. The McGoldrick family has been selling 00:00:50.429 --> 00:00:54.250 homes, farms and lifestyle properties in Bury 00:00:54.250 --> 00:01:00.219 since 1987. Thank you, Tim. Before I introduce 00:01:00.219 --> 00:01:05.480 Devitt's Lang with John Martin, I'd like to give 00:01:05.480 --> 00:01:09.879 you some history on Maroo Meadows School. Maroo 00:01:09.879 --> 00:01:14.140 School was originally established in an old church 00:01:14.140 --> 00:01:19.540 in Pestles Lang in 1867. The building was crumbling 00:01:19.540 --> 00:01:22.959 down, so a temporary site needed to be established. 00:01:23.379 --> 00:01:27.659 A large tent was erected. at Wiley's Creek. It 00:01:27.659 --> 00:01:30.400 was referenced as Little Meadow, the tent school, 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:35.760 in an 1882 Crown Survey plan. The tent was facing 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:39.659 the road on the south side of the highway. Turner's 00:01:39.659 --> 00:01:43.200 Lane at this time did not exist. The population 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:45.939 in Maroo Village attended here from the age of 00:01:45.939 --> 00:01:50.079 two. During that time, a permanent site was identified 00:01:50.079 --> 00:01:53.700 in 1883 on the northern side of the highway. 00:01:54.680 --> 00:01:57.900 Plans were drawn up to be a school made of brick 00:01:57.900 --> 00:02:02.780 near the old house, which operated as Maroo Station 00:02:02.780 --> 00:02:06.379 under the Berry Estate. The school opened in 00:02:06.379 --> 00:02:12.479 1885 and kept the name Maroo. Then in 1923, the 00:02:12.479 --> 00:02:16.159 name was changed to Maroo Meadow. The site still 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:20.360 stands to this day. Devitts Lane is located on 00:02:20.360 --> 00:02:23.949 the northern side of the highway. Like many pioneering 00:02:23.949 --> 00:02:27.210 families, the Devitts' journey began across terrain 00:02:27.210 --> 00:02:31.110 in Jamboree to Woodhill Mountain and Broughton 00:02:31.110 --> 00:02:35.110 Vale. The patriarch, John Devitt, migrated from 00:02:35.110 --> 00:02:39.289 Donegal Island, indentured to Adam and Mary Boyd, 00:02:39.289 --> 00:02:42.990 who had migrated earlier in 1853 to the Jamboree 00:02:42.990 --> 00:02:46.930 area. John Devitt married their daughter, Eliza, 00:02:46.949 --> 00:02:52.620 in 1860 at Kiama. They had four children. John 00:02:52.620 --> 00:02:59.819 James, born 1861, Mary Jane, born 1862, Adam 00:02:59.819 --> 00:03:06.240 Andrew, born 1863, and Susanna, born in 1865, 00:03:06.360 --> 00:03:12.259 all at Broughton Vale. Between 1863 to 1869, 00:03:12.990 --> 00:03:17.030 John purchased 320 acres of crown land at Woodhill 00:03:17.030 --> 00:03:20.689 Mountain for one pound per acre. He then purchased 00:03:20.689 --> 00:03:24.310 adjoining lots in Parishes, Camberwara and Broughton 00:03:24.310 --> 00:03:29.770 for his two sons. By 1885, he had accumulated 00:03:29.770 --> 00:03:34.669 490 acres, owning further blocks on the west 00:03:34.669 --> 00:03:37.530 side of Brogas Creek. John James Devitt married 00:03:37.530 --> 00:03:42.080 his neighbour, Mary Jane Brandon. in 1887 at 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:45.960 Guatemala. They had five children, one of whom 00:03:45.960 --> 00:03:49.199 was Albert Devitt. Alexander Berry had the land 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:51.620 grant to the main part of the lower property 00:03:51.620 --> 00:03:55.680 known as Devitt's Lane. Then a gentleman by the 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:59.080 name of Arthur MacLean purchased it in 1905. 00:03:59.580 --> 00:04:02.979 Albert Devitt married Grace Shepard. Her father, 00:04:03.099 --> 00:04:06.180 William Shepard, bought the property after MacLean 00:04:06.180 --> 00:04:11.550 died from 1911. Grace was a boxel. The couple 00:04:11.550 --> 00:04:15.009 were involved in Maroo Union Church. Both sides 00:04:15.009 --> 00:04:17.750 of the family were heavily involved in the Methodist 00:04:17.750 --> 00:04:21.569 Church and the Wesleyan Church prior to that. 00:04:22.089 --> 00:04:24.829 William Shepard was the superintendent at Maroo 00:04:24.829 --> 00:04:27.750 Sunday School. William and his family lived in 00:04:27.750 --> 00:04:31.230 a slab house down near the creek where the cow 00:04:31.230 --> 00:04:34.629 bales are, prior to the weatherboard house that 00:04:34.629 --> 00:04:38.100 was built and divided into two homes. Albert 00:04:38.100 --> 00:04:40.459 and Grace lived in this home when they took over 00:04:40.459 --> 00:04:45.939 the property named Sunnyside in 1932. Their daughter 00:04:45.939 --> 00:04:49.920 Valerie married Reginald Thomas Radford who came 00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:55.079 from Queensland. He joined the RAAF during the 00:04:55.079 --> 00:04:58.540 war and after the war was stationed at St George's 00:04:58.540 --> 00:05:02.519 Basin. He met Valerie probably at church. All 00:05:02.519 --> 00:05:04.959 the RAF men would jump in the back of a truck 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:09.060 and head to Nowra. on Sundays for church services, 00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:11.860 getting dropped off at their preferred church. 00:05:12.339 --> 00:05:16.680 They married in 1947 and settled in Wollongong 00:05:16.680 --> 00:05:19.779 for a while. They were asked to run the family 00:05:19.779 --> 00:05:24.040 farm with Arthur and Grace from 1950. Electricity 00:05:24.040 --> 00:05:27.000 had been introduced that year as well. In 1950, 00:05:27.240 --> 00:05:29.899 Valerie and Reginald's second son Arthur was 00:05:29.899 --> 00:05:34.699 born. Arthur has provided the insight to this 00:05:34.699 --> 00:05:38.939 era. via telephone to me recently. There was 00:05:38.939 --> 00:05:41.819 a terrible flood that year he was born, which 00:05:41.819 --> 00:05:45.620 caused some land to slide on sunny side. Half 00:05:45.620 --> 00:05:48.939 the hill came down. Whilst at Sunnyvale, they 00:05:48.939 --> 00:05:52.860 farmed with draft horse and plough. On the steeper 00:05:52.860 --> 00:05:56.860 hills, they used a mole board plough, grew potatoes, 00:05:57.379 --> 00:06:01.920 corn, hay, and had a range of fruit trees. They 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:04.360 never could afford to mechanise their property. 00:06:04.860 --> 00:06:08.079 milking 30 cows twice a day. They were probably 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:11.660 the last property in the district to use horsepower. 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:14.899 Sunnyside is located in the top of the valley, 00:06:14.980 --> 00:06:17.720 positioned near Wiley's Creek. The house was 00:06:17.720 --> 00:06:20.259 positioned on the rise of a hill. A water pipe 00:06:20.259 --> 00:06:23.699 ran from the creek, two inches galvanised, across 00:06:23.699 --> 00:06:26.839 paddocks to the neighbours to get gravity fed 00:06:26.839 --> 00:06:29.660 for the water. There were water tanks as well 00:06:29.660 --> 00:06:32.829 around the house. Arthur recalls sitting on the 00:06:32.829 --> 00:06:35.629 slide whilst his grandfather used a slithe to 00:06:35.629 --> 00:06:39.290 cut hay. Then they'd use long pitchforks to lift 00:06:39.290 --> 00:06:42.410 it on top of the hay shed where Arthur stamped 00:06:42.410 --> 00:06:45.829 out the air. Their family were too poor to maintain 00:06:45.829 --> 00:06:50.610 a living and sold the property in 1963 to Pat 00:06:50.610 --> 00:06:53.910 Ryan from Berry. Arthur's family moved to Berry 00:06:53.910 --> 00:06:57.110 and bought a house in Alexander Street. He caught 00:06:57.110 --> 00:07:00.490 the bus. then to Maroo School and later to Nowra 00:07:00.490 --> 00:07:03.730 High School. Over that 12 -month period, the 00:07:03.730 --> 00:07:06.509 house at Sunnyside was rented out to an Englishman. 00:07:07.029 --> 00:07:10.009 He was trying to breed chickens in the back room 00:07:10.009 --> 00:07:13.550 and keep them warm with a kerosene heater, which 00:07:13.550 --> 00:07:16.889 caught fire and the original homestead burnt 00:07:16.889 --> 00:07:20.129 to the ground. It was originally reported as 00:07:20.129 --> 00:07:23.189 an electrical fire, but the Englishman on his 00:07:23.189 --> 00:07:26.620 deathbed told the truth. to Arthur's father, 00:07:26.939 --> 00:07:30.959 Reginald. Lanes tended to be named after families 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:34.860 that lived at the higher point of the lane. Grace 00:07:34.860 --> 00:07:37.699 had said it's because they were always writing 00:07:37.699 --> 00:07:41.220 to the council for the road to be graded. The 00:07:41.220 --> 00:07:45.439 Devitts were a prominent family. Arthur recalls 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:48.139 also that the Hitchcocks had farmed previously 00:07:48.139 --> 00:07:52.339 on higher land, in Devitts Lane, as there were 00:07:52.339 --> 00:07:56.529 remnants of a milking shed also. So now we get 00:07:56.529 --> 00:08:00.550 to meet the current owner, John Martin, whose 00:08:00.550 --> 00:08:05.370 parents purchased the property in 1964. They 00:08:05.370 --> 00:08:09.850 ran a small dairy at Fairview, opposite Devitts 00:08:09.850 --> 00:08:12.970 Lane, on the southern side of the Princess Highway. 00:08:13.370 --> 00:08:15.769 They used the property to run their dry cows. 00:08:16.550 --> 00:08:20.029 They eventually moved in permanently. to Sunnyside 00:08:20.029 --> 00:08:23.949 in 1981 after building a home. Today, John Martin 00:08:23.949 --> 00:08:27.490 farms beef cattle at Sunnyside and I welcome 00:08:27.490 --> 00:08:33.309 John. I'm with John Martin from Sunnyside, 219 00:08:33.309 --> 00:08:36.850 Devitts Lane, Maroo Meadow. Thanks for joining 00:08:36.850 --> 00:08:40.649 me today, John. No, pleasure. What's your normal 00:08:40.649 --> 00:08:44.870 routine here? What is it, Sunnyside? What a beautiful 00:08:44.870 --> 00:08:47.710 name for a property. There's a bit of history 00:08:47.710 --> 00:08:52.629 here, isn't there? Yes. We've owned Sunnyside 00:08:52.629 --> 00:09:00.909 since 1964, October 1964 we bought it. And we 00:09:00.909 --> 00:09:05.889 just used it as a dry run to run our dairy cattle 00:09:05.889 --> 00:09:17.320 on until, oh, about 1980 we sold it. dairy farm 00:09:17.320 --> 00:09:23.539 side of it, 1980s. Yeah, we had a dairy farm 00:09:23.539 --> 00:09:26.679 just down across the highway opposite Devitts 00:09:26.679 --> 00:09:30.059 Lane. So that was your original residence on 00:09:30.059 --> 00:09:35.100 the highway? Yes, Mum and Dad were there for, 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:40.379 I think, about 35 years. What address was that? 00:09:40.580 --> 00:09:43.830 The property was named Fairview. As I said, we 00:09:43.830 --> 00:09:47.710 rented a small dairy there. I think it was just 00:09:47.710 --> 00:09:53.169 Princess Highway, Maroo Meadow. Which side of 00:09:53.169 --> 00:09:56.529 the highway, or was it both sides? It was on 00:09:56.529 --> 00:10:01.710 the south side of the highway. How big was Fairview? 00:10:02.110 --> 00:10:07.029 It was about 80 acres. The Maroo Hall was in 00:10:07.029 --> 00:10:11.330 the western corner of it. I think it was on its 00:10:11.330 --> 00:10:17.200 own. I just had a mixed herd of dairy cows. We 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:21.700 only milked about, oh, around 30, 35 head those 00:10:21.700 --> 00:10:27.100 days. Mum and Dad came there and I think it must 00:10:27.100 --> 00:10:33.700 have been about 1945. And they'd spent 10 years 00:10:33.700 --> 00:10:39.980 on Bundannan. They had it leased from the McKenzie's 00:10:39.980 --> 00:10:45.799 up the river. what was Arthur Boyd's place. But 00:10:45.799 --> 00:10:50.960 McKenzie's were the original owners of it. Mum 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:56.460 and Dad and Dad's parents too came out. Dad and 00:10:56.460 --> 00:11:01.379 his parents, two brothers, they came out from 00:11:01.379 --> 00:11:08.580 Northern Ireland, born in Belfast. Came out here 00:11:08.580 --> 00:11:11.460 to Australia and Dad worked about on different 00:11:11.460 --> 00:11:15.840 farms. I think that's going back when they came 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:25.320 here was around about 1925 or 29. So your grandparents 00:11:25.320 --> 00:11:30.539 came, migrated from Belfast? Yeah, on Dad's side 00:11:30.539 --> 00:11:33.139 of the family. So the paternal side. What were 00:11:33.139 --> 00:11:38.049 their names? Their names were Martin. And that's 00:11:38.049 --> 00:11:41.629 where my name comes from. Grandfather's name 00:11:41.629 --> 00:11:46.149 was John Frederick Martin. I think she was a 00:11:46.149 --> 00:11:51.710 herd, Margaret Herd, the original name. And she 00:11:51.710 --> 00:11:55.250 married John Frederick Martin, the grandfather. 00:11:55.690 --> 00:11:59.649 Yeah, they came out here to Australia. But anyway, 00:11:59.809 --> 00:12:04.950 they moved on to Bundan and up the river, which... 00:12:05.399 --> 00:12:08.679 Well, everybody calls it Bundanon, but it's not. 00:12:08.740 --> 00:12:12.419 It's Bundannan. So they always correct that. 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:19.320 They had at least from McKenzie's who owned Bundannan. 00:12:19.799 --> 00:12:22.200 What were they doing there? And what was happening 00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:25.299 at Bundannan? They were a dairy. What sort of 00:12:25.299 --> 00:12:28.019 cows do you know back then? What were they? Oh, 00:12:28.019 --> 00:12:33.299 I think they're just a mixed lot of cows. Probably 00:12:33.299 --> 00:12:36.700 mainly Illawarra's, I'm not sure. Is this before 00:12:36.700 --> 00:12:40.960 your birth? Yes, yes. So you're going off stories 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:44.480 you were told or photos? Mainly, yeah, mainly. 00:12:44.840 --> 00:12:47.919 I can remember a fair bit of the history of what 00:12:47.919 --> 00:12:52.899 Dad used to say because we'd been back to Bundennan 00:12:52.899 --> 00:12:56.320 a few times over the years just to have a look 00:12:56.320 --> 00:12:59.259 at the place. Last time we went up there, it 00:12:59.259 --> 00:13:04.809 was an open day. And that was when Arthur and 00:13:04.809 --> 00:13:08.210 Yvonne Boyd were there. I said to Yvonne that 00:13:08.210 --> 00:13:11.049 day, we got talking to them, had a good yarn 00:13:11.049 --> 00:13:14.750 to them, a lovely couple, down to earth. And 00:13:14.750 --> 00:13:19.909 I said to Yvonne, I said, pronounce the name 00:13:19.909 --> 00:13:23.450 Bundanon now. I said, it should be Bundanon. 00:13:23.450 --> 00:13:28.279 Yes, she says, I agree with you. I was with all 00:13:28.279 --> 00:13:32.299 these schoolteacher yuppies on the board that 00:13:32.299 --> 00:13:37.059 they had changed it. But anyhow... When was that? 00:13:37.220 --> 00:13:40.580 When did you...? They stayed there until 1945. 00:13:41.100 --> 00:13:45.600 I think they came from there to Maroo. At Bundannan, 00:13:45.620 --> 00:13:48.259 how were they dairying and how would they get 00:13:48.259 --> 00:13:51.419 the milk? I think it was mainly milking by hand. 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:54.740 I'm not sure. How do you imagine they would have 00:13:54.740 --> 00:13:58.559 got the milk to...? A depot? Oh, they used to 00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:01.000 take it down to the river and put it on a punt, 00:14:01.139 --> 00:14:04.980 and the punt used to cross the river and connect 00:14:04.980 --> 00:14:08.379 up with it. It must have been a milk carrier. 00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:13.000 Oh. Or in cans those days. I think it was about 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:18.960 1 ,000 acres in it, and it had a big old two 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:22.830 -storey homestead on it, which... Grandfather 00:14:22.830 --> 00:14:27.690 Martin lived in and his wife. Mum and Dad, when 00:14:27.690 --> 00:14:32.730 Dad got married, Mum, she come from down Tilbury 00:14:32.730 --> 00:14:36.529 because Dad worked on a couple of farms earlier 00:14:36.529 --> 00:14:40.190 on down around Tilbury and Cobargo. Do you know 00:14:40.190 --> 00:14:43.330 any of the families, the names? Oh, he worked 00:14:43.330 --> 00:14:48.549 for Vic Tett's farm down at Cobargo, out west 00:14:48.549 --> 00:14:55.120 of Cobargo there. Then he worked on Harry Bates' 00:14:55.299 --> 00:15:02.220 farm. That'd be going back, oh, 1929, 1930s, 00:15:02.220 --> 00:15:07.259 31, 32. Not sure when Dad married Mum. It was 00:15:07.259 --> 00:15:11.139 1929 or... When did your grandfather migrate 00:15:11.139 --> 00:15:14.940 out? Well, they all come together on by ship. 00:15:15.620 --> 00:15:19.080 Took them about six weeks to come out. And how 00:15:19.080 --> 00:15:21.379 old was your father on the passage out here, 00:15:21.460 --> 00:15:25.080 do you know? Might have been only about 25, I 00:15:25.080 --> 00:15:28.559 think, when they left Bundannan. What was the 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:31.580 circumstances around them leaving? Oh, well, 00:15:31.639 --> 00:15:34.480 it was only leased. I suppose once the lease 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:38.620 ran out, they decided to leave it. I think Mum 00:15:38.620 --> 00:15:42.139 and Dad went on to a farm over in Farm Meadow. 00:15:42.340 --> 00:15:46.159 I think they lived next door to Turner's Farm 00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:50.190 in Farm Meadow. for a while. Then they must have 00:15:50.190 --> 00:15:55.889 come here in 1935, I think it was, to Fairview 00:15:55.889 --> 00:16:00.149 Dairy, down on the highway there, just opposite 00:16:00.149 --> 00:16:03.450 Devitt's Lane. Do you know what they would have 00:16:03.450 --> 00:16:07.370 paid for it, or how that came up, or who owned 00:16:07.370 --> 00:16:12.889 it? It belonged to... Tom Hitchcock, I think, 00:16:12.909 --> 00:16:15.230 owned it. But I wouldn't know what they paid 00:16:15.230 --> 00:16:19.230 for it. Don't think Dad ever said he might have. 00:16:19.470 --> 00:16:22.549 We were there next door to the Mullers for about 00:16:22.549 --> 00:16:32.690 35 years. I came along in 1948. So what's your 00:16:32.690 --> 00:16:36.889 full name? John Frederick Martin. And did you 00:16:36.889 --> 00:16:40.649 have brothers and sisters? I got a sister. She's 00:16:40.649 --> 00:16:44.250 older than me. She spent three years on Bundana. 00:16:44.409 --> 00:16:47.309 I think she's about six years older than me. 00:16:47.509 --> 00:16:50.490 Did your father have brothers and sisters? He 00:16:50.490 --> 00:16:55.409 had two brothers. There was Jack Martin and he 00:16:55.409 --> 00:16:58.590 had a dairy farm out on Harley Hill. Then there 00:16:58.590 --> 00:17:02.870 was Lou Martin. He was the youngest. He worked 00:17:02.870 --> 00:17:09.660 for John Darling, the stock feed people. In Sydney. 00:17:09.859 --> 00:17:14.579 Lou Martin and the wife then moved to Foster. 00:17:14.920 --> 00:17:17.099 So you were on higher ground where you were? 00:17:17.160 --> 00:17:20.779 Did you have any flooding where you were? On 00:17:20.779 --> 00:17:25.619 the highway? Down on Fairview. I know we were 00:17:25.619 --> 00:17:30.859 up on a hill there. But it ran down onto a flat. 00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:33.599 It used to flood around the creek a bit, along 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:36.700 the creek, follow the creek down. Did you have 00:17:36.700 --> 00:17:41.630 to build a dairy there? No, the dairy was already 00:17:41.630 --> 00:17:46.349 there, I think, when Dad bought it. Did it have 00:17:46.349 --> 00:17:50.130 silo? No. So what are your first memories of 00:17:50.130 --> 00:17:54.529 the dairy as a little boy? As I grew up on the 00:17:54.529 --> 00:17:58.670 dairy and learnt how to drive tractors and learnt 00:17:58.670 --> 00:18:03.819 how to do most things on the farm. All self -taught. 00:18:03.859 --> 00:18:05.980 Was it a hard life? Was it a hard life for your 00:18:05.980 --> 00:18:07.579 parents to make a dollar? Well, it's what you 00:18:07.579 --> 00:18:12.220 know. I wouldn't say it was a hard life, no. 00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:17.180 What sort of tractors were you driving? I started 00:18:17.180 --> 00:18:22.059 off with a T20 Ferguson tractor and that was 00:18:22.059 --> 00:18:30.180 the first one I learnt to drive on. We used to 00:18:30.180 --> 00:18:37.579 change them about every 10 years or so. We moved 00:18:37.579 --> 00:18:42.140 up to a massive Ferguson 35. Then we moved up 00:18:42.140 --> 00:18:48.019 to a Ford 3000. Then when we got this farm, we 00:18:48.019 --> 00:18:51.160 needed a four -wheel drive tractor and we moved 00:18:51.160 --> 00:18:54.059 up into four -wheel drive tractors and had one 00:18:54.059 --> 00:18:58.390 ever since. Well, we've had... Two or three, 00:18:58.410 --> 00:19:02.230 I think, four -wheel drive tractors over the 00:19:02.230 --> 00:19:06.809 years. Will they make a difference, wouldn't 00:19:06.809 --> 00:19:11.349 they? They're much safer on the hills. You didn't 00:19:11.349 --> 00:19:14.089 really need them down on the flat country, but 00:19:14.089 --> 00:19:17.089 up here you need a four -wheel drive because 00:19:17.089 --> 00:19:21.750 safety -wise on the hill, steep, hilly country. 00:19:22.359 --> 00:19:24.140 Do you know how much milk you were producing 00:19:24.140 --> 00:19:29.059 each day on the Fairview? Going back in the cans 00:19:29.059 --> 00:19:34.619 a day, four or five cans a day or so. And then 00:19:34.619 --> 00:19:37.700 we got the bulk milk come in. I think it was 00:19:37.700 --> 00:19:41.579 a 200 -gallon bulk milk tank. Mum and Dad got 00:19:41.579 --> 00:19:44.759 to retirement age and it was sort of too small 00:19:44.759 --> 00:19:50.730 for one person to run. So we sold... Sold part 00:19:50.730 --> 00:19:56.289 of the dairy farm to Muller's next door. When 00:19:56.289 --> 00:20:02.150 was that? What year? Oh, 79, I think, 1979. We 00:20:02.150 --> 00:20:08.349 started building this house in 1979. It took 00:20:08.349 --> 00:20:13.210 them about 12 months to build it. There was a 00:20:13.210 --> 00:20:19.170 nice old weatherboard home on this. on Sunnyside, 00:20:19.210 --> 00:20:23.390 on this place, and it had got burnt down about 00:20:23.390 --> 00:20:27.329 12 months before we bought it. Do you remember 00:20:27.329 --> 00:20:30.730 pre -mechanisation at all, or were you fully 00:20:30.730 --> 00:20:33.930 mechanised on the farm over at Fairview? Oh, 00:20:33.930 --> 00:20:37.970 I think we were fully mechanised. We had milking 00:20:37.970 --> 00:20:40.470 machines and all that. We didn't have to milk 00:20:40.470 --> 00:20:44.170 by hand. Did you grow crops at all? Mainly a 00:20:44.170 --> 00:20:47.910 bit of oats. Sometimes a paddock and mill it. 00:20:48.250 --> 00:20:51.490 If we worked up the paddocks, ploughed the paddocks 00:20:51.490 --> 00:20:57.589 and that, just for planting grass, ryegrass and 00:20:57.589 --> 00:21:02.490 clover. How did you store it or harvest it? We 00:21:02.490 --> 00:21:07.369 used to make 2 ,000 to 3 ,000 bales of hay every 00:21:07.369 --> 00:21:09.990 year. So is that in the plastic wrap you're saying? 00:21:10.269 --> 00:21:14.690 No. There was none of that about it in those 00:21:14.690 --> 00:21:18.470 days. It just baled up into small squares. We 00:21:18.470 --> 00:21:23.750 used to have to pick it up by hand and cart it 00:21:23.750 --> 00:21:28.490 into a shed and stack it up in the shed. That 00:21:28.490 --> 00:21:33.890 part of it became a bit automated. We had a bale 00:21:33.890 --> 00:21:38.849 stacker on the side of the trailers to pick it 00:21:38.849 --> 00:21:43.839 up in there. Paddy, bale loader, I should say. 00:21:46.579 --> 00:21:49.799 And then we had a bale stacker up in the shed, 00:21:49.859 --> 00:21:53.059 an elevator that put it up high in the shed, 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:58.420 if need be. How did it keep in the shed? Oh, 00:21:58.440 --> 00:22:03.240 it kept very well. It would keep for a few years, 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:07.279 if need be, because it was fully dried, cured 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:11.970 before it was baled. It'd only be there for a 00:22:11.970 --> 00:22:16.289 couple of years at the most and we were using 00:22:16.289 --> 00:22:20.049 it during the wintertime, feed it out. No, we 00:22:20.049 --> 00:22:23.710 didn't have any feed stalls or troughing or anything 00:22:23.710 --> 00:22:28.349 like that, but the cows used to get a bit of 00:22:28.349 --> 00:22:33.789 dairy milk as they were being milked in the bales. 00:22:34.309 --> 00:22:38.250 So you used to bring cows up to Sunnyside? Yeah, 00:22:38.289 --> 00:22:45.890 we bought Sunnyside in 1964, October 1964. Going 00:22:45.890 --> 00:22:50.349 right back in the history of Sunnyside, it was 00:22:50.349 --> 00:22:53.589 originally owned by a William Shepard. William 00:22:53.589 --> 00:22:59.130 Shepard sold it to Albert and Grace Devitt and 00:22:59.130 --> 00:23:05.849 they then sold it on 1963 and they had a daughter, 00:23:05.970 --> 00:23:12.250 Valerie. And Valerie Devitt married Reg Radford. 00:23:12.309 --> 00:23:16.509 They must have bought it. I've got a copy of 00:23:16.509 --> 00:23:22.329 the deeds there. Give all the dates and that. 00:23:22.849 --> 00:23:30.289 How much land is it? It's about 140 acres. I 00:23:30.289 --> 00:23:36.809 think on paper it says 138 acres. It's 55 .97. 00:23:38.740 --> 00:23:43.119 I think it's because they're the last property 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:46.680 on the end of Devitts Lane because there used 00:23:46.680 --> 00:23:51.819 to be a gate just down the hill there. But the 00:23:51.819 --> 00:23:59.740 right of way of Devitts Lane always went up through 00:23:59.740 --> 00:24:04.160 here and up and it joins up with the top end 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:08.160 of Graham's Road. They were in the back of Maroo 00:24:08.160 --> 00:24:14.359 there. But anyway... What were they doing here? 00:24:14.440 --> 00:24:17.200 Do you know anything about...? They were... Devots 00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:20.380 were dairying on it. They used to milk about 00:24:20.380 --> 00:24:25.539 20 or 30 cows, mainly air shears, I think they 00:24:25.539 --> 00:24:32.079 were. And Valerie and Reg Radford, they would 00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:38.690 run in the dairy side of it. Yeah. So really 00:24:38.690 --> 00:24:40.650 there was a lot of land for not a lot of cows. 00:24:41.190 --> 00:24:44.329 Probably didn't have the fertilisers those days 00:24:44.329 --> 00:24:50.430 like we've got now. Used to catch the milk truck 00:24:50.430 --> 00:24:53.730 down at the end of Devitts Lane. So they'd have 00:24:53.730 --> 00:24:56.329 to deliver the cans down there? Yeah, take the 00:24:56.329 --> 00:24:59.910 cans from here down to the end of the lane and 00:24:59.910 --> 00:25:04.430 put them on a truck down there which got taken 00:25:04.430 --> 00:25:07.579 into Bomaderry. Do you know who was carrying 00:25:07.579 --> 00:25:11.900 then? A chap named Bert Mitchell, I think, was 00:25:11.900 --> 00:25:16.480 picking up from Devitt's Lane back through Jesper's 00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:19.960 Brush. The trucker used to pick up our milk from 00:25:19.960 --> 00:25:23.299 the dairy. He'd come right into the dairy and 00:25:23.299 --> 00:25:28.480 pick it up. That was Jack Atfield. He did it 00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:31.460 for quite a few years and then he sold his milk 00:25:31.460 --> 00:25:36.420 run to Bill Schofield. Jack Hatfield died a good 00:25:36.420 --> 00:25:39.680 few years ago, but Bill, I think, is still alive. 00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:44.539 He lives along Maroo Road there. And he used 00:25:44.539 --> 00:25:47.900 to go around all Maroo and up into Bell's Lane 00:25:47.900 --> 00:25:51.240 picking up milk. I think they had about 21 or 00:25:51.240 --> 00:25:55.539 22 suppliers to pick up. This dairy across on 00:25:55.539 --> 00:25:57.900 your property, is that the original dairy they 00:25:57.900 --> 00:26:03.430 would have used? The Devots? Yes. Yes. Did you 00:26:03.430 --> 00:26:07.789 use that? We never ever milked cows on this place. 00:26:07.930 --> 00:26:11.789 We just ran our dry cows and reared our heifers 00:26:11.789 --> 00:26:15.410 on it. What sort of raising then? Oh, we had 00:26:15.410 --> 00:26:19.990 mainly Frisians and Illawarras. Where did you 00:26:19.990 --> 00:26:23.670 source your cows? Oh, Dad used to buy them around 00:26:23.670 --> 00:26:28.329 some of the clearing sales. I think he might 00:26:28.329 --> 00:26:31.109 have bought a couple out of the... Sale yards 00:26:31.109 --> 00:26:33.849 over the years, but not many, I don't think. 00:26:34.890 --> 00:26:39.150 Bred most of them. Had a bull room. We used AI. 00:26:39.509 --> 00:26:42.890 Of course, had contractors going around AI and 00:26:42.890 --> 00:26:46.490 the cows. Did you train yourself in that? No, 00:26:46.490 --> 00:26:49.410 I didn't. So what was your interest? Because 00:26:49.410 --> 00:26:52.690 you've got beef cow on the property now, yeah? 00:26:53.289 --> 00:26:56.930 Yeah, I was more interested in the beef cattle. 00:26:57.210 --> 00:27:00.789 We used to rear a few beef calves on the dairy 00:27:00.789 --> 00:27:04.910 farm and sell them. What type were they? Mainly 00:27:04.910 --> 00:27:08.170 the Hereford type. What was the thinking there 00:27:08.170 --> 00:27:12.470 for you at the time? Well, when Mum and Dad got 00:27:12.470 --> 00:27:18.650 to retiring age, I was more interested to continue 00:27:18.650 --> 00:27:24.279 on with the beef side of it. dairy farm, most 00:27:24.279 --> 00:27:28.759 of it to mowers and then we kept about 30 acres 00:27:28.759 --> 00:27:33.680 on the eastern end of the dairy farm. It didn't 00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:36.599 have any sheds on it but it used to be part of 00:27:36.599 --> 00:27:39.880 Morshall's farm. George and Len Morshall, they 00:27:39.880 --> 00:27:43.720 lived down the bottom end across the railway 00:27:43.720 --> 00:27:47.359 line down Morshall's Lane. What do you remember 00:27:47.359 --> 00:27:49.779 about them? What were they growing and did they 00:27:49.779 --> 00:27:54.420 have cows? They had a small We milked a few cows 00:27:54.420 --> 00:27:57.460 down there. The piece of land that we had on 00:27:57.460 --> 00:28:04.779 the eastern side of Fairview, as I said, it originally 00:28:04.779 --> 00:28:09.099 belonged to, I think it was George Moore Shalone, 00:28:09.359 --> 00:28:11.900 that part of it. I think there must have been 00:28:11.900 --> 00:28:18.480 about 60 acres in the block. And Albert Muller 00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:22.660 bought the bottom end of it. and we bought the 00:28:22.660 --> 00:28:28.920 top end. Morse had sold it to, or people called, 00:28:29.099 --> 00:28:33.559 sold the block that we got, people called Elvin 00:28:33.559 --> 00:28:39.259 bought it. Sam Elvin, I think his name was, and 00:28:39.259 --> 00:28:42.480 he ran beef cattle on it. He had Hereford cows. 00:28:43.000 --> 00:28:47.799 And then we bought it from them in the end, yeah. 00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:55.779 Bought it from Elvin's. That 30 acres. Why would 00:28:55.779 --> 00:28:58.859 they have sold it? Oh, I don't know what their 00:28:58.859 --> 00:29:05.660 excuse was that they sold it. Yeah, I don't think 00:29:05.660 --> 00:29:07.980 they were making much out of the beef cattle. 00:29:08.180 --> 00:29:10.920 Probably a bit too small. They probably sold 00:29:10.920 --> 00:29:13.279 it because they wanted to buy a bigger place 00:29:13.279 --> 00:29:16.559 or retire or something. What cows are here today? 00:29:17.200 --> 00:29:21.339 I've just got the Santa Catrutas now. Tell me 00:29:21.339 --> 00:29:24.599 how you started your journey with them and where 00:29:24.599 --> 00:29:29.859 you got them. When we give up the dairy and we 00:29:29.859 --> 00:29:35.859 had Hereford cattle and for a while up until 00:29:35.859 --> 00:29:41.880 about 1986, Hereford cattle, they didn't really 00:29:41.880 --> 00:29:45.299 have enough milk and weren't big enough in size 00:29:45.299 --> 00:29:50.650 and they used to get eye cancers and that. Always 00:29:50.650 --> 00:29:55.470 had a passion for Santa Catrutas and used to 00:29:55.470 --> 00:29:58.789 go to the King Ranch sales over in Barrow years 00:29:58.789 --> 00:30:03.890 and years ago. That's going back about 50, 60 00:30:03.890 --> 00:30:13.630 years ago. Anyway, in 1986 we started using Berry 00:30:13.630 --> 00:30:17.809 Veterinary Clinic. And they were doing a bit 00:30:17.809 --> 00:30:22.289 of AI work, so they eyed some, I think, about 00:30:22.289 --> 00:30:28.789 13 or 14 cows with Santa Catruta semen. I think 00:30:28.789 --> 00:30:35.349 I got a bit or half a dozen calves out of that. 00:30:37.089 --> 00:30:41.049 And then from then on, we started buying Santa 00:30:41.049 --> 00:30:46.190 Catruta's bulls. I bought my first bulls from 00:30:46.190 --> 00:30:52.750 Jumping Rock Stub in Bundanoon. We must have 00:30:52.750 --> 00:30:58.470 had three bulls we got from Jumping Rock. In 00:30:58.470 --> 00:31:04.369 the first few years, used to deal through F .A. 00:31:04.369 --> 00:31:08.109 Wallace and Sons and Mossfair Stock and Station 00:31:08.109 --> 00:31:12.579 Agency. When we sold cattle and used... When 00:31:12.579 --> 00:31:16.660 we got into the beef, we used to send most of 00:31:16.660 --> 00:31:20.019 them to the Mossvale sales, weekly sales over 00:31:20.019 --> 00:31:22.920 there, and we used to sell through F .A. Wallace. 00:31:23.640 --> 00:31:28.180 We did sell through Nowra sales through A .J. 00:31:28.180 --> 00:31:32.819 Campbell and Sons for quite a few years when 00:31:32.819 --> 00:31:38.220 we were on the dairy. Moved up here and the dairy 00:31:38.220 --> 00:31:42.720 side of it was sold. I mean, I still do send 00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:47.059 most of my cattle to Mossvale. Is it a profitable 00:31:47.059 --> 00:31:50.140 business? I suppose it would go up and down, 00:31:50.279 --> 00:31:54.819 yeah? It pays the bills, that's about it. Yes. 00:31:55.279 --> 00:31:58.420 What do you think of the breed? Oh, they're a 00:31:58.420 --> 00:32:04.259 good breed, fast -growing. I don't try to rear 00:32:04.259 --> 00:32:08.240 velas from the Santa Catrutas. They're not really 00:32:08.240 --> 00:32:13.680 good. For velas, they tend to look magnificent 00:32:13.680 --> 00:32:17.420 for a couple of weeks and then they start growing 00:32:17.420 --> 00:32:21.660 again. But the Santa Catruda cows, they've got 00:32:21.660 --> 00:32:24.740 plenty of milk and they've got the size and bone 00:32:24.740 --> 00:32:28.960 in them. The feedlot buyers, they generally like 00:32:28.960 --> 00:32:33.460 to buy me steers that I sell. So just taking 00:32:33.460 --> 00:32:36.380 you back to when you... Just getting back to 00:32:36.380 --> 00:32:40.390 that point with the... Hereford cattle, so the 00:32:40.390 --> 00:32:42.630 sun was too much for their eyes here, was it? 00:32:43.210 --> 00:32:46.049 Oh, well, I suppose that would be one reason, 00:32:46.170 --> 00:32:50.549 yeah. Well, they'd get grass seed in their eyes 00:32:50.549 --> 00:32:55.190 during the springtime, late spring, and you'd 00:32:55.190 --> 00:32:59.150 have to get the cancers treated in their eyes. 00:32:59.369 --> 00:33:03.589 But I think mainly now they breed Hereford cattle 00:33:03.589 --> 00:33:07.339 that have got a bit of red. pigmentation around 00:33:07.339 --> 00:33:12.420 the eyes and that's got rid of that problem quite 00:33:12.420 --> 00:33:16.160 a bit. Who were the vets you were using back 00:33:16.160 --> 00:33:21.119 in when you were a young man? Oh, we used to 00:33:21.119 --> 00:33:27.160 use vets in Nara. There was one vet called Chisholm. 00:33:27.579 --> 00:33:33.599 Otto Ordo. Otto Ordo. I think his name was. We 00:33:33.599 --> 00:33:36.980 used him for quite a few years. He was a migrant, 00:33:37.079 --> 00:33:42.640 was he? Yes, yeah. He used to... It was when 00:33:42.640 --> 00:33:45.960 we had the dairy farm and still looked after 00:33:45.960 --> 00:33:49.660 us after we'd come up here for a while. All the 00:33:49.660 --> 00:33:54.460 vets then, I don't know, they retired and sold 00:33:54.460 --> 00:33:58.460 their business and the last vet we used in now 00:33:58.460 --> 00:34:02.549 is only a young fella. Switched over to Berry 00:34:02.549 --> 00:34:06.309 Veterinary Clinic. I've been using them since 00:34:06.309 --> 00:34:13.070 1986. It was run by Geoff Scarlett and Geoff 00:34:13.070 --> 00:34:16.949 Manning in those days. Then they sold the business 00:34:16.949 --> 00:34:23.369 to Anthony Bennett. Brydon Krebs, I think his 00:34:23.369 --> 00:34:28.289 name is. Now it's run by Brydon himself, Anthony. 00:34:28.809 --> 00:34:32.730 He passed away and he's got a team of vets there, 00:34:32.889 --> 00:34:38.289 two or three, maybe four lady vets and another 00:34:38.289 --> 00:34:42.199 American, Jordan. What other sort of issues might 00:34:42.199 --> 00:34:44.659 have arisen with your dairy cows back in the 00:34:44.659 --> 00:34:47.780 day, you know, in those earlier years? Was there 00:34:47.780 --> 00:34:50.800 any illnesses or diseases that you had to contend 00:34:50.800 --> 00:34:54.639 with? I think milk fever was the main problem 00:34:54.639 --> 00:34:59.199 with them after they'd carve, freshly carved 00:34:59.199 --> 00:35:02.440 cows, and they'd go down with milk fever and 00:35:02.440 --> 00:35:04.639 you'd have to call the vet. They'd give them 00:35:04.639 --> 00:35:08.869 a dose of, I think it was calcium and that. They'd 00:35:08.869 --> 00:35:11.349 have them up on their feet within five or ten 00:35:11.349 --> 00:35:13.530 minutes. Where did you get your supplies and 00:35:13.530 --> 00:35:18.010 things? Oh, well, now a dairy company. What sort 00:35:18.010 --> 00:35:21.030 of vehicle was your dad driving? Holdens were 00:35:21.030 --> 00:35:27.030 our main vehicles. We didn't have a truck when 00:35:27.030 --> 00:35:31.550 we had the dairy farm. Stuff used to get delivered 00:35:31.550 --> 00:35:35.389 by the milk carrier. He'd pick it up or, like... 00:35:35.820 --> 00:35:41.360 dairy mail and stuff and then as the years went 00:35:41.360 --> 00:35:46.440 on there was a chap called Ken Bryce he started 00:35:46.440 --> 00:35:53.739 off a dairy feed delivery business and he had 00:35:53.739 --> 00:36:02.360 a bulk a bulk truck and used to buy the dairy 00:36:02.360 --> 00:36:06.309 pellets Get them stored on the farm. He used 00:36:06.309 --> 00:36:15.750 to fill a corner walled off in the barn that 00:36:15.750 --> 00:36:21.329 was beside the dairy and he'd fill that with 00:36:21.329 --> 00:36:24.789 the pellets. What were you wanting to do with 00:36:24.789 --> 00:36:28.429 your life? At school, what were you thinking? 00:36:28.960 --> 00:36:31.320 And did you like school? I just worked on the 00:36:31.320 --> 00:36:35.619 farm. I left school when I was 15 and come home 00:36:35.619 --> 00:36:40.239 and just continued on the farm. Over the years, 00:36:40.239 --> 00:36:45.420 I used to do a bit of contracting work with the 00:36:45.420 --> 00:36:53.199 tractor. Mainly, that came later in life. I'd 00:36:53.199 --> 00:36:57.119 go around and do a bit of slashing for people. 00:36:57.599 --> 00:37:03.199 Did a lot of slashing over the years for Ketteringhams 00:37:03.199 --> 00:37:11.599 who'd had a farm down end of Devitts Lane. There 00:37:11.599 --> 00:37:15.940 was a couple of blocks up in Boxers Lane and 00:37:15.940 --> 00:37:19.820 Grahams Road as it's known now. Used to go up 00:37:19.820 --> 00:37:22.739 there to slash a couple of blocks. A couple of 00:37:22.739 --> 00:37:25.280 the neighbours around me here used to get me 00:37:25.280 --> 00:37:28.480 to do a bit of slashing. Pretty high up on that 00:37:28.480 --> 00:37:33.420 Graham's Road, isn't it? Yeah. I don't do any 00:37:33.420 --> 00:37:36.539 of that now, only for one chap that's got five 00:37:36.539 --> 00:37:42.539 acres down the lane there. He's Greek, George. 00:37:43.300 --> 00:37:46.159 He doesn't live on the place down there, but 00:37:46.159 --> 00:37:50.440 he comes down once a week and if he wants a paddock 00:37:50.440 --> 00:37:54.579 slashed, he always gets me to do it. So this 00:37:54.579 --> 00:37:58.269 current herd, this... These bulls you have here 00:37:58.269 --> 00:38:01.230 that are very attractive -looking bulls... They're 00:38:01.230 --> 00:38:06.170 pure Santas. I started crossing them with the 00:38:06.170 --> 00:38:09.809 Herefords. It took about four years to get up 00:38:09.809 --> 00:38:13.889 to the... Four to five years to get up to the 00:38:13.889 --> 00:38:18.130 purebred Santa stage. So you started crossing 00:38:18.130 --> 00:38:21.630 them to begin with? Yes. Why would you do that? 00:38:21.710 --> 00:38:25.789 Tell me about that. They did cross very well 00:38:25.789 --> 00:38:31.320 with that. We had crossbreeds for a few years, 00:38:31.440 --> 00:38:36.760 but gradually worked into that pure Santa. Tell 00:38:36.760 --> 00:38:39.079 me what you know about the breed. How did you 00:38:39.079 --> 00:38:43.300 find out about the breed? Probably just through 00:38:43.300 --> 00:38:48.639 in the land papers, reading about them in the 00:38:48.639 --> 00:38:52.920 land papers, country magazines, because over 00:38:52.920 --> 00:38:57.590 the years you get to know them. different studs 00:38:57.590 --> 00:39:00.670 around. What are some of the studs that you're 00:39:00.670 --> 00:39:04.849 impressed by? King Ranch, because that was a 00:39:04.849 --> 00:39:08.469 bit out of my league a bit, but I was always 00:39:08.469 --> 00:39:12.750 very interested to go and see there. They had 00:39:12.750 --> 00:39:17.610 a bull sale pretty well every year, I think. 00:39:17.869 --> 00:39:22.570 Used to go to their sales, but I never ever bought 00:39:22.570 --> 00:39:29.079 any bulls from them. So it was after 1986. Probably 00:39:29.079 --> 00:39:33.519 the first bull we bought would have been in 87, 00:39:33.599 --> 00:39:40.099 and we bought that from Joyce's, Phil Joyce at 00:39:40.099 --> 00:39:45.000 Bundanoon. Jumping Rock Stud, they used to call 00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:47.980 it. It used to go to their sales too. But then 00:39:47.980 --> 00:39:52.139 to buy our sander bulls, we used to go through... 00:39:52.940 --> 00:39:57.019 Peter Wallace, he was the son of F .A. Wallace. 00:39:57.880 --> 00:40:02.099 Keith Wallace, stock and station agents in Mossville. 00:40:02.780 --> 00:40:06.800 How many beef cattle have you got here? Well, 00:40:06.800 --> 00:40:11.440 there's about, I suppose, counting the calves 00:40:11.440 --> 00:40:13.780 that I've got now, there must be about around 00:40:13.780 --> 00:40:18.280 60, 65 head. It used to be up around the 80 head 00:40:18.280 --> 00:40:22.079 mark, but with the droughts and dry years and 00:40:22.079 --> 00:40:25.869 that. Cut back a bit, keep all the heifers pretty 00:40:25.869 --> 00:40:29.530 well, rear them, and they replace the cows that 00:40:29.530 --> 00:40:32.909 I sell. I generally let the cows go for about 00:40:32.909 --> 00:40:37.309 three carvings, four carvings, and then push 00:40:37.309 --> 00:40:41.590 them off and heifers replace them. When did you 00:40:41.590 --> 00:40:45.130 leave Fairview? You sold that 30 acres or have 00:40:45.130 --> 00:40:48.610 you still got it? No, we sold that. We left Fairview. 00:40:49.309 --> 00:40:54.130 I think it was the beginning of 81 we moved up 00:40:54.130 --> 00:40:58.349 here into this house. So who moved here? Mum 00:40:58.349 --> 00:41:02.849 and Dad and myself. Did you ever marry? No, I've 00:41:02.849 --> 00:41:07.789 never married. Mum passed away in November, 1st 00:41:07.789 --> 00:41:14.070 of November 1994. She was 84 and Dad lived on 00:41:14.070 --> 00:41:22.690 until 2003. 9th of November 2003, Dad passed 00:41:22.690 --> 00:41:28.070 away. How old was he? He was 94, and he was good 00:41:28.070 --> 00:41:31.909 right up until the last... Oh, he just started 00:41:31.909 --> 00:41:35.610 to go downhill in the last three months of his 00:41:35.610 --> 00:41:40.489 life, and he spent the last month in a nursing 00:41:40.489 --> 00:41:43.889 home in Bomaderry, which was fortunate, really. 00:41:44.170 --> 00:41:47.210 What did you do for social life, your family? 00:41:47.739 --> 00:41:51.019 Who did you mix with or where? Not much of a 00:41:51.019 --> 00:41:55.219 social life. Did you go to the hall at all? Yes, 00:41:55.300 --> 00:41:59.239 they used to have dances at the halls. We used 00:41:59.239 --> 00:42:04.699 to be involved in arranging them. Dad was secretary 00:42:04.699 --> 00:42:09.219 of the P &C quite a few years. They used to have 00:42:09.219 --> 00:42:15.019 a Christmas night in the hall every year. And 00:42:15.019 --> 00:42:18.460 Muller's Picnic Days, do you remember them? Yeah, 00:42:18.480 --> 00:42:22.500 Muller's Picnic Days, yeah. That was with the 00:42:22.500 --> 00:42:27.800 Maroo Church, really. Religion's not one of my 00:42:27.800 --> 00:42:32.360 favourite subjects, so I didn't go to Sunday 00:42:32.360 --> 00:42:36.460 school most Sundays and that, but I never, ever 00:42:36.460 --> 00:42:40.800 liked it much. Who was your teacher at Sunday 00:42:40.800 --> 00:42:46.320 school? Pearl Feeney she was. She's Pearl Biggs 00:42:46.320 --> 00:42:50.239 now. What didn't you like about it? Oh, I don't 00:42:50.239 --> 00:42:53.099 know. It just never ever grabbed me, the religion 00:42:53.099 --> 00:42:56.539 side of it. What about your parents? I'm still 00:42:56.539 --> 00:43:00.440 the same. I get the JWs coming in sometimes. 00:43:00.920 --> 00:43:04.980 I said, don't start talking about religion. I'm 00:43:04.980 --> 00:43:08.239 not interested. So what are you interested in? 00:43:08.360 --> 00:43:13.489 Were you a sports person? No, not really. Bit 00:43:13.489 --> 00:43:16.570 of a loner? Yeah, you'd probably say that. Being 00:43:16.570 --> 00:43:22.150 the only boy in the family, just myself and me 00:43:22.150 --> 00:43:26.630 sister, always doing things alone when I was 00:43:26.630 --> 00:43:30.010 a kid, building billy carts and that sort of 00:43:30.010 --> 00:43:34.989 stuff. Do you listen to the radio? Yeah, I still 00:43:34.989 --> 00:43:39.070 listen to the radio now. Television's me main 00:43:39.070 --> 00:43:42.659 entertainment now. What do you like on television? 00:43:43.340 --> 00:43:48.000 Mainly these lifestyle type of shows. Were you 00:43:48.000 --> 00:43:51.199 a member of any club? No. You're a bit like David 00:43:51.199 --> 00:43:54.920 Marshall, aren't you? Yeah, David and I are pretty 00:43:54.920 --> 00:44:00.539 much the same, I think. It's interesting. I find 00:44:00.539 --> 00:44:05.460 it interesting. Yeah. I met David here a couple 00:44:05.460 --> 00:44:11.099 of weeks ago. castrol oil shop along maroo road 00:44:11.099 --> 00:44:15.219 there and i hadn't seen him for oh must be 30 00:44:15.219 --> 00:44:19.300 years seen him and yet he's got a block that 00:44:19.300 --> 00:44:22.519 joins me over the back of the hill back of the 00:44:22.519 --> 00:44:25.820 ridge it runs from my place out to the highway 00:44:25.820 --> 00:44:31.920 there which he still owns and but anyhow we had 00:44:31.920 --> 00:44:34.780 a good yarn there for half an hour or more on 00:44:34.780 --> 00:44:41.079 the steps At the castrol shop. Did you meet Anne? 00:44:41.519 --> 00:44:44.059 Haven't yet, no. I've got to get a photo of Anne. 00:44:44.199 --> 00:44:46.820 That's his sister. She lives beside him. Here 00:44:46.820 --> 00:44:50.159 you are on your 140 acres in Devitts Lane. What 00:44:50.159 --> 00:44:53.539 are some of the key sort of issues you have on 00:44:53.539 --> 00:44:57.000 the farm that you have to manage today? Mainly 00:44:57.000 --> 00:45:00.820 weeds and that. Got to keep the slasher going 00:45:00.820 --> 00:45:04.989 and do a bit of pasture harrowing. A couple of 00:45:04.989 --> 00:45:12.369 times a year, but mainly just looking after the 00:45:12.369 --> 00:45:19.090 pastures now. And some of them, weeds now, there's 00:45:19.090 --> 00:45:26.170 fireweed about and paramedic grass. Older for 00:45:26.170 --> 00:45:30.590 it, you can't keep up as much now. Do you remember 00:45:30.590 --> 00:45:34.860 having to clear land when you were young? No. 00:45:34.940 --> 00:45:37.380 Was it cleared when your family had the property? 00:45:37.659 --> 00:45:41.980 It was already cleared. Over the years down on 00:45:41.980 --> 00:45:46.239 the dairy, we had the tractors and slashes and 00:45:46.239 --> 00:45:51.800 pasture hair and fertilising and ploughing and 00:45:51.800 --> 00:45:59.139 that sort of thing. But up here... You can't 00:45:59.139 --> 00:46:02.519 go out and plough up a paddock or anything because 00:46:02.519 --> 00:46:05.300 you'd be afraid of it getting washed away, of 00:46:05.300 --> 00:46:11.380 a big storm coming. What's the weather like up 00:46:11.380 --> 00:46:14.000 here? Is it a different climate here compared 00:46:14.000 --> 00:46:17.139 to down where you were? Not much difference, 00:46:17.219 --> 00:46:21.159 I don't think. The average rainfall was reckon 00:46:21.159 --> 00:46:25.719 around 52 inches a year. You can get up to... 00:46:26.139 --> 00:46:31.619 to 60, 70, 80 inches in a year. Or you might 00:46:31.619 --> 00:46:37.159 only get about 35, 40 inches in a year. Some 00:46:37.159 --> 00:46:40.760 of the dry years and that we had only got up 00:46:40.760 --> 00:46:44.300 to about 40. I've got records there of all the 00:46:44.300 --> 00:46:49.059 rainfall over the years. You seen any logging 00:46:49.059 --> 00:46:53.719 trails around or butter trails? They used to 00:46:53.719 --> 00:46:57.960 get cedar logs out years and years ago across 00:46:57.960 --> 00:47:02.420 the mountain here. Because I can remember there 00:47:02.420 --> 00:47:06.579 used to be a lump of wire rope laying on the 00:47:06.579 --> 00:47:09.619 ground up the top end of my farm there for years 00:47:09.619 --> 00:47:16.880 and years. But that's gone back way before our 00:47:16.880 --> 00:47:19.519 day. We're looking at the creek here behind your 00:47:19.519 --> 00:47:22.300 property on Devitts. Just describe what happened. 00:47:22.880 --> 00:47:28.260 with this rock? Oh, this rock, as you can see 00:47:28.260 --> 00:47:32.880 in the creek, it got piled up with the rainbomb 00:47:32.880 --> 00:47:37.719 we had in March 2024. There must be at least 00:47:37.719 --> 00:47:40.920 a million tonnes of rock piled up down through 00:47:40.920 --> 00:47:44.780 my place here. Fortunately, it didn't do any 00:47:44.780 --> 00:47:48.800 damage to me. Water supply, I've still got it. 00:47:49.539 --> 00:47:53.960 It's a... A pipeline that's been there for 100 00:47:53.960 --> 00:47:57.300 years and it's fully licensed. And where's that 00:47:57.300 --> 00:48:02.260 based? It's just gravity fed. It comes out of 00:48:02.260 --> 00:48:07.320 the creek way up above my place there. A waterhole 00:48:07.320 --> 00:48:12.019 you were saying. Yes. Unbelievable. It comes 00:48:12.019 --> 00:48:16.800 across. It used to go right across to Duncan's 00:48:16.800 --> 00:48:20.519 property next door to the Maroos School. But 00:48:20.519 --> 00:48:24.059 now it only goes through my place and into one 00:48:24.059 --> 00:48:28.900 neighbour. The rest of it, they use town water 00:48:28.900 --> 00:48:33.699 supply. But you're not supplied by town? No, 00:48:33.760 --> 00:48:38.260 got no town water here. So it's gravity fed, 00:48:38.460 --> 00:48:43.159 about an inch and a half pipe to start with, 00:48:43.219 --> 00:48:46.300 and then it goes down to one inch. It used to 00:48:46.300 --> 00:48:50.900 be all galvanised steel, but now it's all polypipe. 00:48:51.539 --> 00:48:56.000 Oh, well, it's underground, so it depends if 00:48:56.000 --> 00:48:58.820 it's near a coral tree or something. The coral 00:48:58.820 --> 00:49:03.559 tree roots mangle it up sometimes. You've got 00:49:03.559 --> 00:49:08.239 a lot of coral trees on your property. Yeah, 00:49:08.340 --> 00:49:12.280 there's quite a few I've planted over the years. 00:49:13.070 --> 00:49:15.989 For your cows? Not anymore now. I don't plant 00:49:15.989 --> 00:49:20.650 them anymore. So they're eucalyptus trees? Yes. 00:49:21.429 --> 00:49:23.710 They're called woolly butt because they've got 00:49:23.710 --> 00:49:26.590 a bit of rough bark around the butt end of them. 00:49:27.369 --> 00:49:30.869 And you've still got cedar here? Oh yes, there's 00:49:30.869 --> 00:49:34.809 still a lot of cedar on the farm. They just couldn't 00:49:34.809 --> 00:49:42.090 get to it at the time? No, you need a bulldozer 00:49:42.090 --> 00:49:47.710 and that. with a winch on it. But the really 00:49:47.710 --> 00:49:50.929 good cedar trees are right up in the mountain. 00:49:51.469 --> 00:49:59.030 You can't touch them now. They protect it. Excuse 00:49:59.030 --> 00:50:02.670 me, John. I just have to take this call. It's 00:50:02.670 --> 00:50:09.489 Ray Strong. Yes, Ray. I'm just in the middle 00:50:09.489 --> 00:50:14.690 of a recording at the moment. Hi, Therese. Listen, 00:50:14.769 --> 00:50:16.650 I'm wondering where your podcast is going to 00:50:16.650 --> 00:50:19.409 get into Jasper's Brush. You did a lot of our 00:50:19.409 --> 00:50:21.989 recording some time ago and we're still waiting. 00:50:23.250 --> 00:50:26.989 Oh, yes. Look, sorry, Ray, I'm still in Maroo 00:50:26.989 --> 00:50:29.829 Meadow and I've just found someone in Fletcher's 00:50:29.829 --> 00:50:32.969 Lane and I've got to speak to a refrigeration 00:50:32.969 --> 00:50:36.309 guy whose dad ran the milk factory at Bomaderry. 00:50:36.369 --> 00:50:39.650 So I'm trying to get to Jasper's Brush. I won't 00:50:39.650 --> 00:50:42.670 be long. Something else I missed telling you 00:50:42.670 --> 00:50:46.269 while we were speaking ages ago. I've forgotten 00:50:46.269 --> 00:50:49.570 to mention I used to run the bar. I had the liquor 00:50:49.570 --> 00:50:51.909 licence at the very show. When was this, Ray? 00:50:52.429 --> 00:50:54.929 It was back in the 80s and the 90s. And was that 00:50:54.929 --> 00:51:00.349 a fundraiser? Yes, we run it on behalf of the 00:51:00.349 --> 00:51:03.210 Berry Rugby League Football Club. Can you share 00:51:03.210 --> 00:51:06.110 a story with me, Ray? I hear it might have been 00:51:06.110 --> 00:51:09.380 a bit wild back then. Well, I don't know about 00:51:09.380 --> 00:51:12.719 while, but it was pretty busy. Everybody appeared 00:51:12.719 --> 00:51:15.019 to be pretty thirsty on both days, Friday and 00:51:15.019 --> 00:51:17.300 Saturday, when we run the bar. Can you tell me 00:51:17.300 --> 00:51:20.059 a story, Ray? Just one. There were probably a 00:51:20.059 --> 00:51:22.079 few, but there's a lot I can't tell you. Anyway, 00:51:22.139 --> 00:51:25.420 this particular one, because I was a licensee, 00:51:25.420 --> 00:51:28.960 the local constabulary used to want to keep a 00:51:28.960 --> 00:51:32.519 check on us from time to time. And we had a pretty 00:51:32.519 --> 00:51:37.340 good sergeant in town at that stage. He was great 00:51:37.340 --> 00:51:40.460 for the community. Anyway, he'd come round on 00:51:40.460 --> 00:51:44.460 the Saturday night, which was our busiest time, 00:51:44.699 --> 00:51:47.699 and check when we were going to close the bar 00:51:47.699 --> 00:51:49.920 and I'd tell him the time. He said, OK, well, 00:51:50.019 --> 00:51:52.539 I'll come in in the vehicle and I'll do the rounds. 00:51:53.079 --> 00:51:55.820 He said, you be loaded up with the rest of the 00:51:55.820 --> 00:51:58.659 gear out of this joint with whatever money you've 00:51:58.659 --> 00:52:01.880 got in your vehicle and tuck in behind me and 00:52:01.880 --> 00:52:03.659 we'll both drive out of the showground together, 00:52:03.860 --> 00:52:07.210 which we did. Heading towards town and Alexandra 00:52:07.210 --> 00:52:11.010 Street, we got up to the School of Arts and the 00:52:11.010 --> 00:52:14.110 sergeant in his vehicle, he pulled into the kerb 00:52:14.110 --> 00:52:16.630 ahead of me. So I thought I'd better do the same, 00:52:16.750 --> 00:52:18.849 which I did. He got out of the vehicle and he 00:52:18.849 --> 00:52:21.309 came back to me. He said, we'll have to wait 00:52:21.309 --> 00:52:25.170 a little while because there's a radar unit set 00:52:25.170 --> 00:52:27.690 up in the main street here. So I've got to move 00:52:27.690 --> 00:52:32.090 him before we can move on, which happened. That 00:52:32.090 --> 00:52:34.750 was all very good and we proceeded back home 00:52:34.750 --> 00:52:37.610 to my joint. So the chaperone had to clear the 00:52:37.610 --> 00:52:41.510 booze bus type thing? Pretty much, yes. So it's 00:52:41.510 --> 00:52:44.030 not all ginger beer and Jesus then here in Berry, 00:52:44.190 --> 00:52:47.409 is it? Listen, I've got to get going, Ray. I'll 00:52:47.409 --> 00:52:50.050 be in touch. I'm sorry it's taking a bit, but, 00:52:50.050 --> 00:52:52.809 you know, we've got to be thorough here in Maroo 00:52:52.809 --> 00:52:56.449 and Jaspers will get a good spread too. Yeah, 00:52:56.469 --> 00:53:00.389 looking forward to it, Therese. Sorry, John. 00:53:02.029 --> 00:53:05.170 Ray's a bit high maintenance. He's very passionate 00:53:05.170 --> 00:53:07.670 about Jasper's Brush, getting its history done. 00:53:08.329 --> 00:53:10.570 And he's been on my back about it. Well, I did 00:53:10.570 --> 00:53:13.610 his recording in November. Do you know he drove 00:53:13.610 --> 00:53:17.090 racing cars? Anyway, I'll get back. We'd better 00:53:17.090 --> 00:53:19.550 get back. Where were we? Do you want to go for 00:53:19.550 --> 00:53:21.389 a walk to this dairy? I want to have a look at 00:53:21.389 --> 00:53:26.269 it. Thanks, John. I'll put some images up on 00:53:26.269 --> 00:53:31.880 my website that reflect today. The dairy. the 00:53:31.880 --> 00:53:35.840 cows, the creek with a million tons of rock, 00:53:36.000 --> 00:53:40.820 and some of the flora around that creek. In coming 00:53:40.820 --> 00:53:43.380 weeks, we'll hear more about the Devitt family, 00:53:43.599 --> 00:53:47.300 but where they're positioned in Jasper's Brush 00:53:47.300 --> 00:53:52.320 with brother Adam Andrew Devitt and his descendants. 00:53:52.579 --> 00:53:56.400 But I'll save that until then. That brings us 00:53:56.400 --> 00:54:01.690 to the end of the recording. that I have initiated 00:54:01.690 --> 00:54:07.329 receives no government funding. A donate button 00:54:07.329 --> 00:54:12.230 has been activated at my host podcast site rss 00:54:12.230 --> 00:54:16.750 .com. Simply google the Dairy Lane Project should 00:54:16.750 --> 00:54:20.489 you want to listen. All my podcasts will be hosted 00:54:20.489 --> 00:54:24.469 on my own website as well. This project is my 00:54:24.469 --> 00:54:28.889 initiative and my digital investment in the region. 00:54:29.849 --> 00:54:34.610 laying foundations for future generations. At 00:54:34.610 --> 00:54:38.289 its completion, it will be archived at Nowra 00:54:38.289 --> 00:54:42.630 Library through their networks. I also offer 00:54:42.630 --> 00:54:46.329 my services to the wider community. Have a look 00:54:46.329 --> 00:54:50.230 at my business section at my website, theresesweeney 00:54:50.230 --> 00:54:54.329 .com .au. Feel free to get in touch with me. 00:54:55.309 --> 00:54:58.090 Thanks for listening. Join me in a few weeks 00:54:58.090 --> 00:54:59.510 for episode six.