WEBVTT

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Welcome to The Dairy Lane Project, Season 2.

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Today, you'll be listening to Episode 5, brought

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to you by myself, Therese Sweeney. I'm a social

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historian, and I've been engaging descendants

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of the lanes between Bomberderry to Bury, and

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I'm currently in Jasper's Brush. My primary sponsor

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for Season 2 is Ian Zanstra. A very experienced

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dairyman on the other side of the river from

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Piree. Season two would not be happening without

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Ian's support. I'm very grateful he stepped up.

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Thank you, Ian. Now, today I'm going to be interviewing

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the Fahl family. F -A -H -L. The focus initially

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will be on Henry Fahl. Henry bought land. in

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the Jaspers Brush area in 1941. And the Fowles

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still live in what is known today as Jaspers

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Brush Road. It used to be called Railway Station

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Lane. Three generations still live in the lane.

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Now, Henry Fowle was born in 1909 in Sydney.

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He married a woman by the name of Charlotte Mabel

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Stutchbury. They were married in Nowra in 1935.

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Her parents were James William Stutchbury and

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Edith F. Johnson. Her great -grandfather James

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Stutchbury was born in Buckingham, England in

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1830 and he migrated to Nowra. He was a farm

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labourer. He married Mary Ann Holt. He died in

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Nowra in 1908. So Charlotte was the fourth generation

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to live in the area. Henry Fowle's father was

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Charles William Fowle. He was a dentist and had

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premises in Martin Place. And he was born in

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1882. He married Vera Elsa Love in Gordon in

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1907. Now Vera came from a wealthy family. Vera's

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father, Harry Clifford Love. was born in Ireland

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in 1835. He married Anne P Bell in Gordon in

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1862. Harry became very wealthy. in Australia.

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Originally he arrived at the port of Melbourne

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and travelled to Queensland where he set up a

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road building business in Brisbane. On moving

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to Sydney he set up an importing business as

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a merchant. He imported spices and breakfast

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cereals as well as Uncle Toby's oats. He was

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the first to make penicillin under licence. He

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was also a freemason. There were 12 servants

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in the home. at Gordon, a beautiful constructed

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home. Each child in fact had their own servant.

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So Charles William married into great wealth.

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Vera's grandfather was known as Joseph Love and

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he was a builder and his wife was Teresa Gibbon

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and they came out to Queensland on a free passage.

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Harry was one of the first to run a soup kitchen

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on a Sunday morning at North Sydney to feed the

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homeless. Vera was born in 1886 and passed away

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in 1978. Charles was born in 1882 and died on

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the 1st of October 1953. Charles was the youngest

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son of Captain Frederick John Fowle, who was

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born in 1843 and migrated from Prussia, Germany.

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to Balmain, where he was a shipbuilder, a master

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mariner. When naturalised, was able to purchase

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his first ship. Frederick married Margaret Tomlin,

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who was born in New South Wales in 1857. They

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got married in 1873. So Henry's grandfather was

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a seaman, master builder of boats. Henry had

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two children, David Fowle and Elizabeth Fowle,

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known as Betty. Betty was born in 1938 and David

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in 1941. Henry's brother worked the farm as well.

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His name was John for a while. David Fowle married

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Margaret Macpherson in 1970. Margaret was born

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in 1951 from Tumut. They had three boys. Terry,

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born in 1971. Jeff, with a J, born 1973. and

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Mark, born in 1975. The Fahls also have a lane

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named off Jaspers Brush Road, Fahl Lane. By approaching

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council via word from the Isons, they have their

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name approved. In approximately 2004, today I'm

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going to be interviewing Margaret Fahl, Terry

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Fahl, Jeff Fahl, And Geoff's two sons, Jeremy

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and Ewan, will be sitting in. So there's quite

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a big table we're going to be sitting at. Geoff

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is going to kick off the interview going over

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Henry's legacy. I hope you enjoy it. So when

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Henry was a child, he contacted polio because

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they lived on the harbour at Collaroy and their

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backyard went down into the harbour. And they

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had a live -in nurse who put Henry in the sea

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every day at Collaroy and massaged his legs.

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with the polio and Henry always said that that

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cured him. He attended Narrabeen Primary School

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where he was ducks. He then went to Hurlstone

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Agriculture College where he was a boarder and

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they had porridge every morning so he hated porridge

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for the rest of his life. He did his leaving

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certificate at Hurlstone Agriculture College

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and then went to Hawkesbury Agriculture College

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where he was also a boarder and he obtained his

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HDD which is his Hawkesbury Diploma of Dairying.

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Dairying was looked down upon by his family.

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It was a lower occupation but I'll bet that his

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parents enjoyed their cream and butter. That

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was a bit of a privileged item if you know what

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I mean. So after he left Hawkesbury he went up

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to Kempsey and he worked at a horse stud at Kempsey

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and the owner thought he was so good that when

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he sold the stud and moved to Ireland he wanted

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to take Henry with him. Henry wanted to be a

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dairy farmer. So he moved down to the Shoalhaven,

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where he started share farming at Brundy, opposite

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Lemons. And he used to go pruning Lemons fruit

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trees all the time, VJ Lemons. He talked Henry

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into starting a stud. So where is Brundy? It's

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east of Nowra, kind of towards Greenwall Point.

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Greenwell Point Road. And it's past there, it's

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down on the flats. Sorry, get back to VJ Lamond's.

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Was this the really good breeder? Yes, that was

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the VJ. Yeah, of cows. Yes, of cows. Just go

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back over that again. Henry was share farming

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at a farm opposite VJ Lamond and VJ Lamond talked

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him into starting his own stud and Henry said,

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well, what am I going to call it? And VJ said,

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there's a whole bunch of lilies there, call it

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Lily White. That's how the Lily White herd name

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started. Henry registered the stud as Lily White.

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He met Mabel. Her name was Charlotte Mabel, but

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she hated Charlotte and insisted on being called

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Mabel. So that's where he met Mabel. They then

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moved to share farming up Long Point on Shoalhaven

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River. And I was only thinking last night about

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the step down from living in all that wealth

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in Sydney to share farming on the banks of a

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river. Living with no power. Around what time?

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Henry and Mabel were married in 1935. Mid to

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late 30s. Financially, times were very, very

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tough. Because we're talking about people are

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coming out of the Depression, which his family

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would be coming out of as well. Were they affected,

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impacted, do you know? Yes, they trapped rabbits,

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they grew veggies, and in the drought times they

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put river reeds through the chaff cutter for

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the cows to eat. So river reed, describe, this

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is the first time I've heard of river reed. Tell

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me about river, is that the weeds in the river,

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the long? But yeah, the long tall reeds that

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grow on the side of the river. And they chaff

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them up? For cow feed. And they would have fed

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the cows directly? Yeah, that's at Long Point

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on the banks of the river. About 15 years ago,

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I met a bloke, an old bloke called Charlie, and

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he was talking to me. And he remembers going

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up the river with his father to collect the milk

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cans from Henry, where he was milking the cows,

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and taking them back down the river to the milk

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factory. It was called a narrow co -op. A narrow

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co -op with Tim Lombardieri. So they're up there,

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and then Henry's father, Charles, they must have

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come around to Henry milking cows instead of

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being a wealthy landowner. Charles financed the

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farm at Jasper's Brush for Henry in Henry's name.

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and Henry had to pay back every cent. Do you

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know what he purchased the land for? No, I don't.

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So that was the original home farm of 120 acres.

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In September 1941, Henry and Mabel and Betty,

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Betty was born by then, she was three, moved

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the cows back here to the farm in Jasper's Brush.

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Can we assume that Lamond would have helped with

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the breeding? Possibly. Would have given him

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a bit of a kickstart with... With the stud, yeah,

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possibly. Possibly. Otherwise, how might he...

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Well, he probably had a good eye. He would certainly

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have had. At Berry Show, I think, we still have

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the BJ Lemon Memorial trophy for the dairy. I

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think we still have that. Pop's cows, he never

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showed them. Betty did have some calves at the

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showground, but that was junior farmers. Though

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Pop never showed his cows, they were all registered.

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Cole Bowley bought one of his cows, and that

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cow became champion at Berry Show. And another

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cow was in a framed photo on the wall in Graham

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Park Breeding Centre. So even though he never

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showed cows, his cows were renowned. So this

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is Henry's cow on the wall at Graham's Park?

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Yep. Was it a bull? No, it was a big white cow.

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Beautiful cow I saw of myself. It's a shame all

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the pictures were thrown away. Yeah, so September

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1941, Henry moved to Jasper's Brush. He walked

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all the way with the cows from Long Point. They

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had Harry Wheatley helping them on horseback

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and Mabel drove the old ute with Betty sitting

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beside her and Mabel had no driver's licence.

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How long is that distance, roughly? And what

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would you imagine the mustering would have been

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like if the roads were all, I suppose they were

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gravel, were they? I would have been back then.

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Jeez, Geoff, I'd be 20, 30 k's or more. It'd

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have to be 30 k's. Betty said that she only really

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remembers, she was three, she only really remembers

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the big thing about the trip, obviously was sitting

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beside Mabel in the ute, or the old Ford truck,

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there was a very big schmuzzle at the narrow

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bridge. because the cows didn't want to cross

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the bridge because of the wooden decking and

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she said Harry rode his horse up and down chasing

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cows in all directions trying to get them across

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and it was a big schmuzzle. So they came to Jasper's

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Brush at the end of a long day to a place with

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power and milking machines. That was possibly

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one of the reasons they bought this farm is that

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it had the new dairy at the time with milking

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machines already fitted. Do you know who they

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bought the dairy from? They bought the property

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from Taylors, the Taylor family. Now, I think

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there was two generations of Taylors farmed the

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property before Henry bought it. Henry's brother

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John was helping them. He was also up the river

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at Long Point helping work. He came with them

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to Jaspers Brush. John couldn't get into the

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army because the war was on, and John couldn't

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get into the army, so Henry gave him a job. working

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here on the farm so john worked here with henry

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right through the 40s they built the hay sheds

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david told me that henry and john stood the long

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poles for the hay sheds by pulling them up with

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the old ford truck that's quite an engineering

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feat john and henry also did a lot of work on

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the old farmhouse they enlarged it they put a

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bathroom in because there was an old slab lean

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to out the back a couple of extra bedrooms through

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the 40s it was a lot of hard work with very,

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very little return, and even through the 50s.

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There wasn't a lot of money, and by the end of

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the 40s, John had to leave. Part of that was

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there was another house on the property, and

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John took that with him to Bomaderry. On the

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property in Strong's Road, peas were grown, and

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one year there was a crop of beans were grown.

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That was to supplement the income for the farm.

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Local people came out from Nowra to help pick

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them, and they were bagged up and... taken to

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the bottom of Strong's Road to be collected.

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We don't really know where they were going. There

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was one memorable occasion in the 40s of a barn

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dance being held in the stalls at home here because

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there was a band room at the top of Jasper's

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Brush Road that blew down in a big storm. Mabel

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and her sister talked Henry into having a barn

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dance here in the feed stalls. From my understanding

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there was quite a bit of trouble. and there was

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never a barn dance held again, caused by children.

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The ringleader was David himself, and they stirred

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up the ball, made him very cranky and upset the

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cows. So Henry swore that was the first and the

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last. There would never be another barn dance.

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So David was born in October 1941, so not long

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after they got here. David and Betty both went

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to school at the Jaspers Brush School, with David

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going on to Nowra High School. and then leaving

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at 16 and coming home to work on the farm. David

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worked helping Don Barham cutting saccharine

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and bringing it down in the sled behind the horse.

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Saccharine and corn were grown here at home as

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well and put through the chaff cutter and into

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the concrete silo. When I was a very, very little

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boy... I do remember vaguely of the chaff cutter

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in action once and I remember it got blocked

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up. So was the chaff cutter used in the field

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ever? No. No, it was fixed. It was stationary

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at the bottom of the concrete silo. With a three

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-phase motor on the bottom of it. David spent

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a bit of time working with Don Barham with the

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saccaline and bringing it home for them as well

00:15:14.779 --> 00:15:17.580
as our own. He would have learnt a lot about

00:15:17.580 --> 00:15:21.059
growing through. Probably Henry. Because Henry

00:15:21.059 --> 00:15:23.639
did all that through Hawkesbury with his Diploma

00:15:23.639 --> 00:15:26.879
of Daring. I have some books at home of Henry's,

00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:30.039
of his workbooks and formulations for making

00:15:30.039 --> 00:15:33.539
silage and dimensions for silos. So you're saying

00:15:33.539 --> 00:15:36.299
his own books, his own records? His own workbooks,

00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:39.759
with his own writing from uni. And where do you

00:15:39.759 --> 00:15:42.240
live? Just down the road in the old farmhouse

00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:44.600
at Jaspers Brush Road. What was the road called

00:15:44.600 --> 00:15:47.690
originally? Railway Station Lane. And then it

00:15:47.690 --> 00:15:50.470
was changed to Jasper's Brush Road. We're getting

00:15:50.470 --> 00:15:53.649
into the 60s and things were very hard financially,

00:15:53.889 --> 00:15:58.250
as well as growing the peas. Not a lot of mechanisation

00:15:58.250 --> 00:16:00.389
at that time. I think the tractors were here

00:16:00.389 --> 00:16:02.710
by then. I think the first one could have been

00:16:02.710 --> 00:16:05.250
a David Brown. Yeah, definitely David Brown.

00:16:05.450 --> 00:16:07.570
Things were still done the old way through the

00:16:07.570 --> 00:16:10.750
wooden feed stalls and the chaff cutter. Did

00:16:10.750 --> 00:16:12.509
they have a runner through the feed stall or

00:16:12.509 --> 00:16:14.509
were you just hand feeding? Well, David did a

00:16:14.509 --> 00:16:16.870
welding course and one of his earlier constructions

00:16:16.870 --> 00:16:21.289
was a three -wheel cart, which Mum has very fond

00:16:21.289 --> 00:16:24.730
memories of the three -wheel cart. I do. Pushed

00:16:24.730 --> 00:16:27.850
up and down in front of the wooden feed stalls,

00:16:28.070 --> 00:16:30.669
feed put into the cows. It was filled from the

00:16:30.669 --> 00:16:34.970
silo, was pushed up and down and bucketed into

00:16:34.970 --> 00:16:38.990
the individual. feed troughs for the cows. Depending

00:16:38.990 --> 00:16:42.429
on the cow stage of lactation, there was different

00:16:42.429 --> 00:16:45.950
degrees of the amount they were fed. A big producer

00:16:45.950 --> 00:16:49.950
was given extra feed. One about to calve was

00:16:49.950 --> 00:16:53.590
given extra before being dried off. I do remember

00:16:53.590 --> 00:16:56.730
that the cart used to tip over sometimes because

00:16:56.730 --> 00:16:59.570
it was three -wheeled. Two car wheels at the

00:16:59.570 --> 00:17:02.149
back and a small steel wheel at the front. And

00:17:02.149 --> 00:17:04.910
I think it was a bit ungainly. And a very rough

00:17:04.910 --> 00:17:08.130
floor. Margaret, what year were you born and

00:17:08.130 --> 00:17:11.549
where? I was born in Wagga Hospital in 1951.

00:17:11.650 --> 00:17:14.430
And what is your former name? Macpherson. What's

00:17:14.430 --> 00:17:17.230
your full name? Margaret Anne Macpherson. And

00:17:17.230 --> 00:17:20.829
who were your parents? Cecil William and May

00:17:20.829 --> 00:17:24.109
June. May June Herring. Do you know what year

00:17:24.109 --> 00:17:27.089
your parents were born? My father was born in

00:17:27.089 --> 00:17:32.299
1915. My mother was born in 1919. Were they all

00:17:32.299 --> 00:17:35.299
born in Wagga? No, they were in the Tumut area

00:17:35.299 --> 00:17:38.700
to start with. What was your journey to here?

00:17:39.460 --> 00:17:43.599
The family moved from Tarkata to Lake Tabauri

00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:47.460
and then to Falls Creek when I was five. I had

00:17:47.460 --> 00:17:50.380
three years at Falls Creek Primary School, then

00:17:50.380 --> 00:17:53.460
we moved to Bury. Okay, and you had siblings?

00:17:53.960 --> 00:17:56.720
I had three brothers and one sister. Were you

00:17:56.720 --> 00:17:59.920
related to the Macpherson Pioneers from this

00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:03.960
area? Not this area, no. No, mine were more around

00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:07.880
the Batlow, Tumut area. What were the circumstances

00:18:07.880 --> 00:18:11.200
around moving here? Do you know? And what were

00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:14.619
your parents doing here? They owned the house

00:18:14.619 --> 00:18:17.400
in Tarkata. That was sold. They rented until

00:18:17.400 --> 00:18:20.359
we moved to Bury and then my father purchased

00:18:20.359 --> 00:18:25.369
a small house. Okay, so never farmed? No. Where

00:18:25.369 --> 00:18:29.190
was the house purchased? In Ford Street, Bury.

00:18:29.329 --> 00:18:32.309
Is the house still standing? It's been fully

00:18:32.309 --> 00:18:34.950
renovated and changed a great deal. You wouldn't

00:18:34.950 --> 00:18:37.269
recognise it. What school did you go to when

00:18:37.269 --> 00:18:40.329
you arrived here? I went to Bury Primary School

00:18:40.329 --> 00:18:44.289
and then Narra High School from about 59 through

00:18:44.289 --> 00:18:49.640
to 6th class. My best friend was Margaret Sprague.

00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:52.400
They were a farming family on the outskirts of

00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:55.460
Bury. How did you meet your husband? At an old

00:18:55.460 --> 00:18:57.700
-fashioned dance in the Bury School of Arts.

00:18:57.980 --> 00:19:00.380
And do you remember the night you met him? No.

00:19:00.619 --> 00:19:03.700
And what is your husband's full name? David William

00:19:03.700 --> 00:19:07.480
Fowle. Did you go dating or dancing or what happened?

00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:11.619
We dated for some time. before engagement and

00:19:11.619 --> 00:19:13.940
marriage. And what sort of person was David?

00:19:14.359 --> 00:19:18.859
Well, he was very hardworking. He had moral standards.

00:19:19.259 --> 00:19:21.960
He loved his children. He was devoted to his

00:19:21.960 --> 00:19:24.599
children. And he loved all his daughter -in -laws.

00:19:24.779 --> 00:19:29.079
Right up until the end, his family meant a great

00:19:29.079 --> 00:19:32.160
deal to him, and especially the grandchildren.

00:19:32.619 --> 00:19:35.240
Did David have brothers and sisters? He had one

00:19:35.240 --> 00:19:38.599
older sister, Elizabeth. Everyone called her

00:19:38.599 --> 00:19:41.160
Betty. So is this where we are today, the farm?

00:19:41.400 --> 00:19:44.480
Yes. Father bought the farm, Henry. He moved

00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:47.539
from up the Shilhaven River. He bought the home

00:19:47.539 --> 00:19:51.940
farm, which is number 60, and then they bought

00:19:51.940 --> 00:19:56.079
a property up Strong's Road because the home

00:19:56.079 --> 00:19:59.640
farm had a lot of flood -prone land and he needed

00:19:59.640 --> 00:20:03.660
the higher ground. So he bought 66 acres at Strong's

00:20:03.660 --> 00:20:06.140
Road. So where we're sitting today, is this...

00:20:06.359 --> 00:20:08.819
Part of that property? It's not the original

00:20:08.819 --> 00:20:13.519
farm. In the 70s, David and I bought the property

00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:16.359
across the road, which is commonly called Johnson's.

00:20:16.500 --> 00:20:21.299
That's at number 98. And then after that, Dave

00:20:21.299 --> 00:20:25.200
and I purchased this particular site from Don

00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:27.740
Bowram, and this property goes from this lane

00:20:27.740 --> 00:20:30.980
across to O 'Keeffe's Lane. A lot of it was on

00:20:30.980 --> 00:20:34.579
the Shilhaven flood plain. and it would flood

00:20:34.579 --> 00:20:38.180
periodically. That left a lot of ground that

00:20:38.180 --> 00:20:42.299
was unusable, so Henry needed more ground. So

00:20:42.299 --> 00:20:46.440
he found the money to buy Strong's Road. How

00:20:46.440 --> 00:20:49.400
big was the operation? How many cows was Henry

00:20:49.400 --> 00:20:54.180
milking? Henry and David were milking about 80

00:20:54.180 --> 00:20:57.720
to 90. By the time David and I retired, it was

00:20:57.720 --> 00:21:01.839
about 120 to 30, which was getting to be quite...

00:21:02.200 --> 00:21:04.980
a large number at that time. Your husband was

00:21:04.980 --> 00:21:08.779
a moral man. Were you a religious family? Yes,

00:21:08.819 --> 00:21:13.039
he was raised to go to church. We attended Berry

00:21:13.039 --> 00:21:15.980
Uniting Church for many years. The children attended

00:21:15.980 --> 00:21:20.900
Sunday school and youth groups there. David didn't

00:21:20.900 --> 00:21:24.039
go to church in his latter years, and especially...

00:21:24.750 --> 00:21:27.089
the last two or three years because he had dementia

00:21:27.089 --> 00:21:29.990
by then. So he was born here? Yes, he was born

00:21:29.990 --> 00:21:33.130
in the cottage hospital in Narra, Junction Street.

00:21:33.490 --> 00:21:36.650
What year were you married? 1970. Were you married

00:21:36.650 --> 00:21:39.789
at the Uniting Church? Yes. Do you recall much

00:21:39.789 --> 00:21:42.750
about who attended your wedding? It was mainly

00:21:42.750 --> 00:21:45.609
friends and family and a few neighbours. I do

00:21:45.609 --> 00:21:48.329
remember I was so nervous, I was shaking so much,

00:21:48.390 --> 00:21:50.730
flowers fell out of my bouquet on the church

00:21:50.730 --> 00:21:55.460
altar. Did you have your dress made? No, it was

00:21:55.460 --> 00:21:57.900
purchased in Wollongong. And what colour suit

00:21:57.900 --> 00:22:01.940
did your husband wear? He wore a navy blue suit.

00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:05.259
We had two weeks away up the north coast and

00:22:05.259 --> 00:22:07.579
then it was back to work. We went as far as Coffs

00:22:07.579 --> 00:22:09.539
Harbour. What sort of car did you drive back

00:22:09.539 --> 00:22:12.450
then? Oh, we had an EH Holden. His pride and

00:22:12.450 --> 00:22:15.029
joy. So the farm was mechanised, was it? There

00:22:15.029 --> 00:22:17.710
were tractors or...? Oh, yes, yes. When David

00:22:17.710 --> 00:22:20.630
was a boy, there was the horses. He hated the

00:22:20.630 --> 00:22:23.750
horses. They were very big and he was a bit frightened

00:22:23.750 --> 00:22:26.690
of them. By the time I came, it was all tractors.

00:22:27.329 --> 00:22:31.049
Where were you living here? We lived in the original

00:22:31.049 --> 00:22:34.349
farmhouse at number 60. What do you recall about

00:22:34.349 --> 00:22:36.869
the water being on the floodplain? Was there

00:22:36.869 --> 00:22:39.400
any event that...? really knocked you around?

00:22:39.920 --> 00:22:42.200
A lot of the floods were what we called dirty

00:22:42.200 --> 00:22:46.160
and they'd deposit a silt over the grass. And

00:22:46.160 --> 00:22:48.940
as the water was receding, if we had too many

00:22:48.940 --> 00:22:52.539
really, really hot days, it'd tend to burn the

00:22:52.539 --> 00:22:55.319
grass a bit. Some people lost cows. They didn't

00:22:55.319 --> 00:22:58.920
get them in soon enough. One really sudden big

00:22:58.920 --> 00:23:02.720
flood, we did have to bring in cows ourselves

00:23:02.720 --> 00:23:05.059
and they had to go in the shed because they were

00:23:05.059 --> 00:23:08.900
in a bad way. So we're into the 60s now. How

00:23:08.900 --> 00:23:11.619
many silos are there? There's four silos there.

00:23:11.880 --> 00:23:13.759
Well, the chaff cutter was only on the concrete

00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:16.140
silo, so there must have only been one silo at

00:23:16.140 --> 00:23:19.420
that point. And how many cows, you think? Probably

00:23:19.420 --> 00:23:22.400
about 60 to 70 at that time. And where's your

00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:25.720
milk going? The milk was going to Nowra, and

00:23:25.720 --> 00:23:29.240
it was still in cans. It was in vats by the time

00:23:29.240 --> 00:23:33.119
I came here, in 70. Yeah, but it was still milk

00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:36.359
cans up until, Betty said, late 60s. So through

00:23:36.359 --> 00:23:40.180
the 60s things were very hard. I'm guessing Pop

00:23:40.180 --> 00:23:42.279
still had this loan to pay off for the farm.

00:23:42.539 --> 00:23:46.359
Henry got a small loan to buy a hay baler. They

00:23:46.359 --> 00:23:49.140
started hay baling contracting. David always

00:23:49.140 --> 00:23:51.900
said that that's what put them ahead and got

00:23:51.900 --> 00:23:55.220
the farm paid for, finally. They used to hay

00:23:55.220 --> 00:23:57.720
bale for Barums. There must have been a close

00:23:57.720 --> 00:24:00.079
association with Barums because I remember Henry

00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:03.829
went up and fixed putting in a new hearth. for

00:24:03.829 --> 00:24:06.309
Barham's as well in their house fire. But they

00:24:06.309 --> 00:24:09.470
spent many years with David carting Sakhalin

00:24:09.470 --> 00:24:12.269
down for Don and then they bailed for Barham's

00:24:12.269 --> 00:24:14.890
as well. They would have shared probably what

00:24:14.890 --> 00:24:17.650
equipment they had. I know the Cochrane family

00:24:17.650 --> 00:24:20.569
in the valley had them over there bailing. Barham

00:24:20.569 --> 00:24:24.390
had a run up Strong's Road as well. I do remember

00:24:24.390 --> 00:24:26.450
Dad saying it was that steep that they could

00:24:26.450 --> 00:24:29.369
only row up the hill standing on the footplate.

00:24:29.690 --> 00:24:32.250
Rotary hoes don't go well down hills. That was

00:24:32.250 --> 00:24:34.490
because the way the rotary hoe turned, it tended

00:24:34.490 --> 00:24:37.049
to push the tractor, so the tractor would have

00:24:37.049 --> 00:24:39.150
been starting to accelerate going down the hill.

00:24:39.269 --> 00:24:41.430
And then he said it was so steep, standing on

00:24:41.430 --> 00:24:43.750
the footplate ready to step off if something

00:24:43.750 --> 00:24:46.569
happened. They did some silly things in those

00:24:46.569 --> 00:24:51.069
days. Anyway... They did what they had to do,

00:24:51.130 --> 00:24:53.329
didn't they? They did. They did. They took risks.

00:24:53.349 --> 00:24:55.970
They took chances. Yeah. Was there any injuries

00:24:55.970 --> 00:24:59.700
that you know of? Yes. I don't know when it was.

00:24:59.859 --> 00:25:03.559
Mum would know, probably. There was a tractor

00:25:03.559 --> 00:25:06.099
accident with Henry. He was bringing a tractor

00:25:06.099 --> 00:25:09.539
back from Narra Truck and Farm. It was a lone

00:25:09.539 --> 00:25:13.960
tractor. And a car hit the tractor while attempting

00:25:13.960 --> 00:25:16.759
to overtake it. And the tractor rolled over,

00:25:16.819 --> 00:25:20.920
rolled over at Henry. And Henry had 12 broken

00:25:20.920 --> 00:25:23.700
ribs. That was on the highway driving home around

00:25:23.700 --> 00:25:27.180
just at... Ray Isons. Yeah, it was somewhere

00:25:27.180 --> 00:25:30.500
along Ray Isons. I do remember Henry having the

00:25:30.500 --> 00:25:32.720
splint, so it would have been in the 70s. It

00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:36.259
was certainly before 70, because the tower had

00:25:36.259 --> 00:25:40.619
happened late 60s, and Henry was so badly injured,

00:25:40.759 --> 00:25:46.579
he wanted to sell up and stop dairying. But because

00:25:46.579 --> 00:25:50.140
of David, he kept going, and David eventually

00:25:50.140 --> 00:25:53.900
inherited the farm. Was Henry... In the local

00:25:53.900 --> 00:25:57.160
hospital, or was he moved? I don't know any of

00:25:57.160 --> 00:26:00.140
the details now. He would have definitely gone

00:26:00.140 --> 00:26:02.759
to hospital. I do remember him moving straps.

00:26:02.920 --> 00:26:05.599
What would that have been for? He could have

00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:08.539
hurt his back or anything. I think that was when

00:26:08.539 --> 00:26:12.700
a cow butted him. They were trying to get some

00:26:12.700 --> 00:26:14.579
cows. I always thought that was the rollover.

00:26:14.779 --> 00:26:17.579
No, no, that happened beforehand. Yeah, so they

00:26:17.579 --> 00:26:20.079
used to go hay baling far and wide, contracting,

00:26:20.359 --> 00:26:23.990
and that paid for the farm. That was a positive

00:26:23.990 --> 00:26:28.589
enterprise. It was. And then at some stage the

00:26:28.589 --> 00:26:31.029
chaff cutter was replaced with a forage harvester

00:26:31.029 --> 00:26:33.930
to get in the corn and the saccharine and the

00:26:33.930 --> 00:26:37.150
grass and more silos were built then. The old

00:26:37.150 --> 00:26:41.910
wooden feed stalls were pulled apart and the

00:26:41.910 --> 00:26:45.130
new feed pad was built and that was a fully enclosed

00:26:45.130 --> 00:26:48.849
shed with concrete floor and a brick trough down

00:26:48.849 --> 00:26:52.180
the middle. for the silage to be put into with

00:26:52.180 --> 00:26:56.660
a hay rack above that. Would you drive along

00:26:56.660 --> 00:26:58.980
in the tractor and it would just run the feed

00:26:58.980 --> 00:27:02.200
through? Yes, there was a self -unloading forage

00:27:02.200 --> 00:27:05.740
wagon and that was driven up through the shed.

00:27:05.900 --> 00:27:08.579
The brick trough was in the middle and it unloaded

00:27:08.579 --> 00:27:11.519
into the brick trough as David drove along with

00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:14.099
the tractor. Do you know the brand of that sort

00:27:14.099 --> 00:27:16.440
of machinery and where that would have been supplied?

00:27:16.839 --> 00:27:20.000
It was a dad special. So the forage harvester

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:23.480
was a Gale. Gale, yes. And that came from Nara

00:27:23.480 --> 00:27:26.480
Truck and Farm, Fred Porter. And that was situated

00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:31.400
where the Ford car yard is now, opposite Stocklands

00:27:31.400 --> 00:27:34.880
Nara. The forage trailer was made from a Gale

00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:38.140
parts kit, and then Dad constructed the rest.

00:27:38.420 --> 00:27:41.460
With the Holden diff on the front. Everything

00:27:41.460 --> 00:27:43.759
was a Holden diff with Dad. It was originally

00:27:43.759 --> 00:27:47.380
a twin -steer trailer with Holden front wheels.

00:27:47.960 --> 00:27:50.339
He kept breaking the stud axles because of the

00:27:50.339 --> 00:27:52.680
weight. He would put about five to six tonne

00:27:52.680 --> 00:27:56.599
in this trailer. So I remember it jacked up and

00:27:56.599 --> 00:27:59.980
a truck axle was put under the front of it so

00:27:59.980 --> 00:28:01.480
that he could still have a steering trailer.

00:28:01.900 --> 00:28:04.819
And that solved the issue? That solved the issue.

00:28:05.140 --> 00:28:08.480
How many cows are getting fed? Oh, we'd be up

00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:13.480
to 80 at least. 80 to 90 by that stage. The stalls

00:28:13.480 --> 00:28:16.759
were designed for 90 capacity. So that's 45 cows

00:28:16.759 --> 00:28:19.099
each side of the trough. On a good day, you manage

00:28:19.099 --> 00:28:21.319
to squeeze 100 in. How are you milking them?

00:28:22.299 --> 00:28:24.940
Still in the original walk -through dairy. How

00:28:24.940 --> 00:28:28.039
many walk -throughs? Six. So it took a while.

00:28:28.460 --> 00:28:31.920
I remember when we were kids that we used to

00:28:31.920 --> 00:28:34.799
have lots of jobs. As soon as there was, on the

00:28:34.799 --> 00:28:36.799
weekend, there was always things going on because

00:28:36.799 --> 00:28:40.019
full mechanisation had occurred by then. So there

00:28:40.019 --> 00:28:43.259
was haymaking in the summer. There was riding

00:28:43.259 --> 00:28:46.980
on tractors getting in. Corn and grass silage.

00:28:47.339 --> 00:28:50.319
Was that fun? Oh, that was great fun. There was

00:28:50.319 --> 00:28:52.279
always stuff going on. Oh, when you were a little

00:28:52.279 --> 00:28:54.559
boy. I don't know if Mum knows this. I remember

00:28:54.559 --> 00:28:58.880
at one stage Dad was cutting corn on the Strong's

00:28:58.880 --> 00:29:01.460
Road property and Dad had the three of us kids

00:29:01.460 --> 00:29:05.259
in the front of the silage cart and he was blowing

00:29:05.259 --> 00:29:07.259
the corn over our heads into the back of the

00:29:07.259 --> 00:29:10.559
silage cart, steering the spout to fill the cart

00:29:10.559 --> 00:29:12.859
evenly and every time it came over the top of

00:29:12.859 --> 00:29:14.880
us we would all duck down the front. So it would

00:29:14.880 --> 00:29:16.900
go over our heads. And how did your mother feel

00:29:16.900 --> 00:29:18.759
about that? She didn't know. I don't know if

00:29:18.759 --> 00:29:21.180
she knew. No, I never knew that. I might have

00:29:21.180 --> 00:29:23.799
had something to say. After school, there was

00:29:23.799 --> 00:29:26.279
always bales of hay to get in while Dad milked.

00:29:26.279 --> 00:29:28.319
As soon as we were all old enough... And how

00:29:28.319 --> 00:29:30.500
old was that? Mark had to be old enough to drive

00:29:30.500 --> 00:29:33.039
the tractor. He's my younger brother. So he drove

00:29:33.039 --> 00:29:35.039
the tractor and Terry and I stacked the hay on

00:29:35.039 --> 00:29:37.740
the back. Dad had made a homemade hay elevator

00:29:37.740 --> 00:29:40.000
that went on the side of the trailer and the

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:41.700
bales used to come up and we stacked them on

00:29:41.700 --> 00:29:44.720
the trailer. Do you have a list of the... His

00:29:44.720 --> 00:29:48.759
workbooks? Henry may have, or it may have just

00:29:48.759 --> 00:29:53.460
been in his head, but a lot of that was thrown

00:29:53.460 --> 00:29:58.099
out unbeknownst to us when he passed away. There

00:29:58.099 --> 00:30:00.460
was a big clean -out and a lot, unfortunately,

00:30:00.740 --> 00:30:04.339
was destroyed. Yeah. There was many, many boxes

00:30:04.339 --> 00:30:06.920
I remember looking through of black -and -white

00:30:06.920 --> 00:30:11.279
photos of calves because to register a cow, you

00:30:11.279 --> 00:30:15.250
needed to have... A photo of the left -hand side

00:30:15.250 --> 00:30:17.210
of the animal standing still so you could see

00:30:17.210 --> 00:30:19.009
all the patterning on it. That was part of the

00:30:19.009 --> 00:30:21.210
registration process. I think they've all gone

00:30:21.210 --> 00:30:23.829
now too. Yes, I haven't got any of those now.

00:30:24.109 --> 00:30:27.369
So you would have to shoot that photo and send

00:30:27.369 --> 00:30:31.369
it in with the registration papers. Yes, and

00:30:31.369 --> 00:30:33.490
you still do. I think there was a lot of things

00:30:33.490 --> 00:30:35.730
that went on that Mum didn't know about and I

00:30:35.730 --> 00:30:38.240
think we were given jobs to do. Before we were

00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:40.740
probably really big enough. I remember as soon

00:30:40.740 --> 00:30:43.200
as I was big enough, I used to climb up the silo

00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:46.200
and steer the blower pipe, the top of the blower

00:30:46.200 --> 00:30:47.940
as it was filling the silo. There was a ladder

00:30:47.940 --> 00:30:50.980
up the outside. Yeah. And there was a small wooden

00:30:50.980 --> 00:30:53.579
platform, just barely big enough to stand on,

00:30:53.660 --> 00:30:57.380
outside at the top of the silo. Did it have windows?

00:30:57.940 --> 00:31:00.700
The silos. How would you, yes, no windows, just

00:31:00.700 --> 00:31:04.819
cement? The later ones were made of tin. Yes,

00:31:04.839 --> 00:31:07.720
in the 70s type thing they came in. I actually

00:31:07.720 --> 00:31:10.539
do remember the last one being built. And they

00:31:10.539 --> 00:31:13.400
had long wooden poles. The tin was curved around

00:31:13.400 --> 00:31:18.180
in a circular silo fashion. The last one he built

00:31:18.180 --> 00:31:21.680
was made of galvanised pipes instead of wooden

00:31:21.680 --> 00:31:24.799
poles to hold the tin in a circular fashion.

00:31:25.119 --> 00:31:28.259
Another one of our jobs was pitchforking the

00:31:28.259 --> 00:31:30.880
silage out of the silos. Yes, that's what I'm

00:31:30.880 --> 00:31:35.789
interested in. So Dad had, yes, so there was

00:31:35.789 --> 00:31:39.690
a chute down the front. Each silo had a vertical

00:31:39.690 --> 00:31:43.410
chute down the front and Dad had made a steel

00:31:43.410 --> 00:31:47.789
elevator, conveyor belt with chains and slats

00:31:47.789 --> 00:31:51.890
and that was put at the bottom of the chute and

00:31:51.890 --> 00:31:55.730
it would go up and it would come off the end

00:31:55.730 --> 00:31:58.130
of that and fall into the silage cart. We would

00:31:58.130 --> 00:32:01.029
be pitchforking the silage out of the silo, chucking

00:32:01.029 --> 00:32:02.930
it out the door and it would fall down the chute.

00:32:03.009 --> 00:32:05.670
And then as we got lower and lower, the silo

00:32:05.670 --> 00:32:10.009
got emptier. There were boards. Pop, pop or Henry

00:32:10.009 --> 00:32:12.269
wood paint. I'm not sure if it was bitumen paint

00:32:12.269 --> 00:32:16.529
or tar paint or something on the tin in sections

00:32:16.529 --> 00:32:20.000
as we got lower and lower. to preserve the tin

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:22.980
from the silage acid as it was filled next year.

00:32:23.079 --> 00:32:24.960
Like Terry said, there was all boards up the

00:32:24.960 --> 00:32:27.099
front, and each, as we got lower, the boards

00:32:27.099 --> 00:32:30.200
were taken out so that, you know, we didn't have

00:32:30.200 --> 00:32:32.779
to throw the silage up to the top of the silo

00:32:32.779 --> 00:32:35.259
to fall down the front. Like, if you understand

00:32:35.259 --> 00:32:38.200
what I mean. I'm following. Keep going. So every

00:32:38.200 --> 00:32:41.259
year that we were forking out of the silo...

00:32:41.829 --> 00:32:44.130
Henry would be painting bitumen paint as we got

00:32:44.130 --> 00:32:46.490
lower and lower on the tin. Now remind me why?

00:32:46.869 --> 00:32:49.450
To stop the silage acids eating through the tin

00:32:49.450 --> 00:32:52.710
and rusting it out. So you had to do a different

00:32:52.710 --> 00:32:55.109
preparation for the tin as opposed to cement?

00:32:55.450 --> 00:32:58.190
I don't recall ever pitchforking out of the concrete

00:32:58.190 --> 00:33:02.309
silo. That kind of got a bit waylaid. Once the

00:33:02.309 --> 00:33:04.509
tin silos were built, the concrete silo tended

00:33:04.509 --> 00:33:06.650
not to be used. I think because the concrete

00:33:06.650 --> 00:33:10.089
silo had manholes up the front and it was difficult

00:33:10.089 --> 00:33:12.880
to... throw the silage out of the manholes was

00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:17.019
it dangerous what you were doing probably how

00:33:17.019 --> 00:33:19.700
would you imagine it would be dangerous in case

00:33:19.700 --> 00:33:23.700
you fell yeah yeah working at heights especially

00:33:23.700 --> 00:33:25.880
on the outside of the silo steering the blower

00:33:25.880 --> 00:33:28.480
pipe it was a long way down so that's blowing

00:33:28.480 --> 00:33:33.059
the silage yeah so when dad was harvesting the

00:33:33.059 --> 00:33:36.119
silage it would be brought up to a blower in

00:33:36.119 --> 00:33:39.079
the silage cart and the pdo on the tractor would

00:33:39.079 --> 00:33:41.980
bring the Chains and slats on the floor would

00:33:41.980 --> 00:33:44.259
bring the silage forward through the beaters

00:33:44.259 --> 00:33:46.380
and then out the side of the front of the trailer

00:33:46.380 --> 00:33:49.900
into the blower. And every time a big chunk of

00:33:49.900 --> 00:33:51.980
silage would go up, the blower pipe would give

00:33:51.980 --> 00:33:53.839
a bit of a kick. It was probably a bit of a wild

00:33:53.839 --> 00:33:56.160
old time. Your father sounds quite mechanical.

00:33:56.160 --> 00:33:58.619
Was he self -taught? He did a welding course

00:33:58.619 --> 00:34:00.539
and that's what taught him to make a lot of the

00:34:00.539 --> 00:34:03.299
stuff at home. I think he was self -taught. A

00:34:03.299 --> 00:34:05.759
lot of it was pretty much self -taught. Pretty

00:34:05.759 --> 00:34:09.500
clever. He could... fix just about anything or

00:34:09.500 --> 00:34:13.260
work out how to make just about anything. And

00:34:13.260 --> 00:34:16.199
was that passed on to his children? Yes, Terry's

00:34:16.199 --> 00:34:18.440
very practical. I think we're all reasonably

00:34:18.440 --> 00:34:21.900
handy. Yeah, Terry has made a lot of innovations

00:34:21.900 --> 00:34:25.420
and Geoff's very practical and he's passing that

00:34:25.420 --> 00:34:28.420
on to the boys, I hope. Part of the innovation

00:34:28.420 --> 00:34:32.639
was David assembled and built the auger system

00:34:32.639 --> 00:34:36.139
to cart grain across to the dairy. So there was

00:34:36.139 --> 00:34:40.920
a loft. above the wooden feed stalls, and when

00:34:40.920 --> 00:34:45.039
they were dismantled, a wooden chute was put

00:34:45.039 --> 00:34:47.320
into this loft, and then there was an auger pipe

00:34:47.320 --> 00:34:51.519
running from the chute up and across on a support

00:34:51.519 --> 00:34:54.539
through the air to the back of the dairy, and

00:34:54.539 --> 00:34:56.980
that filled the bins in the walk -through dairy.

00:34:57.199 --> 00:35:00.269
So Dad built... All that, put all the auger system

00:35:00.269 --> 00:35:03.110
together and got it to work. That took away the

00:35:03.110 --> 00:35:05.250
need for carrying bags of feed across to fill

00:35:05.250 --> 00:35:07.469
the bins in the dairy. The very last innovation

00:35:07.469 --> 00:35:11.070
was the building of the herringbone dairy. That

00:35:11.070 --> 00:35:13.969
was kind of the last big project on the farm.

00:35:14.570 --> 00:35:18.449
And that happened in 93. Describe a herringbone.

00:35:18.869 --> 00:35:22.230
OK, so the cows come in either side of a central

00:35:22.230 --> 00:35:27.039
pit and the farmer is standing in the pit. and

00:35:27.039 --> 00:35:28.960
that puts him a lot lower so he doesn't have

00:35:28.960 --> 00:35:31.039
to bend. Put the cups on the cows, he's at the

00:35:31.039 --> 00:35:32.820
right level. He can just reach across and put

00:35:32.820 --> 00:35:36.340
the cups on the cows. So our dairy was eight

00:35:36.340 --> 00:35:38.699
cows on each side with eight sets of milking

00:35:38.699 --> 00:35:41.500
machines that he swung across from one side to

00:35:41.500 --> 00:35:43.679
the other. So is this a new milking machine?

00:35:44.099 --> 00:35:46.659
It was all new at the time. Well, it was a mixture

00:35:46.659 --> 00:35:50.139
of new and secondhand. And recycled. Recycled.

00:35:50.139 --> 00:35:52.849
It had to marry in with the old vet. Right. Yep.

00:35:53.030 --> 00:35:56.489
How did you build it? The feeders and the pipework

00:35:56.489 --> 00:36:00.550
was bought from a dairy at Milton that had closed

00:36:00.550 --> 00:36:03.869
down. That was Henry Porter? And then that was

00:36:03.869 --> 00:36:06.429
brought up to Jasper's Brush, and then Fred and

00:36:06.429 --> 00:36:08.869
Jason Dean put it all together and built the

00:36:08.869 --> 00:36:12.909
dairy shed, and Class Dean did the milking machine

00:36:12.909 --> 00:36:15.829
side of it. Jason Dean's still working on dairies

00:36:15.829 --> 00:36:20.519
now. He was quite young at the time. 17 or 18,

00:36:20.699 --> 00:36:23.239
working with his father doing the dairy. That's

00:36:23.239 --> 00:36:24.960
what the Dean family does, build dairies. They

00:36:24.960 --> 00:36:28.179
build dairies and farm sheds. Where are they

00:36:28.179 --> 00:36:32.340
located? Jamboree. Yeah, Jamboree. I see Jason

00:36:32.340 --> 00:36:34.659
occasionally working at the dairy that I work

00:36:34.659 --> 00:36:37.579
at now. And where do you work at now? I work

00:36:37.579 --> 00:36:39.920
for McIntosh's at Bury. And what's your role?

00:36:40.159 --> 00:36:42.420
Dairy hand. How many cows have they got there?

00:36:43.679 --> 00:36:46.179
285 this morning. What system are they on there?

00:36:46.559 --> 00:36:49.110
It's a 20 -year side herringbone dairy. Where

00:36:49.110 --> 00:36:52.570
does their milk go? Lactalis. Getting back to

00:36:52.570 --> 00:36:55.510
the milk that side of things. Please. So the

00:36:55.510 --> 00:37:01.329
cans were picked up until the late 60s. Our cans

00:37:01.329 --> 00:37:03.369
had a yellow strip on them. Colours, different

00:37:03.369 --> 00:37:05.630
colours were used to identify the different farms.

00:37:05.889 --> 00:37:08.250
Some farms had their names stamped into them.

00:37:08.329 --> 00:37:12.150
Some of our cans had HC file into them. I was

00:37:12.150 --> 00:37:15.929
just going to say, on the completion of the herringbone,

00:37:16.250 --> 00:37:19.880
it cut one hour off milking time. The dairy co

00:37:19.880 --> 00:37:24.139
-ops were keen to start refrigeration rather

00:37:24.139 --> 00:37:26.880
than having milk cans. They persuaded the farmers

00:37:26.880 --> 00:37:29.760
to put in bulk tanks by the carrier's stopping.

00:37:29.900 --> 00:37:33.079
So that happened in the late 60s. The first milk

00:37:33.079 --> 00:37:37.079
vat was put in at the farm here. Henry must have

00:37:37.079 --> 00:37:40.059
been able to afford it at that time. And I do

00:37:40.059 --> 00:37:43.280
remember David, my dad, saying to me that the

00:37:43.280 --> 00:37:45.159
first milking, he looked at the little bit of

00:37:45.159 --> 00:37:47.480
milk in the bottom of the milk tank. and thinking

00:37:47.480 --> 00:37:49.800
that they would never ever fill that. In a little

00:37:49.800 --> 00:37:53.300
over 20 years' time, there was enough milk that

00:37:53.300 --> 00:37:55.239
there was a need to put in a second milk vat,

00:37:55.340 --> 00:37:59.619
which was then filled as well. That was 1988.

00:38:01.079 --> 00:38:04.260
I think I remember drawing up some rough plans.

00:38:04.340 --> 00:38:06.460
I was still at high school then. So that would

00:38:06.460 --> 00:38:08.219
have been 20 years. Yeah, it would have been.

00:38:08.219 --> 00:38:10.579
That would have been about 20 years since the

00:38:10.579 --> 00:38:12.800
first tank was put in, that the second tank was

00:38:12.800 --> 00:38:15.400
put in. When we had a lot of fresh cows coming

00:38:15.400 --> 00:38:20.349
in, that was inadequate too because we had to

00:38:20.349 --> 00:38:23.570
move to daily pickup. It was regularly every

00:38:23.570 --> 00:38:26.110
second day pickup from the tankers, but with

00:38:26.110 --> 00:38:29.710
the Great Flush we had to move to everyday pickup.

00:38:29.969 --> 00:38:33.570
So you're producing more milk? Yep. It was the

00:38:33.570 --> 00:38:37.690
bottom line. Costs would go up and you had to

00:38:37.690 --> 00:38:40.530
produce more milk. It was by that time the only

00:38:40.530 --> 00:38:44.159
way to increase your income. So it was produced

00:38:44.159 --> 00:38:47.340
more milk to pay for everything that was rising.

00:38:47.659 --> 00:38:51.440
And you needed more land. We did buy more land,

00:38:51.599 --> 00:38:58.039
yes. Yes. In 1976, we bought 98 acres across

00:38:58.039 --> 00:39:03.000
the road. Johnson's property, that was a repat

00:39:03.000 --> 00:39:07.019
farm. At the end of the war, a lot of farms were

00:39:07.019 --> 00:39:10.269
bought by the government. and sold very cheaply

00:39:10.269 --> 00:39:13.429
to return servicemen. Must have been in the 80s.

00:39:13.429 --> 00:39:16.090
We bought this side from Don Barra. It was early

00:39:16.090 --> 00:39:18.269
90s, I think. I think it was early 90s. So you

00:39:18.269 --> 00:39:21.650
have a shirt on called Woodside Park. Is that

00:39:21.650 --> 00:39:24.050
the Macintosh farm? Yes, that's the Macintosh

00:39:24.050 --> 00:39:26.789
farm. Thank you. OK, so you want to continue

00:39:26.789 --> 00:39:30.010
with where were you at? Henry was chairman of

00:39:30.010 --> 00:39:33.530
Narra Dairy and when that finished is when we

00:39:33.530 --> 00:39:36.880
changed to Berry Co -op. And I do know also that

00:39:36.880 --> 00:39:39.380
Henry was also chairman of the board of the drainage

00:39:39.380 --> 00:39:43.840
trust. What is that? I can go back to the chairmanship

00:39:43.840 --> 00:39:48.900
of the co -op. I do know he was the vice chair

00:39:48.900 --> 00:39:54.820
from 68 to 72. He took the chair in 72 to 74.

00:39:55.780 --> 00:39:58.679
After that, he went back to being a director

00:39:58.679 --> 00:40:01.599
of the board. That was Henry. When did Henry

00:40:01.599 --> 00:40:08.210
pass? He passed away in... 89. 89. Yeah. David

00:40:08.210 --> 00:40:12.750
inherited the property in 89. Yes. So what is

00:40:12.750 --> 00:40:17.130
the drainage? It was a flood mitigation scheme.

00:40:17.190 --> 00:40:20.610
I think it was funded by the state government,

00:40:20.829 --> 00:40:24.809
overseen by Shullhaven Shire Council back then.

00:40:25.429 --> 00:40:29.030
John Downey was the person in charge through

00:40:29.030 --> 00:40:31.590
council. They would have got the landholders

00:40:31.590 --> 00:40:36.380
together. and formed a trust. Going by our flood

00:40:36.380 --> 00:40:42.039
gauges and records that we kept of rain and flood

00:40:42.039 --> 00:40:46.619
gauges, I'm saying 1963. No, Henry was the chairman.

00:40:46.960 --> 00:40:50.480
I don't know the dates. Not all the drains were

00:40:50.480 --> 00:40:53.400
put in. There was a master drain that ran from

00:40:53.400 --> 00:40:57.639
basically, would have been Leo Davis' farm, through

00:40:57.639 --> 00:41:00.539
to somewhere near the paper mill was the master

00:41:00.539 --> 00:41:02.750
drain that was never put in. Before that was

00:41:02.750 --> 00:41:06.530
put in, I know high tide used to come in all

00:41:06.530 --> 00:41:09.869
the way across our end of the flat, all the way

00:41:09.869 --> 00:41:12.789
to Davis's farm. What would happen? Buy a saltwater,

00:41:12.989 --> 00:41:15.349
kill the grass. So the high tide will come in?

00:41:15.570 --> 00:41:20.630
Yes, along the low country. Leo Davis' farm would

00:41:20.630 --> 00:41:24.110
have to be two mile from Broughton Creek. I have

00:41:24.110 --> 00:41:27.969
seen LIDAR images of the area. It's only two

00:41:27.969 --> 00:41:30.230
feet above sea level. How much of your farm would

00:41:30.230 --> 00:41:33.030
go under? In a flood? Half of it. In a high tide,

00:41:33.369 --> 00:41:38.809
I'm not sure how much of it would have gone underwater.

00:41:39.550 --> 00:41:41.429
It would have only been the back corner. It would

00:41:41.429 --> 00:41:43.550
have been the back corner. Now, when the drainage

00:41:43.550 --> 00:41:45.349
truss was formed, I think that's when the levee

00:41:45.349 --> 00:41:47.710
banks were put in. and the floodgates and the

00:41:47.710 --> 00:41:50.690
drainage was put in with drag lines i do know

00:41:50.690 --> 00:41:53.909
dad's this is in jasper's brush there were two

00:41:53.909 --> 00:41:57.389
schemes there was the one oh it's the northern

00:41:57.389 --> 00:41:59.469
side of the shell haven and the southern side

00:41:59.469 --> 00:42:01.969
it encompasses more than jasper's brush on the

00:42:01.969 --> 00:42:04.210
northern side it's sort of in towards berry as

00:42:04.210 --> 00:42:07.510
well and back forest when was this roughly i'm

00:42:07.510 --> 00:42:10.469
saying 63 is when our records of the flood level

00:42:10.469 --> 00:42:13.510
start so probably a couple of years before that

00:42:13.510 --> 00:42:17.269
we actually did have three flood gauges that

00:42:17.269 --> 00:42:20.730
were proper flood level gauges. If only I could

00:42:20.730 --> 00:42:23.789
find that book, I'd put it somewhere safe. We

00:42:23.789 --> 00:42:27.309
have records from 63 to 98 of flood levels and

00:42:27.309 --> 00:42:30.389
rain. So when the drainage scheme was wound up,

00:42:30.590 --> 00:42:34.489
we did end up with the old channel cleaner and

00:42:34.489 --> 00:42:38.449
the old drain, little rotary drain digger. They

00:42:38.449 --> 00:42:40.889
ended up at our place. And I remember Dad using

00:42:40.889 --> 00:42:43.070
them on the back of the tractor. And what was

00:42:43.070 --> 00:42:47.119
their purpose? so the channel cleaner was on

00:42:47.119 --> 00:42:49.340
the back of the tractor and you used to back

00:42:49.340 --> 00:42:52.820
up to it drop it into the drain and drive forward

00:42:52.820 --> 00:42:54.860
and it would just clean clean the muck out of

00:42:54.860 --> 00:42:56.420
the drain you just drive forward and pull it

00:42:56.420 --> 00:42:58.659
out of the drain the rotary drain digger was

00:42:58.659 --> 00:43:01.380
a small implement that went on the back of the

00:43:01.380 --> 00:43:05.559
tractor with a spinning of course it was covered

00:43:05.559 --> 00:43:08.340
but a spinning blade a little bit like a rotary

00:43:08.340 --> 00:43:12.480
hoe blade and that would dig a small ditch drain

00:43:12.480 --> 00:43:15.010
as you would Driving along. But it did throw

00:43:15.010 --> 00:43:17.670
dirt up in the air in all directions. I remember

00:43:17.670 --> 00:43:22.409
Dad using it. The last time it was wet, there

00:43:22.409 --> 00:43:24.909
was mud and stuff flying everywhere. And when

00:43:24.909 --> 00:43:26.929
you're a little boy under 10 years old, it was

00:43:26.929 --> 00:43:29.010
the coolest thing. What, did Dad get covered

00:43:29.010 --> 00:43:32.250
in mud? Did it smell? No, it's just mud. It's

00:43:32.250 --> 00:43:34.849
just mud and dirt. I'm going to introduce Terry

00:43:34.849 --> 00:43:40.969
Farl. We're sitting in at the old mayoral premises.

00:43:41.960 --> 00:43:49.480
at Berry Showground. Terry is now President of

00:43:49.480 --> 00:43:54.460
the Berry Show Society and I'm meeting him for

00:43:54.460 --> 00:43:57.440
an interview the next day after the original

00:43:57.440 --> 00:44:03.019
recording. It's a very windy day and there's

00:44:03.019 --> 00:44:06.760
a lot of echo in council chambers. I didn't have

00:44:06.760 --> 00:44:10.760
much choice as Terry's very busy. It's like trying

00:44:10.760 --> 00:44:15.860
to catch a wild cat. So forgive us for a bit

00:44:15.860 --> 00:44:18.340
of echo. I've done my best. And here we are.

00:44:18.460 --> 00:44:21.440
Terry's going to talk a bit about the environment

00:44:21.440 --> 00:44:25.980
of Jasper's Brush. Can you describe the landscape?

00:44:26.659 --> 00:44:31.199
Where we are, it's a clay on shale ridge that

00:44:31.199 --> 00:44:34.159
runs down into the swamp. The swamp is an ancient

00:44:34.159 --> 00:44:38.199
lake bed. I tried to work it out this morning.

00:44:38.380 --> 00:44:44.019
It basically runs from Bury through to the Shoalhaven

00:44:44.019 --> 00:44:48.400
River and further south. It is peat soil on the

00:44:48.400 --> 00:44:51.920
swamp proper. There are patches of pure white

00:44:51.920 --> 00:44:54.320
sand indicating the ancient beaches that used

00:44:54.320 --> 00:44:57.539
to be there. If you know where to dig you can

00:44:57.539 --> 00:45:00.940
find that. There's ancient sea shells buried

00:45:00.940 --> 00:45:05.309
in some of it as well. It is very fertile country,

00:45:05.690 --> 00:45:10.969
especially in a dry season. Just before the Christmas

00:45:10.969 --> 00:45:14.590
fires of 2019 -20, a few weeks before the fire

00:45:14.590 --> 00:45:16.570
jumped the river, we were cutting hay down there.

00:45:16.929 --> 00:45:21.070
Now, that's the reason Henry bought the place.

00:45:21.190 --> 00:45:24.809
It was back in 1941, it was similar weather conditions,

00:45:25.050 --> 00:45:27.849
and it was the only place that had feed. They

00:45:27.849 --> 00:45:31.130
were carting the Paspalan, which is native to

00:45:31.130 --> 00:45:35.030
the area. as far away to at least Bundy Waller,

00:45:35.030 --> 00:45:37.389
which is out the back of Bury, west of Bury.

00:45:37.510 --> 00:45:40.070
This was before the flood mitigation scheme was

00:45:40.070 --> 00:45:43.570
put in. The story from Henry was you couldn't

00:45:43.570 --> 00:45:46.010
see the fences for the past pale, and this is

00:45:46.010 --> 00:45:49.510
in a dry year. So in a wet year... In a wet year,

00:45:49.550 --> 00:45:55.010
it's funny soil. In a wet year, I'll go to 1989

00:45:55.010 --> 00:46:00.030
when I first went onto the dairy, we had mud

00:46:00.030 --> 00:46:04.199
around. basically knee deep that used to go green

00:46:04.199 --> 00:46:07.340
between milkings. So you couldn't ride the motorbike

00:46:07.340 --> 00:46:09.400
anywhere off the road, but down on the swamp,

00:46:09.599 --> 00:46:11.579
you could walk around in your leather boots.

00:46:12.599 --> 00:46:16.719
It's real funny soil. But if you break that crust,

00:46:16.800 --> 00:46:19.760
which is only six inches deep, you instantly

00:46:19.760 --> 00:46:22.000
stop and go and get something to pull yourself

00:46:22.000 --> 00:46:24.360
out because if you keep going, you're going down,

00:46:24.480 --> 00:46:29.179
not out. It's real funny soil. So you can get

00:46:29.179 --> 00:46:32.070
trapped in it. You say? With machinery, yeah.

00:46:32.429 --> 00:46:35.550
Very easy. We've got family photos. Mum didn't

00:46:35.550 --> 00:46:38.849
drag them out back when the army had the airfield

00:46:38.849 --> 00:46:41.250
block back in the 80s where they used to do the

00:46:41.250 --> 00:46:45.409
parachute training school. There's a uni -mog,

00:46:45.469 --> 00:46:48.369
one of their six -wheel drive Mack trucks, and

00:46:48.369 --> 00:46:51.829
one of those little John Deere Traxcavator backhoe

00:46:51.829 --> 00:46:57.190
things buried in the mud. So let's talk about...

00:46:57.769 --> 00:47:00.449
Some of the dilemmas before the drainage system

00:47:00.449 --> 00:47:03.570
was implemented, what do you imagine? And how

00:47:03.570 --> 00:47:07.409
far up does the water come in terms of the streets,

00:47:07.570 --> 00:47:10.150
the railway, like the sites? The railway station

00:47:10.150 --> 00:47:14.150
lane. Before the drainage systems were put in,

00:47:14.210 --> 00:47:19.489
which I think were 1963, the tide used to go

00:47:19.489 --> 00:47:23.369
back for at least two miles back to the low point

00:47:23.369 --> 00:47:25.909
of the swamp, which is, what's the best way to

00:47:25.909 --> 00:47:29.219
describe it? Over the highway from the Silo's

00:47:29.219 --> 00:47:31.480
restaurant now, I think you've done the Davis

00:47:31.480 --> 00:47:34.579
family. Okay, in the back of their place, the

00:47:34.579 --> 00:47:38.260
low point of the swamp is on that place and is

00:47:38.260 --> 00:47:41.260
only two feet above sea level. Where we are to

00:47:41.260 --> 00:47:43.659
the east of there, it rises to about four feet

00:47:43.659 --> 00:47:48.579
above sea level. And King Tides, before the flood

00:47:48.579 --> 00:47:50.280
system was put in with the levee banks on Broughton

00:47:50.280 --> 00:47:52.019
Creek, used to go all the way through there,

00:47:52.119 --> 00:47:55.619
which is at least two or three miles. Does Jasper's

00:47:55.619 --> 00:47:59.099
Brush Creek run through your land? Yes, it runs

00:47:59.099 --> 00:48:03.059
through Barham's Block, which we purchased in

00:48:03.059 --> 00:48:06.960
the early 90s. No, it would be earlier than that.

00:48:07.059 --> 00:48:12.119
The reason I'm saying the 80s was the Army bought

00:48:12.119 --> 00:48:15.659
the bottom of our place, what I call Callaghan's

00:48:15.659 --> 00:48:20.139
Place, and Ray Ison's Place, and the bottom of

00:48:20.139 --> 00:48:23.309
Davis's Farm. That was... while they were running

00:48:23.309 --> 00:48:26.090
the parachute training school there and they

00:48:26.090 --> 00:48:28.210
wanted someone to do the line jumps out of the

00:48:28.210 --> 00:48:32.369
Hercules. I do remember right at the end of it

00:48:32.369 --> 00:48:34.429
they had radio control parachutes. They were

00:48:34.429 --> 00:48:37.050
dropping trailers with the radio control. Right

00:48:37.050 --> 00:48:39.050
at the end they did a big exercise. I think there

00:48:39.050 --> 00:48:41.469
was five Hercules loads of paratroopers dropped

00:48:41.469 --> 00:48:45.469
and they invaded the airfield with blanks, thankfully.

00:48:45.889 --> 00:48:48.690
And I think that went all night. That exercise

00:48:48.690 --> 00:48:53.400
did. That increased the original airfield block

00:48:53.400 --> 00:48:57.940
from 100 acres to 325 acres now. And that is

00:48:57.940 --> 00:49:00.940
currently owned by Skydive the Beach Wollongong.

00:49:01.099 --> 00:49:06.059
It's his personal farm. How does the water affect

00:49:06.059 --> 00:49:11.800
animals? And then what's the impacts on vegetation?

00:49:13.159 --> 00:49:18.599
What's arisen? Since the flood mitigation schemes

00:49:18.599 --> 00:49:20.849
put in, unless the... drains are maintained,

00:49:21.170 --> 00:49:25.230
the water can't run away fast enough. The big

00:49:25.230 --> 00:49:27.869
water goes, it's the small water. By big water

00:49:27.869 --> 00:49:31.590
I say 8 -10 feet of water. The smaller water

00:49:31.590 --> 00:49:34.090
which is only knee deep can't get away and if

00:49:34.090 --> 00:49:36.969
we get a lot of hot sunny days it's enough to

00:49:36.969 --> 00:49:40.590
heat the water up that will scald the grass and

00:49:40.590 --> 00:49:43.750
obviously it's going to kill it or retard it.

00:49:43.989 --> 00:49:48.389
We can get floods with mud. We do get silt sometimes.

00:49:48.809 --> 00:49:51.469
Our biggest issue is all the flood debris, which

00:49:51.469 --> 00:49:54.750
is logs and grass and goodness knows what else

00:49:54.750 --> 00:49:57.269
floats up. Occasionally we have to go and clean

00:49:57.269 --> 00:50:00.090
that up. We watch the weather. Because I'm a

00:50:00.090 --> 00:50:02.170
haymaking contractor, I'm watching it anyway.

00:50:02.369 --> 00:50:06.329
But you get a local knowledge and a feel and

00:50:06.329 --> 00:50:09.110
you always are on the side of caution. So if

00:50:09.110 --> 00:50:11.690
we think there's something coming, we'll... get

00:50:11.690 --> 00:50:14.269
our stock off the swamp up onto the high country

00:50:14.269 --> 00:50:16.250
or at least in a paddock where the flood can

00:50:16.250 --> 00:50:20.210
push them up onto the hill. I've got three paddocks

00:50:20.210 --> 00:50:23.570
set up that way that I'm safe if they're in there

00:50:23.570 --> 00:50:26.550
and I think there's a flood coming it will push

00:50:26.550 --> 00:50:31.469
them up onto the hill. We have had one instance

00:50:31.469 --> 00:50:33.369
in the whole time we've been in the brush since

00:50:33.369 --> 00:50:38.050
1941 we lost five animals it was caught us by

00:50:38.050 --> 00:50:42.789
surprise it was A hell of a storm up around Robertson.

00:50:43.289 --> 00:50:47.190
We got four feet of water overnight, which is

00:50:47.190 --> 00:50:50.630
not unusual. What caught us was the speed and

00:50:50.630 --> 00:50:55.190
temperature. It was fast. It's the only flood

00:50:55.190 --> 00:50:58.289
I've ever seen that got foxes, and it was cold.

00:50:59.050 --> 00:51:01.650
That's what killed our stock. It was barely up

00:51:01.650 --> 00:51:05.230
the top wire of the fence, but it was the cold

00:51:05.230 --> 00:51:07.570
that got them. How does the water get to your

00:51:07.570 --> 00:51:11.099
property from Robertson? A lot of people don't

00:51:11.099 --> 00:51:14.059
realise that Robertson drains into the top of

00:51:14.059 --> 00:51:16.500
Fox Ground, which is the headwaters of the Broughton

00:51:16.500 --> 00:51:19.900
Creek. And, of course, it overspills onto the

00:51:19.900 --> 00:51:25.800
swamp and comes across. Dad is often spoken of.

00:51:25.800 --> 00:51:28.739
He went out there one day and he could only go

00:51:28.739 --> 00:51:30.699
backwards with the tractor because it was washing

00:51:30.699 --> 00:51:33.820
the front wheels sideways. We had skydive the

00:51:33.820 --> 00:51:35.760
beach guys down there. They got caught. They

00:51:35.760 --> 00:51:37.780
had an overstock on the farm. It was washing

00:51:37.780 --> 00:51:40.650
the... troop carrier sideways. Not big floods,

00:51:40.730 --> 00:51:43.449
but he's reckoned there was about four knot cross

00:51:43.449 --> 00:51:45.730
-carry, which is why we try and avoid getting

00:51:45.730 --> 00:51:47.429
caught in floods. We've only been caught once.

00:51:47.570 --> 00:51:50.809
And for a flood to catch the foxes is unheard

00:51:50.809 --> 00:51:54.170
of. What about rock? Do you get much of that?

00:51:54.750 --> 00:51:58.269
Rock? That's... You get creek stone on the Brush

00:51:58.269 --> 00:52:00.969
Creek part of the property. Some of it's not

00:52:00.969 --> 00:52:03.949
really deep. It's just below grass level. Where

00:52:03.949 --> 00:52:06.980
the dairies and the houses are, it's... That

00:52:06.980 --> 00:52:11.699
shale clay ridge, there's no rock there. The

00:52:11.699 --> 00:52:15.019
swamp, I mean the swamp is peat soil. However,

00:52:15.239 --> 00:52:19.840
I was digging below our dam to the west of that,

00:52:20.019 --> 00:52:23.320
which is out on the swamp proper. I think I was

00:52:23.320 --> 00:52:25.099
burying a cow or something and I'm digging up

00:52:25.099 --> 00:52:27.980
creek stones. And there's nothing on the surface

00:52:27.980 --> 00:52:30.579
to indicate there was ever a creek there. So

00:52:30.579 --> 00:52:33.900
I've got no idea. This is guessing on my part.

00:52:34.059 --> 00:52:37.449
There was a tsunami. Back in the day, an ancient

00:52:37.449 --> 00:52:41.190
one, there's stories of rocks that they've identified

00:52:41.190 --> 00:52:43.489
up on point perpendicular that were lifted by

00:52:43.489 --> 00:52:47.889
that tsunami. I do know up in the headwaters

00:52:47.889 --> 00:52:50.530
of Crooked River, which is up in Gerringong,

00:52:50.849 --> 00:52:54.230
Col Fay was farming that particular farm. He

00:52:54.230 --> 00:52:58.670
had a university there and doing excavations

00:52:58.670 --> 00:53:00.909
in the sediments and they were uncovering evidence

00:53:00.909 --> 00:53:03.650
of that tsunami up there. It's a windy day today,

00:53:03.750 --> 00:53:07.420
isn't it? It's not helpful. This is an indication

00:53:07.420 --> 00:53:10.760
to me, reading the weather, it's still going

00:53:10.760 --> 00:53:14.480
to stay dry. It's coming from the west. It's

00:53:14.480 --> 00:53:17.460
coming off the snow. I didn't like the north

00:53:17.460 --> 00:53:20.519
-westers in August. I'd rather have south -westers

00:53:20.519 --> 00:53:22.940
in August stay off the snow. That was the first

00:53:22.940 --> 00:53:24.940
indication that it was going to flip from wet

00:53:24.940 --> 00:53:30.460
to dry. Do watch JWC closely. Those guys, I've

00:53:30.460 --> 00:53:32.699
seen them accurate to two years out in the front.

00:53:33.260 --> 00:53:35.199
That's why we don't watch the television. They're

00:53:35.199 --> 00:53:36.619
more worried about, is the weekend going to be

00:53:36.619 --> 00:53:40.639
good to go surfing? So Terry, you pointed out

00:53:40.639 --> 00:53:43.679
some grasses yesterday when we were driving across

00:53:43.679 --> 00:53:48.519
to the gates with the water. Is that a recent

00:53:48.519 --> 00:53:51.719
phenomenon? The perspalum is native to the swamp.

00:53:51.980 --> 00:53:55.300
That red stuff you said? The red stuff, the smartweed,

00:53:55.340 --> 00:53:59.329
it's also a native to the swamp. An indication

00:53:59.329 --> 00:54:02.889
that the previous season being wet is where the

00:54:02.889 --> 00:54:05.590
water ponds. It just comes up. That's an indication

00:54:05.590 --> 00:54:08.929
that your drainage is not quite right. Now, drainage

00:54:08.929 --> 00:54:10.969
on the swamp can be a difficult proposition.

00:54:11.530 --> 00:54:14.929
It's like a bowl of jelly that moves over the

00:54:14.929 --> 00:54:17.309
course of decades. If I can find the flood book,

00:54:17.389 --> 00:54:20.090
the proof there is from the flood levels. The

00:54:20.090 --> 00:54:21.929
flood gauges were put in back when the mitigation

00:54:21.929 --> 00:54:25.230
scheme was started with the drainage trust. Water

00:54:25.230 --> 00:54:28.650
being level. There's discrepancies between some

00:54:28.650 --> 00:54:30.590
of them that you can trace through those flood

00:54:30.590 --> 00:54:34.630
levels by an inch or so over decades. So detailed

00:54:34.630 --> 00:54:36.869
drainage is the key to the swamp, just shallow,

00:54:36.909 --> 00:54:38.929
wide drains that you can cross with the machinery

00:54:38.929 --> 00:54:41.230
to keep them clean. But you do have to be aware

00:54:41.230 --> 00:54:44.829
the swamp is slowly heaving and moving. Not by

00:54:44.829 --> 00:54:47.989
a lot. It may be seasonal as it wets up and dries

00:54:47.989 --> 00:54:51.889
out, but peat being peat. Peat also is a little

00:54:51.889 --> 00:54:54.309
bit unique in the way it burns. I was going to

00:54:54.309 --> 00:54:57.809
ask because I remember. Mm -hmm. I've fought

00:54:57.809 --> 00:55:00.690
a few peat fires over the years down there. Now,

00:55:00.690 --> 00:55:03.190
it was burning with the last huge fire. Yes,

00:55:03.250 --> 00:55:08.110
the 19, 2019, 20 fires. Everyone's worried about

00:55:08.110 --> 00:55:11.949
the bush burning. Manildra, just before all that

00:55:11.949 --> 00:55:13.989
started, had a failed hay crop because it was

00:55:13.989 --> 00:55:16.530
a dry season. They pushed their hay up to the

00:55:16.530 --> 00:55:18.110
end of the paddock, which is on the boundary

00:55:18.110 --> 00:55:21.750
of the airfield, and what, back in the day, I

00:55:21.750 --> 00:55:25.030
know it as Soper's Farm. It must have had enough

00:55:25.030 --> 00:55:28.360
moisture. in it that it spontaneously combusted

00:55:28.360 --> 00:55:31.360
completely independent of the bushfires that

00:55:31.360 --> 00:55:34.000
were raging the peat had dried out enough that

00:55:34.000 --> 00:55:37.500
it did ignite and it's a smouldering fire the

00:55:37.500 --> 00:55:39.880
best i can describe it to people that don't understand

00:55:39.880 --> 00:55:42.679
is a cigarette butt it's smouldering but you

00:55:42.679 --> 00:55:45.139
can't see it smouldering until you draw on it

00:55:45.139 --> 00:55:50.019
it's just like that now that fire was only i

00:55:50.019 --> 00:55:53.579
don't know three acres big the first day is always

00:55:53.579 --> 00:55:56.670
scary when it's a grass fire That burns. We had

00:55:56.670 --> 00:55:58.710
three helicopters bombing that. I don't know

00:55:58.710 --> 00:56:01.670
how many firetanks we had because they panicked.

00:56:01.929 --> 00:56:04.469
The fire control know what the swamp's like and

00:56:04.469 --> 00:56:06.269
they hit the panic button. There must have been

00:56:06.269 --> 00:56:08.230
a serious panic to draw everything away from

00:56:08.230 --> 00:56:09.989
the major fires that were at the back of Nowra.

00:56:10.170 --> 00:56:14.170
The second day, it did flare up. By that stage,

00:56:14.369 --> 00:56:18.449
me and Paul Timms had set my trailer up with

00:56:18.449 --> 00:56:21.230
two 1 ,000 -litre tanks with the firefighter

00:56:21.230 --> 00:56:23.800
rig. He had set up his old Land Cruiser with

00:56:23.800 --> 00:56:26.139
a 1 ,000 litre tank and a firefighter rig on

00:56:26.139 --> 00:56:28.480
the back of that. So we were ready for it. Once

00:56:28.480 --> 00:56:31.820
we knew it was off on day one, day two when it

00:56:31.820 --> 00:56:34.199
flared up again, we were there. Paul Camilleri

00:56:34.199 --> 00:56:35.699
was there with his little boom spray and quickly

00:56:35.699 --> 00:56:39.739
found out that's not big enough. We had a couple

00:56:39.739 --> 00:56:42.300
of fire trucks in attendance and we also had

00:56:42.300 --> 00:56:44.840
a local guy by the name of Ken Hutt with his

00:56:44.840 --> 00:56:47.369
little truck with 4 ,000 litre tanks on it. Ken

00:56:47.369 --> 00:56:50.409
stayed on the fire. The RFS had more or less

00:56:50.409 --> 00:56:53.809
disappeared by then. I ended up shuttling water

00:56:53.809 --> 00:56:56.210
from one of the flood mitigation drains that

00:56:56.210 --> 00:56:57.710
runs through the airfield, which is probably

00:56:57.710 --> 00:57:00.550
only 200 yards away from the fire. I was filling

00:57:00.550 --> 00:57:03.550
my tanks up, transferring that into Ken's truck

00:57:03.550 --> 00:57:05.849
so he could continuously pump water on the fire.

00:57:06.250 --> 00:57:09.309
Paul Timms, at the same time as mobile with the

00:57:09.309 --> 00:57:11.289
Land Cruiser, I was also filling him up at the

00:57:11.289 --> 00:57:13.489
same time I was filling my tanks up. So between

00:57:13.489 --> 00:57:16.329
us, the three of us, we had water on that fire.

00:57:17.130 --> 00:57:19.929
continuously. Now the way to fight a peat fire,

00:57:20.130 --> 00:57:22.789
when the grass is gone, the scary day is gone,

00:57:23.010 --> 00:57:26.090
is you look for the smoke or occasionally you'll

00:57:26.090 --> 00:57:28.829
see a little flicker of flame. What you do there

00:57:28.829 --> 00:57:30.969
is you get your fire hose, which is an inch hose

00:57:30.969 --> 00:57:34.349
in our case, point it vertical and you literally

00:57:34.349 --> 00:57:38.909
blast the black ash that's burnt out of the ground.

00:57:39.170 --> 00:57:40.789
And then when you think you've got it all, you

00:57:40.789 --> 00:57:42.630
put your hand at the bottom of the hole, feel

00:57:42.630 --> 00:57:45.429
if it's still hot, you keep blasting. The trick

00:57:45.949 --> 00:57:48.289
is you've got to catch it all in the first week

00:57:48.289 --> 00:57:50.150
before it gets too deep and you can't access

00:57:50.150 --> 00:57:57.010
it. There are stories of peat burning big enough

00:57:57.010 --> 00:57:59.190
that you'll lose a fire truck in it if it collapses

00:57:59.190 --> 00:58:01.670
on top of you. This is moving sideways, but this

00:58:01.670 --> 00:58:03.570
is an illustration of what a peat fire can do.

00:58:03.670 --> 00:58:06.630
Coombanderry Swamp is the result of a peat fire

00:58:06.630 --> 00:58:09.849
that burned for 12 months. Now that's Agar's

00:58:09.849 --> 00:58:14.360
Lane east to, we call it the sand track. which

00:58:14.360 --> 00:58:19.760
is just north of Shellaven Heads. That is how

00:58:19.760 --> 00:58:22.059
much you can lose in a peat fire, just some.

00:58:22.639 --> 00:58:25.099
Before that peat fire, the agar farm used to

00:58:25.099 --> 00:58:27.719
go all the way through to the sand track and

00:58:27.719 --> 00:58:30.679
it was all ryegrass and clover country. Now it's

00:58:30.679 --> 00:58:33.159
a swamp. That's what a peat fire can do. That's

00:58:33.159 --> 00:58:36.619
why we like to get on it quick. In 1974, there

00:58:36.619 --> 00:58:40.940
were six floods on record. Two of them were big.

00:58:41.099 --> 00:58:43.599
There was one 10 -foot flood and there was one

00:58:43.599 --> 00:58:47.960
11 -foot flood. Now, I've managed to piece together

00:58:47.960 --> 00:58:52.340
through talking to locals that one of those floods,

00:58:52.420 --> 00:58:55.079
I'm pretty sure, was the one that cut the highway.

00:58:55.280 --> 00:58:58.920
It took out the railway line. North of where

00:58:58.920 --> 00:59:01.139
we are would be on Don Barham's Creek. It's the

00:59:01.139 --> 00:59:03.940
Brush Creek. All the bridges and the highways

00:59:03.940 --> 00:59:06.769
went down through every creek. All the bridges

00:59:06.769 --> 00:59:09.550
were gone. I think it may be the same storm that

00:59:09.550 --> 00:59:12.730
took the Cigna up onto Stockton Beach. Talking

00:59:12.730 --> 00:59:15.809
to the Agar family, Cole in particular, who was

00:59:15.809 --> 00:59:18.650
milking cows then, it was a nightmare because

00:59:18.650 --> 00:59:21.530
his farm is Straddles, Agar's Lane. The highway

00:59:21.530 --> 00:59:24.530
was that cut. Police had stop and go on Agar's

00:59:24.530 --> 00:59:27.170
Lane and that was the only way north. He's trying

00:59:27.170 --> 00:59:29.750
to get the milkers up through a stop and go Princess

00:59:29.750 --> 00:59:33.530
Highway situation. What a nightmare that was.

00:59:34.079 --> 00:59:36.539
where they've lifted the highway level, so they've

00:59:36.539 --> 00:59:40.679
put new bridges in above that flood level. They

00:59:40.679 --> 00:59:43.760
obviously had to repair bridges, so they've done

00:59:43.760 --> 00:59:47.579
it right. The one they missed is north of there.

00:59:47.679 --> 00:59:51.820
It's north of Crozier's Road. It's that little

00:59:51.820 --> 00:59:54.340
creek there at the bottom of that hill before

00:59:54.340 --> 00:59:58.670
you get to Muller's Lane. Talking to Len Rhodes,

00:59:58.789 --> 01:00:00.409
who used to live in that house on the western

01:00:00.409 --> 01:00:02.610
side of the highway just there, has seen five

01:00:02.610 --> 01:00:07.230
feet of water running out of that creek over

01:00:07.230 --> 01:00:11.289
the highway. So that explains why the new highway

01:00:11.289 --> 01:00:13.730
is the levels it's at. They've obviously known

01:00:13.730 --> 01:00:18.130
about that. It's a scary amount of water. I've

01:00:18.130 --> 01:00:22.030
actually got video on my phone of a major event

01:00:22.030 --> 01:00:26.400
from nearly two years ago now. We had something

01:00:26.400 --> 01:00:29.480
like 200 millimetres in an hour or something.

01:00:30.699 --> 01:00:34.519
There's a seven -chamber box culvert under the

01:00:34.519 --> 01:00:38.239
current highway there at O 'Keeffe's Lane that

01:00:38.239 --> 01:00:41.800
drains into a dam and nowhere else for it to

01:00:41.800 --> 01:00:44.739
go. I've got footage where the dam has burst.

01:00:45.400 --> 01:00:47.739
There's two feet of water running down O 'Keeffe's

01:00:47.739 --> 01:00:51.860
Lane. My stepdaughter was milking that dairy

01:00:51.860 --> 01:00:54.840
at the time on Tim's Farm. The kids have got

01:00:54.840 --> 01:00:57.219
together in the ute and I've had to drive the

01:00:57.219 --> 01:01:01.239
tractor through to make sure the pipe hadn't

01:01:01.239 --> 01:01:03.500
washed out. And they were following me in the

01:01:03.500 --> 01:01:06.380
ute. The reason being the tractor weighs five

01:01:06.380 --> 01:01:08.579
tonne. If it had gone down in a hole, it would

01:01:08.579 --> 01:01:11.460
not have floated. Whereas the kids in the ute

01:01:11.460 --> 01:01:14.280
would be floating down, frustrated and gone.

01:01:15.559 --> 01:01:18.699
There's one comment I will make. It's an untapped

01:01:18.699 --> 01:01:23.539
resource of the Aboriginal verbal history. they

01:01:23.539 --> 01:01:28.360
will have seen this and with a bit of luck that

01:01:28.360 --> 01:01:31.460
could be and should be tapped into because they

01:01:31.460 --> 01:01:34.860
go back, what, tens of thousands of years. Totally.

01:01:35.139 --> 01:01:38.820
For those that actually may remain. Those that

01:01:38.820 --> 01:01:42.300
have the tribal law, for want of a better word,

01:01:42.460 --> 01:01:49.280
that would be so valuable. Yeah. That brings

01:01:49.280 --> 01:01:52.000
us to the end of the recording. There was a lot

01:01:52.000 --> 01:01:55.099
in this last one. That brings us to the end of

01:01:55.099 --> 01:01:58.920
the session with the Fall family. I hope you

01:01:58.920 --> 01:02:03.380
enjoyed it. Join me next time. I'll be with you

01:02:03.380 --> 01:02:05.960
again in a few weeks to bring you Episode 6.

01:02:06.840 --> 01:02:09.380
Get in touch if you need to via the website.

01:02:09.860 --> 01:02:13.079
There's a form there. Until next time, take care

01:02:13.079 --> 01:02:15.320
and thank you.