Welcome to Therese Makes History, Season 1 The
Dairy Lane Project. Season 1, Episode 8, Turner's
Lane, The Walsh Family. This episode and Season
1 has been supported by Turf Co. and McGoldrick's
Real Estate. Gavin Rogers initiated and started
Turf Co. 40 years ago. It's the biggest agricultural
employer in our region. Tim's family have been
operating their real estate business since 1987
in Bury. They offer many lifestyle properties,
beautiful homes and farms located in our region.
And I'm really grateful to Tim for coming on
board and supporting this great project. We're
getting so much feedback and we're well over
2 ,000 downloads. At episode 8, we might generate
some more, let's hope. Today I'm in conversation
with Colin Walsh, known as Cole or Walshy. He
was born in Nowra in 1959. His family have been
dairy farming in Turner's Lane since the late
50s. Colin's father was Francis Peter Walsh,
who was born in 1915 in Nowra. His mother was
Jean Margaret Bryce. born in 1921 at Bury Hospital.
Colin's paternal side dates back five generations,
beginning in Cork, Ireland, where on the 29th
of October, 1824, John Walsh, an Irish Catholic
convict, was put on the ship Asia IV, allotted
to labour for Alexander Bury. His father -in
-law was Michael O'Meara. or O'Mara, another
Irish Catholic convict who worked for Alexander
Berry on his estate looking after cows on the
meadow. Both worked for Berry for three years.
John Walsh married Michael's daughter Catherine
and they had three children and a baby when he
died of an alcohol -related injury. His horse
returned home without him after a visit to the
tavern nearby at Jamboree. During this period
working for Alexander Berry, the convicts complained
of lack of food. Michael O'Mara, or O'Meara,
was sent back to prison in Sydney. His daughter
Catherine sought a priest in Sydney to negotiate
his release back to Berry under her guardianship,
which was arranged. John's son Peter Walsh was
born in 1852 and married Julia O'Sullivan. from
Albion Park, Gerringong Way. Peter is Colin's
great -grandfather and he died in 1926. His son
Thomas, Colin's grandfather, was born in 1885
and he married Mary Stewart. The maternal side,
the Bryce family, migrated from Scotland to the
Illawarra in 1852. They were Presbyterians. William
Bryce and his brother Alexander brought their
new brides with assistance from their uncle Russell
at Jamboree. Their sister Anne also came out
settling in Tomarong. Colin's maternal grandfather
was Edward James Bryce, born 1896 in Tomarong.
He married Dolyce Dignam in 1922. She actually
carried some Chinese heritage. in her genes.
Known as Dolly, she passed away at age 39 in
1935 with a fever from childbirth. He was left
to raise four children, assisted by his elder
daughter Jean, who was 15 years of age, Colin's
mother. They were living at Far Meadow then.
Edward remarried Nora Turner. Her full name was
Hannah Nora Turner. who the children referred
to as Aunty because she was a bit younger than
Edward. I present to you Episode 8 in conversation
with Colin Walsh. I hope you enjoy it. So, Col,
thanks for coming in today and talking all things
dairy with me for the podcast. You come from
a generational family of dairy farmers. Who were
the original family members that dairy farmed
and where did they dairy farm? Well, my father
was born up at Kangaroo River, up during Yonge
Creek Road, like Kangaroo Valley. And he farmed
there. He went to school up at Kangaroo River.
And when he was 12, he left school because he
was the eldest in the family of seven. Started
on the farm when he was 12, chopping trees down
and that sort of thing. So what was his full
name? Francis Peter Walsh, known as Frank, of
course. your parents let's just take that back
a bit so he was farming on his father's property
yeah up at King River yeah so Tom's family yeah
Tom Walsh yeah do you recall how large that property
might have been oh look it wouldn't have been
a big property was up in the up in the back blocks
probably 160 acres which was probably relatively
big for that at times was he part of that original
you know when the berries passed away and they
started selling yeah they would have been the
family owned the property for quite a long time
We, our family, Frank, that is, was the last
member of the family to use it. His brother B
dairied it until he moved to Sydney and then
we sort of took over running it. And we had dry
stock up there. Because there's a bit of land
everywhere here with your family. So Tom's father
would have been... Well, I don't know. See, it's
gone back a generation past my knowledge. So
we're going back four generations now. Yeah.
Which is about right. Yeah. Okay, so... Your
father started his journey at Kangaroo Valley.
Yes, that's right, yeah. So let's talk about
him. So what do you recall? How long was he there
and do you know anything about the dairy farm
itself? Well, it would have been a small farm
and they would have probably just had cream,
like they would have had pigs. Most people just
sold the butterfat, the cream and that sort of
thing and the milk went to the pigs, the leftovers,
the whey. They would have made butter and taken
it into town. It would have been a co -op in
Kangaroo Valley, I imagine, where they went by
horse and cart. Yeah, so it was pre -mechanisation.
Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah. All I know is at Camden
Park they had Suffolk Punches. Right. As a type
of horse. And I've seen some photographs down
here. They look a bit similar, but maybe... Do
you know what sort of draft horses they might
have been? No, I don't really know. Although
they crossed the creek to Geringon Creek to go
into Kingaroo Valley via the shortcut, they don't
go via the road, so they always took the shortest
route. So you said Geringon Creek? Yeah, that's
Geringon Creek, that's right. Yes. Can you imagine
what it might have been like to bring that butter
to... Oh, it would have been... On the slides,
on the slides. That's right, yeah, and drays
and things like that. It would have been a mammoth
job. I don't know, whatever it would have been
done once a week. Because they wouldn't have
had a lot of cows then. No, no, no, no, no. Like
it was just, look, this country is bush. If you'd
been up there, like it was all bush. Like it
went back to the sandstone cliffs, which is part
of the National Park now. So it would have been
about 170 acres, which I would have said when
I was there, half it would have been cleared.
The netting was to keep the rabbits out from
eating the grass. they used to grow and that
sort of thing. Okay, let's just slow that down.
So the netted paddock, what do they do there?
Oh, it was just a big paddock. It was a flat
area. So up at Kangaroo Valley, it's very hilly.
So any land that was flat and easy to farm, like
cultivate and do whatever, so they probably tried
to grow most of their pasture there. And they
probably tried to keep the cattle in that area
to try and control them. And the net was just
to keep the kangaroos and wallabies. And there
were all sorts of wildlife out of it, so they
could probably graze their cattle there. So they
didn't eat all the grass? Yeah, yeah. They must
have had a bit of wildlife up there. Oh, yeah,
they would have, yeah, yeah. Rabbit plagues,
perhaps? Rabbit plagues, of course, yeah. That's
probably what the net was in, hares and things
like that, yeah. Did you ever remember rabbiting
yourself? Oh, not myself, no. Well, I suppose
we did. We used to set traps. That was at the
home farm where we are now. Yes. We used to have
lots of rabbit burrows, so we'd set traps and
go out rabbiting. Yeah, that was interesting.
So let's just clarify again, your dad's name?
Francis Peter Walsh. And who did he marry? Jean
Margaret Bryce. Okay, so Bryce's Lane. Yeah,
that's been named after my mum's family because
Uncle Jim, that's her brother, Jim Bryce, he
donated the land to the Shalabanshire Council
because the only access to Farm Meadow used to
be via Swamp Road. which used to regularly get
flooded. So he had a lot of land up on the high
ground. How much land? Well, he would have had
probably... And we're talking about Koolangatta.
Yeah, this is Koolangatta, yeah, Koolangatta
Mountain. Keep up with this, folks. I try to.
It's hard, you know, you've got to... Yeah, well,
that's true. But most of the families married
locals and they met at dances or, you know, bands,
you know, band dances they used to have. So your
dad... How long was he up in Kangaroo Valley?
Well, probably until his 20s, I'd say. And then
when he met Mum, he moved and worked on their
property at Far Meadow on Bryce's Road. So your
father was schooled at... Upper Kangaroo River
School. It's not there now. There's no building
there now. There's only remains of it. Describe
what you know about the school he went to, your
dad. I don't know a lot, but it was just a small
school, small building, all ride horses to school.
That being the oldest, I suppose he led the way.
What about the dance hall there? Oh, Upper Kangaroo
River, yes. Well... Which was part of the community.
Yeah. It was the school, church. Yeah, there
was a church further down the road, actually,
yeah. The Walshes were Catholics, of course.
Yes, so... Irish Catholics. Which was a bit different,
wasn't it? Yeah, it was, yeah. Because there
was a lot... There wasn't the original migration.
I'd forgotten about it, but there was a church
there, and Bruce Cobb bought the land. The road
was changed, and so it used to go on one side
of the church, then it went on the other side
of the church. How big a road this is, so...
So I'm just not sure which religion. the church
belonged to. Where would your father have met
your mother? Oh, look at a dance. I'm not sure
which one. So they used to go, you know, Tomrong,
Upper Kangaroo River, Far Meadow. My mum had
her 21st birthday at the Koolangatta village.
So before it was sort of fell into ruins and
then the bishops came along and did it up again.
But she always tells me about her 21st birthday
being at Koolangatta village. So when you talk
about the bishops doing Koolangatta, the village
up, you mean bishops' family? Yeah, bishops'
family, yeah. Colt Bishop and his family. And
when was that restored? But it was around the
70s they did it up again. And who were the bishops?
They paid for it, did they? Yeah, well, they
were just the family that owned it. I think they've
owned it since they got it granted to them from
the Berries, I imagine. So your dad moved...
From Kangaroo Valley, who were some of his siblings?
Oh, well, it was B, his brother. He dairied.
Like, Dad moved away. He moved over to Farmetta
and worked on the family farm over there for
the Bryces. When Uncle Jim went to the war, he
was an Air Force pilot. There's Bede. Bede Walsh,
yeah. And then there's Sheila Walsh, Mick Walsh,
Vonnie Walsh, who he was then, Veronica. That's
Vonnie Muller, who reached 100 the other day.
Had a birthday party. She's the last surviving
member of that seven children there. So then
there was Tom and Ted. They were twins. So that's
your father's family, the Walsh's. Yeah. And
he married... A Bryce. A Bryce. From Farmetta.
And beed, stayed and dairy farmed. For a while
until he moved to Sydney. And what era are we
talking about there? Oh, it would have been in
the 40s. So when Jim went to war. Did he live?
Yes, he did. Yes, he came back to the farm. And
because he was the oldest son, that's when Mum
and Dad decided to move to Jasper's Brush to
farm there in 1958. They moved to Turner's Lane,
where we are currently farming now. Were there
dairy cows when he went to Bryce's? Oh, yeah,
they were farming there. They had a dairy farm
going. That's Ned, not my mum's. father, he was
farming there and they'd been farming for years
there. I think originally they came from Tomarrong
to, a lot of brides at Tomarrong came to Farm
Meadow. How many cows do you know who was milking?
Oh, probably 60, you know, like, I know when
we milked, the last time we milked in Kangaroo
Valley, our family milked about 30. And so we
must have been just starting up at Jasper's Brush
because he gave us some of his cows when he's
finished deering at Kangaroo Valley, up at Kangaroo
River. he left his cows and some of his machinery
at our farm. So when he went to Sydney. So that
would have been after about 1960, something like
that. So getting back to the 40s, what sort of
cows were... Oh, Ayrshears. The Bryces were famous
for their Ayrshears. Most people with a Scottish
background, like Bryce, obviously, milked Ayrshears.
And like some people milked Jersey. See, what
everyone milks now, the Holstein, Friesian. was
virtually non -existent back in the 40s, you
know, like, so most people built jerseys, air
shears, you know, coming from whatever came over
on the first fleet, sort of thing, like, you
know. But then you bred, there was a breed invented
in perhaps January. Well, that's correct, which
my, the youngest vultures, Tom and Ted, were
famous breeders of the Australian Laura Shorthorn,
AIS as they were known then. Why were they famous?
Oh, well, they used to show cattle, like, so
they were out at Farm Meadow as well. Like just
down the road from where Dad was, they bought
a property there. Do you know how many acres
that was? Oh, it'd be 150, say. And they farmed
there, not far from the Bryce's farm out at Farm
Meadow. And they then moved to Jamboree and they
became stud breeders of Australian Illawarra
shorthorns. They were one of the most famous
Illawarra breeders in Australia back then. So
these are the twins? The twins, yeah. They farmed
together all their life. They farmed together
at Far Meadow and then they moved up to Jamboree.
Do you know much about how that breeding came
to be? Well, I guess the cattle were a cross
between the dairy shorthorn. They were instrumental
in this breed? Yeah, oh, very much so in the
early stages. They used to go to shows and show
at Kiama, which was the biggest illawarra. They've
since become known as Illawarra's. They used
to be AIS, Australian Illawarra's Shorthall,
and they shortened the name to Illawarra's. So
they used to be very big, and they'd go to Sydney
at the old showgrounds every year for the Royal
Easter show. And do you have any memorabilia
from those periods of time? I do have some, not
a lot. We weren't into stud cattle, our family,
but they certainly were. Yes. And stud registers
and things. Yeah, we've got some books at home,
original stud books. People were coming to look
at the cows from around the country perhaps?
Yeah, definitely. They were selling them? Definitely.
And there was a strong association with America
as well because Tom Walsh in particular used
to judge at an e -judge in America at different
shows over there. And there used to be... A fair
bit of interest, they called them, in America
they had what they called milking shorthorns.
And so they wanted to get a bit more milk into
the cattle, and so they were using genetics from
Australia. So they were very keen on the Australian
Illawarra shorthorns, or Illawarra. And they
imported a lot of semen back over to America
from Australia. to try and get more milk production
into what they call their dairy shorthorns. And
they also come from England as well, shorthorn
cattle obviously, were originally come from England.
And those cows would have been, as he sold cows,
as he sold calves, they would have been exported
around the country on the trains? Oh yeah, all
around Australia. Tom and Ted would have been,
Meadowhaven was their stud name, and it was a
very famous stud. And they would have sold cattle
to all states of Australia over the years. That
would have been quite an operation before transport.
Yeah, it would have been, yeah. On the road.
Yeah, that's right. So cattle transport evolved
over time, you know, just like everything. What
about the railways? So Kiama Railway would have
been? Well, in the old days of the droughts,
we used to buy hay. which used to come on the
railway, and the hay bales were tied up with
wire. So I always remember in one of the biggest
droughts, would have been probably late 60s,
70s, something like that, we bought hay, and
it used to come down on the rail trains, on the
carriages, flat tops. We had to go in and pick
it up on loads on the trucks, and I remember
going in there. and trying to grab the bales
and they were wired, like a type of wire. I'd
never seen or heard of anything like that before.
So to load it on the trucks to bring it back
out. So obviously that must have been the cheapest
or easiest way to bring the hay down when we
didn't have big B -doubles and semi -trailers
like we do today. Do you recall any injuries
with that wire? No, mostly he had the pliers,
of course, you know, like had the pliers to cut
them. And the old bales used to be tied up with
what they called sisal. And then they went on
to polypropylene. But you needed pliers to cut
the wire. What was sisal made of? Oh, I don't
know. It was just a sort of a rope, fine sort
of a rope. And it was a bit thicker and strandier.
What were the size of the bales? Oh, they used
to be fairly big in those days. Like, you know,
probably three foot long sort of thing. And probably
up to 50 kilos, some of the bales. So, yeah.
Well, like, tell me about the dairy. Well, the
dairy industry is sort of like pre -bulk fats.
Like, everyone used to milk, like, well, originally
everyone used to make butter and separate it.
But then there was a Sydney liquid milk market.
And so people used to sell fresh milk then and
produce fresh milk and put it in cans and it'd
go to the local factory. And then the local factory
in Wombatary used to put it into railway tankers.
And then they'd send that to Sydney for the growing
fresh milk market in Sydney. that's where milk
quotas come in. Like, there was always a fear
of there being a shortage of milk. So those people
close to Sydney, and Nara was included in that
area, and Bega wasn't. So anyhow, all the areas
close to Sydney, like Taree, you know, Richmond,
you know, those sort of areas, Camden, of course,
and the Shoalhaven, they got what were called
milk quotas. I'm not sure whether you were allocated
a milk quota or you had to apply for it. And
that was very similar to the time when bulk milk
tankers come in. So that was a big changeover
from milk cans to bulk milk tanks on farm. And
then a milk tanker came and picked the milk up.
So a lot of people didn't. Bulk milk tanks were
expensive. And a lot of people didn't change
over from the milk cans. You've probably heard
this before. It would have been the end of the
60s probably where milk cans went out. You couldn't
supply the Sydney liquid milk market unless you
had a bulk milk fat. So, you know, cans were
redundant. And a lot of people didn't swap over
their farms from milk cans to bulk milk tanks.
How expensive was that transition? Well, I'm
not sure if you had to buy a quota or not, or
was it allocated? Like, whether you had to buy
a bulk milk tank and buy a quota at the same
time, I think quotas were traded. So whether
a lot of farmers thought it wasn't worth the
expense, What do you remember about those twins,
who are your uncles? Uncles, yeah. And when did
they pass? Oh, well, one passed in his 70s, so
that would be 20 years ago. Tom, that was Ted
passed first, then Tom passed last, which would
only be five or six years ago. So he was in his
90s. Did they ever marry? Ted married? And Ellen,
but they never had any children. And Tom married
Shirley, who was a local girl for you from now,
right? Do you have any last names, sorry? Oh,
well, Shirley was a Knox, I think, and Ellen
was a Rain from around Geringong way, a lot of
their relations. From your interaction with them?
Oh, just great characters, well -known in the,
you know, most of the Walsh's were known for
their drinking. And their ability to spin a yarn.
But they used to frequent the Jamboree pub a
fair bit. I mean, Ted more than he should have.
So that's the Irish Catholics we're talking about.
Yeah, that's right. Actually, one of the rumours,
one of the stories, I don't know if this is true,
is that how the Walshers got some of their money
to buy the land up at Kingaroo River was that
they used to run a still up in the bush. But
I don't know anything about that. That's the
only thing. I've got no idea if that's true or
not true. Well, that was the sort of thing that
was not uncommon. No, that's right. You know,
you're up in the back blocks and you could, you
know, whether they use potatoes or whatever to
brew up something. Did you ever see a slide yourself
or the driver? Oh, yeah, we used to have one.
Yeah, we used to have one on the farm. We had
a slide, which we used to grow corn. And, of
course, you cut the corn by hand, you know. The
new generation would faint at what we used to
do, cut the cane knives and corn cutters and
used to go and cut the corn and put it on the
slide and then take it back to the silo where
you had a chaff cutter and then feed the corn
by hand into the chaff cutter. Hence that's why
some farmers lost their fingers, you know, like
if you got caught on the corn. So who supplied
you with the equipment? The cane cutters, I suppose.
There would have been a produce store in Berry
or Nowra, which, you know, you would have...
In the old days, like the co -ops where you send
the milk, they used to have a produce store and
you'd buy feed there and you'd get equipment
from there. So you're on the dairy farm growing
up in Jaspers Brush. Yeah, that's right. So 58,
Mum and Dad moved to Jaspers Brush from Farm
Meadow. And I was born in 59, so I've actually
been there all my life. I'm 65 now, so... You're
only young. Yeah, that's right. So what are your
first memories of dairying? Well, we used to
have a little walk -through dairy, which we only
used to have three double -up bales, so you could
only milk at maximum six at a time. And I used
to get over there and milk when I was a youngster.
Did they have their legs tied up or anything?
Yeah, we used to have a leg rope or a chain with
a hook on the end of it, which we used to put
on their legs just to pull their leg back so
it made it easy to get the milking machines on.
How many cows? Oh, look, well, probably 60, 60
cows. What breed? Oh, they would have been a
mixture. They would have been some of the ones
that Uncle Dee gave us from Upper Kangaroo River
when he finished. So they would have been a mixture
of some early Friesians. and Guernseys and Ayrshires.
There would have been a lot of Ayrshires. There
was a lot of Ayrshires around those days. They
would have been just called crossbreeds, I suppose,
a mixture of all those different breeds that
were around. Did they have horns? They would
have. The Ayrshires would have had horns, but
most people started cutting them off because
it was too dangerous, obviously. Did you remember
having the cows cutting their horns off? Oh,
yeah. We used to dehorn the cattle. Tell me how
that works. Well, it depends. So when I was around
10, back would have been in 1970, we used to
put a paste on the calves' horns to get rid of
their horns. But if they didn't, if they weren't
taken off as calves, you had to do them as heifers
and you'd just use the big de -horners which
you'd put on them, which was a bit bloodthirsty.
These days you have to give them anaesthetic
if you want to de -aunt cattle, adult cattle,
and even young cattle, I believe. In the old
days there was no anaesthetic. You always did
it in the wintertime when the flies weren't around.
So describe how it looked, the dairy. So you're
dairying, you've got a walk -through. Yeah, a
walk -through. So it was just a simple set -up
where some of them had some feeders in them where
the cattle would eat a bit of... crushed barley
or crushed wheat or grain or oats whatever did
you have a hay shed well we did yeah it got burnt
down the hay shed didn't not long after we um
moved there so my brother peter was playing with
matches when he was four so that would have been
about 1964 and the um and the hay shed got burnt
down but the tractor didn't get burnt so yeah
but anyhow we did have a hay shed yeah so i used
to store a bit of hay in there it was beside
the silo where we You used to put the grain if
you put the corn. So tell me how that worked
as a kid. How big was it, one silo? Yeah, just
one concrete silo. Actually, my father, when
he was young, I was only told, found out this
recently, used to go around with one of the Brennans
or Abernathys and build concrete silos as a job
for earning extra income. Because, you know,
there's a lot of concrete silos around the district
still, so they're obviously well constructed.
Do you recall seeing a lot of... The silos in
the landscape? Oh yeah, everywhere. And they
used to be used too. I remember using the silos.
So you'd have a chaff cutter, and if you didn't
have a chaff cutter, this was coming about the
80s or the end of the 70s, there was machinery
then, corn harvesters, which used to chop the
corn up and then you'd blow it into the silo.
But as it was blown in, you had to get in the
silo and throw the corn around by hand with pitchforks
and then tramp it down so it'd get rid of the
air so it didn't go off. Were you tramping? Oh,
yeah, yeah. All the kids were involved in that,
so as many as possible. Although there wasn't
a lot of room in there. So one time some clown
who used to work for us actually stuck a pitchfork
in my hand, you know, pretending to throw silage
at me. So I put my hand up to protect myself
and he stuck the pitchfork in me. So, yeah, he
didn't last long. What happened to you? Well,
I actually got... I must have needed a tetanus
shot because not long after I got a massive headache
and I had to go to hospital and they said that
I needed a tetanus shot because it was aching
like hell. So there would have been a milk run.
You would have remembered a milk run. Yeah. Collecting
cans. Cans, yeah. I used to go on the milk run
up all the lanes, like, in the holidays, which
was fantastic. You know, Strong's Run, Strong's
Road, Crozier's Road. Like, there used to be
nothing, 10, 12 dairy farms up each lane. A light
truck, I suppose you'd call it, with a tarp over
it. And the Cairns used to be all left in a little
sort of a hut at the entrance to the laneway
from the farms. So there was all the Mitchells
and the Strongs and all the people up Strongs
Road. Look, there's so many Francis's. But you'd
have to pick up the forwards and drop off the
empty ones. And they had to have their names
stamped on them. And it was always a kerfuffle
if they got the wrong... Didn't get the right
milk cans back because I used to wash them at
the dairy factory or rinse them out. So you just
had to make sure they were clean. So they had
to come back. So when the truck went to the factory,
they picked up the empty ones. So who had that?
Your dad had the contract, did he? Oh, not for
picking up the milk, no. But you went? Yeah,
I went on it as an excursion, basically, like
a trip. Mitchells used to have the contract.
I don't know if his name was Mitchells. Tom Mitchell,
I think his name was. Where was he? Well, he
just was a truck contractor. I don't think they
had their own farm, although they could have.
And he'd go along and have a contract. pick up
the milk cans. So once he came to our place,
I went with him to head off. So it was interesting
seeing all the farms. Yes. And how, what did
anything stand out for you? Oh, just the number
of cans. Like the size difference between the
big farms and the small farms. You know, some
people only have two or three milk cans and some
of them have 20. And we're just... It was interesting
to see who... I guess it was to do with how many
cows they milked and how much land they had and
all that sort of thing. So it was just an interesting
learning curve. And you'd get imagining then,
wouldn't you? Yeah, you'd imagine how many cows
they milked and how big their family was or whatever.
And where did you go to school? Oh, I went to
school in St Michael's at Nara. Oh, that was
existing? Yeah, when I was... And how did you
get into school? Well, on the bus. Yeah, caught
the bus to Turner's Lane. There was a fair few.
Our cousins, the Mullers, were over at Maroo.
So there was a cousin, Brian, who was the same
age as me, and there was Mark Duncan. He was
the same age as me too. His father owned them.
He was a milker. He used to deliver milk to the
people's houses. Oh, yeah, you called them milkers.
Milkers. He was quick, Duncan. He used to have
a milker business and he'd... And where was that
business? Well, he'd pick up the milk from the
co -op at Nowra. Oh, Bominary. and deliver it
to all the shops and the houses. This is when
they had home delivery, yeah. So that's like
Fletcher's Lane and all that sort of way? Yeah,
well, they used to, yeah, that's right. But they
used to deliver the milk to the, like, in North
Nowra and Bombardieri. That's a big run. Yeah,
yeah, well, they held out their runs, yeah, so.
They used to be very lucrative, actually, because
that's in the days when regulation, like, was
all regulated, we had quotas, and the family
got a certain percentage, like, basically half
of the retail price. And the supermarkets got
a percentage, the vendor got a percentage. And
so that was quite a good, for the amount of work
the vendor did, it was quite a good income for
him to have a milk vendor. And you used to go
and sell milk vendors' licences like you'd sell
taxi licences in the old days. So you've been
in Turner's Lane. Where did you put the calves?
And how many calves were you rearing? Probably
in the early days we used to milk 60, so we'd
probably have 50 % heifers, probably 30 calves
a year. See, in 1979, we built a herringbone
dairy. So that was sort of like when people got
out of walkways because you couldn't milk enough
cows quickly enough. And so we put in what was
a moderately sized herringbone dairy. It went
from milking six at a time to ten at a time,
sort of a double up. So we've since extended
the dairy, went from... 10 aside in 79, and then
dairy deregulation coming in 2000. So we went
to 18 aside so we could milk more cows because
they got rid of milk crows in that 2000. And
so now recently my son's come back on the farm.
He's leasing the farm now. And we've gone to
24 aside. So we've been able to extend the original
dairies, but a lot of the other bigger farms
in Terraria now have gone to rotary dairies,
so we can milk 50 at a time. How many times a
day are you milking? Well, twice a day on our
farm, so... Because some dairies are milking
around the clock. Yeah, there are. The bigger
farms down at Terriere and Pirie, they milk,
you know, six and seven, eight and... Some of
them, David Boyd Farms, about 1 ,800, I think,
or something like that, so... So you've seen
the technology change, obviously, from even teats
and washing and... Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's
all become a fair bit easier. Well, we haven't
got a robot yet, but there are around a few in
the local area. So you're saying robotics? Yeah,
robotics, yeah. That sounds expensive. It is
expensive, and they do have their issues with
cow throughput and that sort of thing. We've
looked into it. Yes. And you've got to have a
good layer. So the cow's basically a lot fed.
They don't go to the paddocks very much. Most
of the robots don't. They're just housed and
you bring feed to them. But there are some where
the cattle walk to the paddock. But there's an
issue with getting the cows to and from the dairies
and that sort of thing. What about bulls? Yeah,
well, in the old days, bulls... This is the reason
why dairy shows exist because people used to
go to shows. This is before artificial insemination
became involved. So people used to buy, go to
a show and see a good cow and talk to the farmer
and buy a bull. Well, they used to show bulls.
They don't show bulls anymore because it's too
dangerous. Let's talk about when they did, though,
and what era is that? Were there bull yards?
No, no, these bulls would have been led. They
would have had a chain in their nose and a halter
on. And often when it comes to bull classes,
this is the shows, there would have been two
leaders. One would have held the chain. and the
ring in the nose, and one that would have held
the halter. And so it's quite an interesting
picture of bulls being shown, the very show,
in the secretary's office at the show ground.
And, like, massive numbers of animals. Everyone
used to want a show, because then it was another
form of income, selling their bulls to the local
farmers. This is before artificial insemination
took off. So the shows were about breeding and
selling? Yeah, they were, very much so. Yeah,
that was what they were about, showing, you know,
like, shows everyone wanted to have the best
cow or the best bull, and then that, you know,
their status in the society went up, and then,
of course, it would bring in income for selling
bulls. So technology has, every time some, you
know, like artificial insemination, so that really
changed the industry, the dairy industry, because
you were able to access... cattle from all around
the world. You could buy semen from anywhere,
you know, and that's when the Holstein breed
in Australia sort of took off. Like, originally
they imported, you know, when Graham Park started
at Berwick, because Graham Park at Berwick was
the centre of the dairy industry, as you probably
have been told. Like, it opened about 57, I think,
and they used to buy bulls off the local farmers.
with what they thought was superior genetics
and then they'd do progeny testing so they'd
distribute that semen from these young bulls
to the farmers and they'd test it out and then
we had herd recording so the farmers would herd
record the progeny of those bulls and see if
they were better than the previous generation.
So that sort of changed the dairy industry where
bulls become... Like, they weren't invaluable,
but they became... Farmers didn't trade bulls
between amongst themselves as much as they used
to, and showing bulls dropped out of shows because
of that, because people didn't go to a show to
buy a bull. They'd buy semen instead, so... So,
with... Grand Park was a really important research
centre, wasn't it? Yeah, it was. It was at the
forefront of the AI industry in Australia, yeah.
It's pretty significant, isn't it? Yeah, it is
significant. It was to have it here in the local
area. And that's where I did my AI technician's
course. I learnt to AI cattle. So in the old
days, only vets could AI. But then farmers were
trained in artificial insemination. So AI has
a different meaning these days. So that's interesting.
How would you purchase semen? Oh, well, you had
to have your own liquid nitrogen tank. And in
the original, early days, you had to bring your
tank. to Graham Park because they have to be
topped up with liquid nitrogen every, well, I
don't know, I think it was every week, but now
at the moment it's about once a month. So obviously
they run out of liquid nitrogen and the semen
dies. But then, so there was a company that got
involved and did a delivery run of liquid nitrogen
to all the farmers because once all the farmers
did their own AI work, then you had to have your
own semen tank. And who delivered that? Where
did you get that? Well, Rob McIntosh. Robert
Richmond used to be involved. He used to be a
technician teaching people how to AI at the Graham
Park. And then when Graham Park sort of closed
down, he started his own business, like Herd
Improvers. And his son, Angus, took over it.
And where was he located? Well, he was located
up at Jerringong, up there. He'd have a truck.
He'd actually serviced virtually the whole state
of New South Wales, or the dairy industry of
New South Wales, with supplying semen and liquid
nitrogen and the gear for AI. Now, you mentioned
Rob McIntosh. What was his connection? Oh, well,
he was just involved. I think his father, Bruce,
was very instrumental in getting Graham Park
to bury in the first place. Old Joe Calcraft
used to be, he was very involved too as well
because he used to be known in parliamentary
circles. So, yeah, they put pressure on the government
and they finally got the Graham Park here open
in Bering. Big thing. Yeah, it was a big thing,
yeah. It was right at the birth of the AI in
Australia, artificial insemination in Australia.
And lots of recording and observation. Yeah.
What happened at your farm? Well, see, so the
whole point was to get semen from young bulls,
distribute it to the farmers, and then, so it
was, you know, it used to take time. So the calves
would be born, you know, then they wouldn't come
into milk until they were two years of age. And
then you virtually had to wait for them to do
a lactation, which meant they were two years
and nine months. And like in the old days, some
people didn't calve there. If it was at two,
they used to calve them at three. So then they
were virtually... four years before they'd finished
the lactation and where you did the herb recording
and recorded all their, you know, butterfat and
milk and protein. And then you were able to,
that was all, you know, went back to a laboratory
and the figures were analysed and they were trying
to work out which were the best bulls. So they
were unproven, then they became proven bulls
and then their semen was marketed based on what
they improved in the cattle. Based on output?
Yeah, based on the production, the increase relative
to the average cow in the breed. And quality?
Yeah, quality for the milk fat and the protein
and the amount of milk. And then further down
the track, when people started buying semen from
Canada, they used to market bulls based on how
much they could improve the shape of the cattle
to what they called the true type model. The
Canadians were very big in this. They used to
have the best type cattle in the world, better
than the Americans. And they used to market a
lot, and they still do, market a lot of semen
into Australia and all these other places, South
Africa, New Zealand, and even South America where
the dairy industry was getting a start on. So
what's happened to the Illawarra shorehorn? Well,
they're a dying breed. There's not many farmers
now who still farm the Illawarras. Because they
were big for a while, weren't they? They were
huge in the area. I think the problem was a lack
of... Because they were only in Australia, basically,
originally, there was a lack of numbers and there
wasn't enough new genetics coming into the breed.
And I think that's part of the reason they stifled
the... the growth of them and then I think the
Holsteins sort of took over the industry because
the Holsteins sort of were promoted by promoted
heavily and once they you know the Americans
used to promote them as the best breed they did
give more milk but their components like the
fat and protein were lower and that's when sort
of it's funny how things work because the Holsteins
sort of come into the country then everyone wanted
to drink fresh milk so fresh milk was more important
than butterfat And so the Holstein Breed sort
of took over supplying that niche in the market,
like more volume of milk. Components weren't
as important. And then everyone wanted to drink
fresh milk. So they sort of took over the industry.
And they were heavily promoted. So it actually
made a bit of a swing back to Jersey. Protein
and butterfat in the milk. You know, for a while
there, everyone went off fat. It's, you know,
fat's bad for you. And then the people come back
to it and say, oh, no, it's good for you. and
that sort of thing. But still, the dominant breed,
and in New Zealand, actually, milk crossbred
of the Jerseys and the Holsteins. That's by far
the largest number of cattle that milk, rather
than pure Holsteins or pure Jerseys. It's the
crossbreed, because you get a combination of
extra milk. and extra fat and protein as well.
And where are they? Big in New Zealand? In New
Zealand, yeah, huge. About 85 % or around that
sort of number would be crossbreeds, Holstein
and Jerseys. And it's actually starting to take
off a little bit in Australia. What about...
over your time with milk production and cows,
was there any, you know, like there's some obvious
ones that occur, but anything dangerous to the
industry down here? Oh, well, tuberculosis was
a big one. Like, you know, people used to, I
don't know if there's a vaccine for tuberculosis
or not, but it had to be eradicated. And what
era is that? Oh, this would be going back in
the 70s. Yeah, it would have been. TB, as it
was called. So we had big eradication programs
where the district vets would come and blood
test your animals and make sure that you didn't
have it. And if you did, they were eradicated
sort of thing. Anything that was slightly positive,
they had a test. Even if they didn't have it,
they used to get rid of them in case they did
because they had a slight indicator on the test
that there might be a problem. But I think you
were compensated for those in those days for
the cattle that you lost. And later on, there's
been other different diseases come. Leptospirosis
is another one that we vaccinate for now. So
most of the diseases, if they become of economic
consequence, the companies develop a vaccine.
So they see it opening for a vaccine, they develop
a vaccine, which they have for a lot of the common
diseases. So vaccinate for pinkeye and three
-day sickness and all sorts of things. So you
stayed in the industry. Yeah, yeah, it's a funny
story. Yeah, well, tell us. Well, so my father
passed away at 59 when I was 15. None of the
other family members were interested in dairying.
Mum said to me one day, oh, she was going to
sell the farm because I have a disabled brother
who's five years younger than me. He was quite
physically and mentally disabled, although he
was able, but like he was still. Mum used to
look after him and there wasn't a lot of care,
although he did go to Havenlea. So she just said
that she'd had enough and she'd tried share farms
and this and that and she was going to sell the
farm. If she wanted to keep the farm, I had to
leave school and come and look after it, which
is what I did. So I don't regret that for a second.
So when I was 15 or 16, I left school and started
farming. Big responsibility for you. School hard
knocks, yeah, yeah. I helped work with a share
farmer. How did you go with it? Yeah, tell me.
Oh, well, look, it was what I wanted to do and
I loved doing it. So I never really thought twice
about it. It's just I loved doing it. So you
worked with share farmers. So you mean at Turner's
Lane? Yeah, at Turner's Lane, yeah. So some families
came and share farmed. Yeah, well, I thought
the family thought I was too young to be there
on my own, like running the farm, even though
Mum was there. I was still living at home with
Mum. How does share farming work? Oh, well, basically,
there was a different way, a few different ways,
but you've got a percentage. With you, with you.
Oh, well, the farm, the share farmer got a percentage
of the milk check. So it was a third, and it
depended if they supplied labour or they didn't
supply labour. If they did all the work, it could
have been 50 -50. So most things were based on
the milk check. But some of the farmers had a
number of cows they milked. Did they live there
or did they? Well, yeah, they did. We did provide
a house for them. So that was pretty much essential.
If you wanted to have a share farm, you had to
provide a house for them on the farm. Is that
still there? Yeah, it was. See, the farm just
hasn't been a farm. So, like, in 59, we bought
120 acres. Like, this is Mum and Dad. Where?
At Ternus Lane. Yes. Yeah. So then they bought
in, so it was 59, so probably in 65, they bought
another 100 acres down the road. And then in
66, 67, 68, somewhere around there, they bought
another 90 acres down the road. So when you say
down the road, you mean Turner's Lane? Turner's
Lane, yeah, yeah, that's right. Who is Turner's
Lane named after? Well, it must be the farm we
bought was Turner's Farm. So basically all the
farms in Turner's Lane belonged to Turner's originally.
I've heard of Les Turner. Les Turner, yeah. Well,
he lived down the road and he owned 90 acres,
which ironically we don't own his farm. But there
were Turner's there and there was Miller's and
there was Duffy's. And we own all those farms
now. We sort of bought... 120, then 97, and then
94 acres. So total acres in Turner's Lane that
you currently farm? Well, it'd be about 400.
So Sue and I bought 100 acres off Manildra, which
we joined to the farm. We had to have a good
relationship with the bank manager, so it was
all borrowed money, of course. We tried to buy
other land. It's actually been interesting that
when Manildra came into the area, they're all
around us, so it became difficult for us to buy
land. We would have liked to have bought more
land in the area, but they always had deeper
pockets because they wanted to expand their environmental
farm. And they actually offered to buy our farm,
which we haven't sold them. We've actually ended
up buying a bit of their farm because it's funny
how it works out. So what does the land give
you? Well, so basically you're growing grass
for cattle. And the more grass you can put into
the cattle, the more income you make. A third
of the cow's diet comes from grain and then the
better quality grass you can put in. So we're
always trying to grow good quality grass, ryegrass,
clovers, to try and feed the cattle and try and
get most of our milk income from grass. So that
leaves more profit in your back pocket so you
can pay your loans off at the end of the day.
So the more land you own, the more grass you
can grow, the more cows you can milk, the more
profitable you can be. If we were still milking
60 cows now, we wouldn't be able to survive in
the dairy industry. So we're milking now 330
at the moment. That's the most we've ever milked.
And that's because we've now got 400 acres of
total land for the cattle to graze on. And you
sell grass as well? Oh, no, not very rarely.
No, no, we don't. Any excess feed, well, when
we say excess feed, we normally try and conserve
feed in the springtime. Because we know winter's
going to come and some of our land floods. You
know, we get big floods. It's low -lying land.
And so then we know we have to feed out the hay
and any excess feed to the cattle to keep them,
you know, get through the winters. Who are your
siblings? Can you name them and how many? Well,
Margaret's my oldest sister and then Dorothy,
she's second. Then Peter's my brother, Kevin's
my brother and then there's myself and then Mark.
He's my youngest brother. He's the disabled one.
He's still 60 though, so it wasn't as imagined
he was going to ever get to 60 when he was born.
It's quite amazing, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. Big
responsibility for your mum with your father
dying. Yeah, yeah, it was a lot in a small period
of time. Yeah, he was, well, I injured my foot
badly when I was five and mum was in hospital.
She had a tumour. which is part of the reason
Mark's disabled. She didn't know it at the time.
Passed out on the table a couple of times, had
to be brought back to life because of the loss
of blood. And she has quite a rare blood type,
so at the hospital people had to ring to come
in to donate blood to keep her alive. What hospital
was that? That was in our hospital, in Shellhaven
Hospital, yeah. In what era? That would be 1964.
1964 Mark was born. And so they had a list of
people they'd ring to come in to get blood, to
donate blood to, you know, this rare blood type.
And actually it's interesting because my daughter
has the same rare blood type, which is, you know,
follows through. Talk about when you got married
and who you married. Well, sure. I got married
in 1980. Married Sue McIntosh. Her family...
did dairy farming in Kangaroo Valley at one stage,
but since when I met her, that sold the farm.
But she was very knowledgeable about dairy farming,
so obviously a good catch. You're laughing. Was
she a good work partner? Yeah, no, no, no. She
was a lovely person. I went to high school with
her, actually. She was younger than me, so I
knew a bit from high school. Where was high school?
Bowery High School, yeah. So it had only recently
been opened. Well, about five years when I went
there, so... And your kids, you know, are pretty.
I'll get to you. You've got two kids? Two children,
yeah. And their names? Justin and Melanie. And
who did they marry? Well, Justin married Libby
Williams. Her father was a local doctor. And
Melanie married Lane Green. He was a Kiwi. He's
a Kiwi and he was over here playing football.
He was hoping to play in the NRL, but I think...
But tragically, his father was killed in a mining
accident in... in New Zealand, in the South Island,
and that interfered with his plans. But anyhow,
he was lucky he met Mel. And what a gorgeous
family they are. Yeah, they're a lovely family.
He has four children. And now, look, there's
a bit of athletic activity going on in that family.
So did you play sport yourself? Well, I did.
I always played local football, but it's sort
of junior football at Bury. As I tell my grandchildren,
things were different in those days. Mum and
Dad didn't have Saturdays off to go to the football.
They used to work and I used to get cars around
all Milton and in the back of a station wagon.
Half the team would go in one car and half the
team wouldn't go in the other car. Mum was sort
of at home with Mark. He didn't travel very well
and Dad would come occasionally. They hardly
ever went to the football to watch the football
but I loved playing football so I played. until
I was 16 or 17 or 18. Have you been able to go
on holidays much? Oh, not in the early days,
but as my son Justin sort of says, because he's
busy farming, he revolves his whole farm around
going on holidays, having a holiday every year.
So most farms in the local area have year -round
calving. So he's gone to seasonal calving, where
he calves only two batches of cattle twice a
year, and that's based on not having any cattle
calve at Christmas time. And so he goes on holidays
then. Hence he's going on holiday in January.
So it seems to be a workable system. So he concentrates
all his calving and getting in calf at two parts
of the times of the year. So that's based on
when he wants to have a holiday. And also milk
price. I shouldn't say it's just based on that.
So it sort of lines up with the profitability
of we don't get a flat price for our milk. we
get most of the higher price for our milk in
wintertime. So we make sure we have most of our
cows calving that coincides with the... Pricing.
Pricing, yeah. To maximise that. Yeah. So you're
quite... You've got some land at Koolangatta
as well. Yeah, that's right. Where's that from?
Well, that's part of the Bryce's estate. So that
was left to Mum when her brother died, or her
father died, and it went to her brother. Well,
actually, he used to use it, and then it was
always to go to Mum once he wasn't dairy farming
anymore. So it's transferred to Mum, and now
it's transferred to the three brothers that are
left. You? Yeah, Peter and Kevin. Do they farm?
No, they don't farm, so we're the only ones who
use it. Peter did farm for a while, actually,
with me, like when we took over the farm, after
we got rid of the dodgy share farmers. So tell
me about you, about what you do for the dairy
industry. Like, do you have a history of, like,
everyone calls you Walshy, I've heard. Oh, right.
And, well, they do, the blokes. Oh, there's Walshy
or whatever. And I think, oh, yes, that's Cole.
So tell me what you, are you involved actively?
What are you doing? Well, I used to be involved
with the New South Wales Dairy Farmers Association
for a long time. That was the sort of the union
of farmers, basically, which used to have input
to dairy policy. That's sort of since I'm not
as active as I used to be now. It's sort of folded
a bit and folded into the New South Wales Farmers
Association. But I've been very involved with
the Berry Show, a local show. I'm a life member
now, so over 40 years. How important is the Berry
Show? Well, I think it's very important to the
community. I love the history. Like looking at
the old photos and love the history of being
involved with an association that's been going
for 125 years or 135 years or whatever it is
now. You just think of all the people who have
gone before you and the great characters. See,
it's a funny thing, you know, like when my dad
passed away, I think I was sort of attracted
to older people to learn the history of the district.
And I used to love going to the meetings. And
then not only that, after the meetings you talk
to people like Keith Miller and Bruce McIntosh.
Cole Sharp and people who, you know, older generations,
you'd hear about all the stories of the past.
And I used to love that sort of thing. So I think
I was attracted to the history and talking to
old farmers about learning about things that
perhaps I didn't learn from my dad. So, yeah,
that's an ironic thing too because his two sisters
lived to be 100 and his brother lived to be 99.
And his other brother lived to be 91, and he
passed away at 59. So I always think I was a
bit ripped off. What did he die of? Tired of
a heart attack, yeah. Yeah, well, he had two
heart attacks. He had one, and then they thought
he was all right. And actually, I was away at
the Orange when I was in high school. I don't
know if you want to hear this. Yes, I do. I was
away with an excursion. We went to Orange Field
Days, an excursion every year. And I was away
at the field day when Dad passed away. So it
was a big, complete shock that he... And they
didn't tell me until I came back. So I come back
on the Friday night and then there was a funeral
organised for Saturday. So it was all a bit...
I was only talking about it to Sue the other
day. It was all a bit rushed and all a bit, you
know... Bit of a shock. Got home, oh, Dad's passed
away. The funeral's on tomorrow at 10 o 'clock.
Go and have a shower. So when was the funeral
and how big was it? Oh, it was a huge funeral,
yeah. So, yeah, because that was... The whole
Walsh family were all known in the district.
Because he used to play in a band. Originally,
it was the Walsh family band. And then he'd go
and play in all the old -time dances at Tomarong
and Upper Kangaroo River and all around the area.
And he used to play at some of the local clubs
as well on Saturday night. What instrument? Well,
he'd play the drums and the sax. So, yeah. But
all the Walshes, when they had a family band,
they used to play different instruments. And
Sheila used to sing. Vonnie was a great singer
as well, but she was a bit younger. She wasn't
originally part of the band, but she was a fantastic
singer. Frank's funeral was huge, like, you know,
massive. And in those days you didn't have funerals
on Saturday morning, but they got permission
to do so. But it was all a bit rushed for me.
But anyhow, you just get on with it, I suppose.
And Mum lived to be 92, so she was a great support.
And she looked after Mark at home. until she
had a fall, fell over and fractured her skull,
had two bleeds on the brain or three bleeds on
the brain. But she survived, but it was sort
of decided that Mark should go into care then,
so she didn't have to look after him as much
at home. But he's still in care now, and he gets
looked after by Care South, and they're very
good to him. Do you see him? I do see him, yeah.
I see him at different times, and he comes out.
The carers bring him out to the farm. and that
sort of thing which he loves he's still got a
very good memory of his days on the farm because
he's in his wheelchair down now but originally
he wasn't he could even though he's had paralysis
on sort of appalled on one side or his right
side he could get around the farm with his limp
and he used to get her he could walk two or three
kilometers easily and get the cows and move hay
bales on the ground when we're bailing so and
he used to love that he used to love helping
and he'd get in the pit and help try and help
But sometimes when we hoisted a herd recorder,
it got a bit much for him. There was a fair bit
happening. He couldn't always cope with too much
at one time. So we had to take him home at times.
That was usually left to me. Do you remember
taking the cans? Where were they collected? On
Turner's Lane? Oh, yeah, they were. Yeah, we
used to take them down the tractor or on the
trailer or a carrier or a slide. Actually, that's
how I hurt my foot when I was five. Sometimes
the cans wouldn't all fit on there. on the trailer
and we had a device put on the three -point linkage
arms at the back of the tractor and the one time
I had my foot on it this is when I was five and
got my foot squashed between the three -point
linkage arms and the PTO shaft so and that's
that was a funny story because I ended up in
hospital with that my foot was split open I still
remember because that was when Mark was born
because so they left me in hospital because mum
was in hospital had Mark Like he was born premature.
And they thought the best place for me was in
hospital because there was no one home to look
after me. Mum was in hospital. She took months
to recover from, you know, the loss of blood
and the birth and the tumour they had to remove.
And I remember being in bed for months and months,
like, recovery. And we had a carer who came and
looked after us. What's her name? Leela O 'Keefe.
Like, she's passed away now. Was that part of
O 'Keefe's lane? Yeah, well, yeah, she was related
then, yeah, that's right. Yeah, the same family,
yeah. Do you remember much about O 'Keefe? Oh,
not a lot, but actually Pat O 'Keefe, who I remember
when he passed away, I don't think he passed
away or he left the show society, but I got his
spot on the show society, so it was a bit like
that. You had to have a spot, you know, so get
on the show society. And how do you go showing
your calves and cows? Oh, we've been... relatively
successful since we got into the purebred cattle.
So we've had supreme champion at the Royal Easter
Show in Sydney two years in a row. That's our
highest claim to fame. When was that? Oh, it
would have been 2017, 2016, or 17, 18, one or
the other. We had a best started cow at Dairy
Week, which is the biggest show now. So, yeah,
so that was quite an achievement too. That's
the biggest show at the Royal Easter Show now
at Tutura every year, International Dairy Week.
So that was probably our two biggest claims to
fame. So when you're talking about some of those
older farmers from Berry Co -op, were they? Yeah,
Berry. We used to supply Shellhaven Co -op, but
most of the people I know supplied Berry Co -op.
You know, like there was different co -ops in
those days. The Bryce's supplied Berry Co -op
and the Miller's and the Bowley's and the O 'Keeffe's
and all those sort of people supplied Berry Co
-op. Most of the people from Torreira and that
supplied Shulhaven Cop, you know, the Boyds and
all the Crawfords and all those people and the
Hearns. And you supplied Shulhaven? Yeah, I supplied
Shulhaven Cop, yes. Turner's, Turner's Lane.
Turner's Lane, that's right. You could choose
who to supply in those days and there used to
be two, there used to be Horlicks, where Mildred
currently have got their plant now. That used
to be a dairy factory and it was called Horlicks.
So the two, they used to compete for milk, Shalovan
Dairy Company and Horlicks. And there was Berry
as well. But they used to compete for milk. So
Horlicks used to make different products out
of the milk. Were they making the baby food?
Yeah, I think they were. They weren't in the
fresh milk. Horlicks, they weren't in the fresh
milk. They're more powders. Was there a protein
powder? Horlicks was a drink, I think. Was it
an international company? Yeah, I think it was.
I think they were based in Europe or something
like that, yeah. And the other co -ops, were
they owned collectively? They were owned by local
farmers, yeah. Yeah, that was a difference. So
what buildings currently exist on your farm that
were there when you purchased? Oh, well, there's
not many. There's a shed and a silo, a concrete
silo. The original dairy is still there. The
original walk -through, we haven't pulled it
down. I think we're probably supposed to have,
but yeah, so... I might go and photograph that
with you one day. Yeah, it's a bit of a... Not
in great condition, but it's still there. We
used to use it as a calf shed at one time. That's
one stage. But the original hay shed sort of
formed down a bit, so... And then we've got three
grain silos as well, because we grain... We roll
our... We've got a disc miller. We might crush
our own grain for our... Dairy cattle. Is there
anything you wanted to say? Oh, just how grateful
I am to my parents for having the foresight to
move there. It's a beautiful place where you
are. What do you love about Turner's Lane and
farming? Mum used to always say to me, she said,
where else would you rather live? You're close
to Naira, you're close to Berry, you're close
to the coast and relatively close to Sydney.
And I used to think the same thing. And I thought,
well, I don't think I'd rather live anywhere
else. When she said to me, do you want to take
over the farm or keep the farm? I said, of course.
I just love the area and love the location. I
suppose I much as love the people in the dairy
industry as much as I love that too. They seem
to be salt of the earth people and that sort
of thing. And there's some new people coming
into it. Oh, yeah, sure. Yeah, there have been
new people coming into the dairy industry too.
And they're lovely people. But the dairy industry
in these days is more, you've got to have a good,
you almost need a finance degree to... to make
a dairy farm profitable. In the old days, not
every decision was made with, not that they all
are, but with finance in mind. But you've got
to be very aware of your costs to make sure that,
you know, at the end of the day, you've got to
make a profit too if you want to keep farming
and reinvest in the farm. Which was very different
to how dairying started here. Yeah, it is. People
were just sort of like it was just a lifestyle.
They were just trying to feed a family, raise
a family, like in the idea that... You know,
so, and most farms, the amount of cows they milked
was relative to the number of children they had.
So I think you had to have enough to feed your
family and maybe give some of them jobs and that
sort of thing. So provide a job for your family.
What about the Catholic Church? You done much
with the church? Oh, look, I used to be, I went
to the school and I didn't, I went to high school.
I didn't go to Chevalier College like some of
my brothers did. Ah, yes. That's it. Barrel.
Barredu. was the location, just down from the
college. Thank you, Colin, for your chat today
and sharing your knowledge. And that brings us
to the end of Episode 8. Episode 9 will be coming
in a fortnight or so. It's the perfect night
to listen to this new podcast. It's Teeming with
Rain. So spread the word and teach the elder
people how to simply Google the Dairy Lane Project.
Episode 8. I'll be bringing Episode 9 to you
shortly. A bit of a surprise again. Anyway, you'll
look forward to it and so will I. This project
that I have initiated receives no government
funding. A donate button has been activated at
my host podcast site rss .com. All my podcasts
will be hosted on my own website as well. This
project is my initiative and my digital investment
in the region, laying foundations for future
generations. At its completion, it will be archived
at Nowra Library through their networks. I also
offer my services to the wider community. Have
a look at my business section at my website,
theresesweeney .com .au. Feel free to get in
touch with me. Until next time, take care.