WEBVTT

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Welcome to my podcast, Therese Makes History.

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This is the final recording for my series, The

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Dairy Lane Project, Bomber Dairy to Berry. It's

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going to bring a total of 20 episodes over two

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seasons that I've brought to you over a 12 -month

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period. I'm proud I've finally completed it,

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let me just say that. It's been a lot of work,

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but I've really loved engaging. Those people,

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the salt of the earth, extraordinary dairy farmers

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and founders of this community. Season two was

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sponsored by Ian Zanstra. Ian's a dairyman and

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an advocate from Piree, a key leader in the industry.

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I would not have produced this season without

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some support and Ian was completely committed.

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to this historical initiative and he wanted to

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see my work continue with digitally engaging

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these great dairy farmers, even though he lives

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over the other side of the river at Pirie. I

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can't thank him enough. Today I am at episode

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10. All right, so today I'm engaging John Miller.

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John is a sixth generation dairy farmer. who

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farms on Rawlings Lane Berry, which runs parallel

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to the Princess Highway, just over the top there

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of the bypass. Rawlings' name was created when

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the bypass was built and 16 acres were taken

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from John's farm called Broughton Mill. Rawlings,

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we don't really know where the name has come

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from historically. No one seems to know. It's

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a new name. But I plan on writing to Shoalhaven

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Council and finding out what the inspiration

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of that name was. And I'll probably get to include

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that in the publication. I'm going to plan a

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major book publication probably next year. Let's

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start with John Miller. to go through my family's

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migration history, and I think even John's going

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to be surprised by a couple of my findings. And

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John, if I'm wrong, please ring me quickly. Anyway,

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I think I'll be right. First generation to migrate

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was a man by the name of Robert Miller, who was

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born in 1795 in Scotland and migrated on the

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ship Othello. Arriving in Sydney in August 1834

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with his wife Elizabeth Muir. She was born in

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1799. They had married in Paisley Middle Church,

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Renfrew, Scotland in 1829. Now they arrived in

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Australia with a number of children. Mary, William,

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James, Elizabeth, Robert and John. And a further

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three children were to follow who were born in

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Australia, Anne, George and Sarah. Robert's occupation

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on his migration papers was a dairy farmer. They

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eventually found their way down to Geringong

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in 1837. Now, their son, William, was born in

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1823. in Paisley, Scotland. He was on the ship

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with the other siblings and he married Jane Miller

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in 1856 in Geringong. Jane was born in 1832.

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They had nine children, eight boys and one girl.

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Robert, John Ritchie, William H, Henry, James,

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George, Jane, Thomas and William Hill. Two Williams,

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I think one passed fairly early. William died

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in 1907 at Renfrew Park, Gerringong. So they've

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named the farm after their hometown. John Ritchie

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was the second born son. In 1859, he married

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Margaret Bailey in November 1880 at Geringong.

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They purchased land at Robertson and they had

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five children there. They ended up returning

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to Geringong where they had another four children.

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John died on the property at Renfrew Park in

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1940. John Ritchie left a legacy of nine children.

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Now John is John Miller's great -grandfather.

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His son William was born in 1882 in Robertson

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and he was their eldest child. William married

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Winnie Chisholm. They produced John's father

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Keith, Keith J. Chisholm Miller. was born in

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1923. He married Nancy Morrison, who was born

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in 1929. They had four children together, three

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girls and one boy. Now this boy, the sixth generation

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farmer, John Miller. So I have great pleasure

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in presenting my final recording for this series.

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I know you'll enjoy it. And I recorded the interview

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with John just prior to the 2026 Berry Show.

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All right, so I'm with John Miller today. John,

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where were you born and what year were you born?

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I was born at Nowra Hospital in 1964. Have you

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got siblings? I've got three older sisters, Margaret,

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Janet and Judith. Are they still in the area?

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Yes, Margaret St Gerringong married Stephen Potty.

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Judith lives up Woodhill. She married Max Ingall

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and my sister Janet married John Bowden. And

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what are your parents' full names and if you

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know their year of birth and where? Yes, my dad

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was Keith John Chisholm Miller and he was born

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in 1923 in Nowra Hospital. My mother was Nancy

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Morrison and she was born in Narra Hospital.

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She was born in 1929. So we're sitting in this

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lovely home on this property here. What is the

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name of the property? Well, it's called Broughton

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Mill. Broughton Mill was actually the home farm

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down Wharf Road and we're sitting on George Miller's

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farm. who was my grandfather's brother, and I

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think he called it Devon Farm after Devon over

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in England. Your father's uncle, was it? Yep,

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that's right. Yes. He came here just after the

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war, First World War. And this is his land? This

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is his land. How much land are we talking about

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here? There was 170 acres originally, but the

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bypass has taken 16 of it. Did he buy that land?

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Yeah, he brought a portion of it. There's a lot

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of different titles to this farm. He brought

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three quarters of it and my father and Uncle

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Gus brought part of another farm which adjoins

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it. And when Uncle George died in 1962, Dad and

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Gus brought this portion of it off his estate

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and joined it up with the neighbouring bit that

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they had already brought with their mother. Which

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is not uncommon, is it? No, pretty common. Today,

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we'll just talk about today, you mentioned as

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we were sitting down that you're growing 100

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acres of corn here. Yep. Where is the feed stored

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or where is it outsourced to? Yep, it's stored

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down at Wharf Road where we milk. We have another

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property on Wharf Road which my great -grandfather

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purchased. 70 odd acres off the Berry Estate

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and they sold out and we've gradually brought

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neighbouring blocks and properties next to it

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and we've got 350 odd acres down Wharf Road which

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we milk on and this farm sort of acts as a support

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farm for it now. We did milk on both properties.

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Our front gate which used to be on the T Junction

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of Albany and North Street is dead in line with

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our back gate. down at the back of Albany Street,

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down near the Masonic Village now. And we'd just

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hunt the cows across every six weeks, milk here

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for a few weeks, then move back down to the other

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farm and back and forth, you know, every six

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or eight weeks. And then we were able, in the

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90s, we brought a portion of the government farm

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and that gave us enough land just to set up base

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down there and just use this as a support farm.

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Since the bypass came through, they took a lot

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of our high land. It's a standalone dairy now.

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It'd be pretty hard to work on this farm because

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it's very flood prone and there's not a lot of

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high ground to keep the cattle out of the flood.

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What about Wharf Road? How do you go down there?

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You've got some high ground? It's very flood

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prone too. We've got enough to keep them up out

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of the floods. It's pretty tricky. They get cut

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off. In 1972, Dad and Gus had 130 head wash away

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out of milking 132 head and lost them all bar

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two cows who were up at the yard trying to get

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to their calf and they got them all back bar

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about eight or ten. So they were scattered all

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the way down to the Shelhaven River and down

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the reaches of the Shelhaven and word got around,

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the bush telegraph got around and Dad spent the

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week picking up. A few cows here and a few cows

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there in the truck, so we were very lucky to

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get them back. It washed down Broughton Creek

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first, did that? Yeah, down Broughton Creek,

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yeah. We had a similar event two years ago, but

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we were lucky. Normally a flood comes in the

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middle of the night. You get up and you say,

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whoa, there was a big flood last night, you know,

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but it was just on daybreak when... when that

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flood hit two years ago, and we had the cows

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up in the yard milking them. Yeah, otherwise

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they would have went that time too. It's a tricky

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road, isn't it? Coolangatta Road's the main road

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through. Yeah, Wolf Road down to the bridge,

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and then it's Coolangatta Road, yeah. So how

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much land did they have there originally? 70

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acres, and then they got 30 over the road for

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the Oldbury race course. The railway was extended

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to accommodate the horses. You might notice it's

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a pretty long platform when they came down to

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race. They'd have special cars, wouldn't they?

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Yeah, yeah. Little bits and pieces brought Kellert's

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Farm next to them and little house blocks that

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were down Wharf Road. You can't build on them

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now, but originally in the Bury time, people

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could have a house cow and keep it down there.

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So they brought up these little paddocks as they

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came up for sale and formed part of the farm.

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I suppose they thought that one day people would

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build on them. There's two houses there where

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people did. So when you're saying back then that

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you used to bring the cows over here every six

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to eight weeks when you had that land, is that

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for the growth? Yeah, yeah. And if we had a flood

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down there and there'd be a lot of mud and we'd

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pack up camp and move over here to get out of

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the mud and then, you know, move back. Yeah,

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but mainly chasing feed, chasing grass. So this

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is the support farm. You call that because you're

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growing feed here. Yep, yep, that's right, yeah.

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We're growing feed here and transporting it back

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down to Wolf Road. The silage, how's it stored?

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Or do you cut it fresh? Cut it fresh, yeah. You

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do? Yeah, it'll grow once it's in cob. That's

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great. Yeah, it's really the grain that we're

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after, the energy and the starch and the protein

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in that grain. But obviously the stalk and the

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leaf, it adds bulk as well. We cut it, a contractor

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comes in, harvests it, carts it down there in

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trucks. It's rolled in a pit or a bun on top

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of the ground, stored for winter. Was there any

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time when you dug pits? Yeah, before my time,

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yeah. There were pits in the side of hills and,

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yeah, in the ground. Yeah, with the machinery

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nowadays, it's... more convenient to put it on

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top of the ground. It would have been tricky

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on the side of the hills with compressing air

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out with the... Yeah, well, they dug, like, slots

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into the hill. Like, they had solid shale walls

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as bank that they can use to support the feed

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from falling over out or falling, you know, loosely

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away. Where was that? Where? Yeah. We've got

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property up at Broughton Vale, which belonged

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to... my grandmother's grandfather and mother

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and there's remnants of evidence of silage pits

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cut into hills there and very small because it

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was all horse and carton or slides and you know

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all done by hand and they milked 20 cows and

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so it wasn't a 150 years ago you could milk 20

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cows and rear 10 kids and afford to do it but

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now you've got to milk 300 cows and juggle at

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the end of the month to pay the bills and so

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it's all dynamics the economics have just changed

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you know astronomically and my dad was the third

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of five boys my grandparents first child lived

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for three days and his name was ewan and then

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ronald was still born and then Dad came along

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in 1923. Then Gussie came along in 1925. And

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then Paddy in about 1932, I think. Did Paddy

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marry? He married, yeah. Because I know Gus was

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a... He was a bachelor. I was going to say spinster.

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And where did he live? He lived with his mother.

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He looked after his mother in the house down

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at Wharf Road. Is that that white house that's

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no one there's there? Yeah, that white house.

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right at the driveway into the dairy. Dad and

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I lived in a little house down, further down

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on the right on the farm. Lots of little blocks

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that were town blocks and house paddocks that

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had been brought up over the years. Dad brought

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a house that was separate to the farms and did

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it up with Mum and, yeah, we lived there. So

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is that where you grew up? That's where I grew

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up, yeah, down Wolf Road, yep. When did you leave

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Wharf Road? Got married in 1988 and we brought

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a little house. We brought George Skinner's house

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on the showground for $2 ,000 and we transported

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it over here and we dropped it in the paddock

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here. And Dad and my brother -in -law, Steve

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Potty, built a veranda around it and made it

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liveable for Jennifer and I. a couple of extensions

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as we could afford it, and yeah, raised our family

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here over on the northern side. This is it here.

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That little bit up, three little rooms. When

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did you live in all of the house? In the late

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90s, we did a bit of an extent, built this room

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on. It's beautiful. So you can build? I'm not

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a builder, no. No, my brother -in -law and dad

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was pretty handy. They just had me passing stuff.

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So Wharf Road, of course, that was where the

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training school used to be, was it? You bought

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some... We brought a part of our, yeah, training

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farm. Do you remember anything about the farm?

00:17:07.609 --> 00:17:10.309
Yeah, yeah. All the boys walking up the town

00:17:10.309 --> 00:17:13.349
and... How old were they? Actually met one when

00:17:13.349 --> 00:17:16.730
Gus was in hospital in the bed next to him. Yeah,

00:17:16.809 --> 00:17:21.210
great bloke. Really lovely man. So it really

00:17:21.210 --> 00:17:24.730
made a lot of the boys. Like, I've met a lot

00:17:24.730 --> 00:17:27.470
of them. In post, you know... Over the years.

00:17:27.569 --> 00:17:29.750
Over the years, yeah, and they'd gone on to make

00:17:29.750 --> 00:17:33.170
great careers. And so they worked on the farm

00:17:33.170 --> 00:17:36.589
and the dairy and making hay and, you know, all

00:17:36.589 --> 00:17:39.710
that sort of stuff. I went to boarding school

00:17:39.710 --> 00:17:44.150
myself and it's not like home. Put it like that.

00:17:44.190 --> 00:17:47.529
So I could imagine they were, you know, it was

00:17:47.529 --> 00:17:51.289
probably... I could imagine that they may not

00:17:51.289 --> 00:17:53.789
have enjoyed it, you know. I don't know. It'd

00:17:53.789 --> 00:17:56.619
be a lot of... A lot of discipline and, you know,

00:17:56.680 --> 00:17:59.859
whatnot. So I meant to ask you about your schooling.

00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:02.799
So where did you go to primary school? Up here

00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:05.880
at Berry, yeah. And who were some of your mates

00:18:05.880 --> 00:18:08.839
at primary, dear? Yeah, I had a few mates, yeah.

00:18:08.940 --> 00:18:11.980
We all played footy together, rugby league together

00:18:11.980 --> 00:18:15.359
here and cricket. Yeah, all farm boys mainly.

00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:18.680
Berry was different to what it is today. It was,

00:18:18.700 --> 00:18:21.940
if you weren't off a farm, you... your mother

00:18:21.940 --> 00:18:25.000
or father was, and they married into a business

00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:28.460
and everyone had a connection to a farm somehow,

00:18:28.599 --> 00:18:33.119
you know, and there was a big dairy community

00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:36.500
and we were all just farm kids. But your parents

00:18:36.500 --> 00:18:38.480
decided to send you to boarding school. They

00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:41.880
wanted you to have a good education. Yeah, well,

00:18:42.099 --> 00:18:47.259
when I was in... My sisters went to Skeggs up

00:18:47.259 --> 00:18:50.339
in Wollongong, boarded up there. Didn't really

00:18:50.339 --> 00:18:54.319
know I was heading to boarding school until later

00:18:54.319 --> 00:19:00.799
in year six, I suppose it was. Mum said, we think

00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:04.559
it's not a bad idea if we take you to boarding

00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:09.019
school. I said, oh, yeah, righto, OK. It wasn't

00:19:09.019 --> 00:19:11.299
real fuss, but that's what my parents wanted,

00:19:11.420 --> 00:19:14.880
so that's what I was happy to do. But Mum knew

00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:18.700
at that stage that she had terminal bowel cancer.

00:19:19.259 --> 00:19:22.619
And that's probably the reason why I was heading

00:19:22.619 --> 00:19:24.779
off to boarding school out of Bathurst. Never

00:19:24.779 --> 00:19:27.980
saw the place. First time I ever saw it was when

00:19:27.980 --> 00:19:31.640
they dropped me off there in February. And what

00:19:31.640 --> 00:19:35.480
was the school? Scots, yeah. Scots College? Scots

00:19:35.480 --> 00:19:38.740
School, yeah. School. Yeah, it's a branch of

00:19:38.740 --> 00:19:41.779
Scots College. How old were you then? Twelve.

00:19:42.259 --> 00:19:45.039
Going into first form? Yeah, going into first

00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:47.599
form. Three months after that mum passed away.

00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:51.900
A little bit rough, but met great mates that,

00:19:51.900 --> 00:19:55.940
you know, supported me. Not that I didn't tell

00:19:55.940 --> 00:19:59.079
anyone or anything, you know. Yeah, you didn't

00:19:59.079 --> 00:20:01.039
in those days, did you? No, no, you just kept

00:20:01.039 --> 00:20:03.380
things to yourself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Things

00:20:03.380 --> 00:20:06.700
like that do develop you and, you know, make

00:20:06.700 --> 00:20:09.799
you who you are, I suppose. Did your father marry

00:20:09.799 --> 00:20:12.839
again? No, no, no. Okay, that's terribly sad.

00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:14.619
Where was she buried? Where is she buried? Up

00:20:14.619 --> 00:20:17.700
here at Berry, yeah. Berry Cemetery, yeah. She

00:20:17.700 --> 00:20:21.059
was 48. Ah, that's young. Yeah, only a girl.

00:20:21.400 --> 00:20:24.099
Yeah. Yeah. You went to boarding school. Is that

00:20:24.099 --> 00:20:26.799
when you're, I know that you have played sort

00:20:26.799 --> 00:20:29.880
of a high level of sport. Is that when you started

00:20:29.880 --> 00:20:33.220
to sort of play rugby? Yeah. So we'll talk briefly

00:20:33.220 --> 00:20:36.599
about that. Tell me how that, what was the colour

00:20:36.599 --> 00:20:38.859
of the jersey and that sort of stuff? Played

00:20:38.859 --> 00:20:43.220
in black. We were all black, black jersey, black.

00:20:44.020 --> 00:20:49.279
The first 15 had gold. The school colours were

00:20:49.279 --> 00:20:53.900
blue, black and gold. And the first 15 had a

00:20:53.900 --> 00:20:57.099
jersey with a gold collar and they got to have

00:20:57.099 --> 00:21:00.259
a line on their chest, which was the school emblem,

00:21:00.539 --> 00:21:04.039
a line. I left school at the end of year 11,

00:21:04.200 --> 00:21:06.940
well, at the end of year 10, but I went back

00:21:06.940 --> 00:21:09.460
to Bathurst and did a tech course and I bought

00:21:09.460 --> 00:21:12.809
it at the school. entitled me to be able to play

00:21:12.809 --> 00:21:16.029
sport for the school. So I got into the first

00:21:16.029 --> 00:21:19.309
15, which was a goal from when I was in Year

00:21:19.309 --> 00:21:23.009
7. Everyone just wanted to play in that first

00:21:23.009 --> 00:21:26.589
15 jumper. Congratulations. But it didn't stop

00:21:26.589 --> 00:21:29.730
there, did it? I was lucky enough to come home

00:21:29.730 --> 00:21:33.890
and Bruce Bishop from out of Coolingatter knocked

00:21:33.890 --> 00:21:35.970
on the door and said, I'm going down to rugby

00:21:35.970 --> 00:21:39.269
training. Do you want to jump in and come and...

00:21:39.549 --> 00:21:41.529
meet some of the fellas, and I was just going

00:21:41.529 --> 00:21:44.369
to come and play rugby league at Bury again.

00:21:44.470 --> 00:21:47.710
I didn't really know they had a rugby club down

00:21:47.710 --> 00:21:51.289
at Naira, so I jumped in with him and found a

00:21:51.289 --> 00:21:54.609
new family and brotherhood, I suppose you'd say.

00:21:54.849 --> 00:22:00.170
You do. Rugby's a team. It's not about you. It's

00:22:00.170 --> 00:22:03.150
about the team, and it's one of the first things

00:22:03.150 --> 00:22:05.789
I was ever taught about rugby. It's not about

00:22:05.789 --> 00:22:08.250
you. It's about what you can do for the team.

00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:13.200
And you soon realise that without your mates

00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:15.599
supporting you and you supporting your mates,

00:22:15.700 --> 00:22:18.259
the lessons that I've learned on that rugby field

00:22:18.259 --> 00:22:21.740
I've carried with me through life and applied

00:22:21.740 --> 00:22:27.240
those principles and values to life and it's

00:22:27.240 --> 00:22:32.839
helped me through a lot of things. Because when

00:22:32.839 --> 00:22:35.799
you think of, well, the spiritual practice that

00:22:35.799 --> 00:22:38.559
you practice or religion or whatever, it's similar

00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:43.059
themes, isn't it, in a way? Yeah, yeah. What

00:22:43.059 --> 00:22:45.400
you can do for others or you need, you know,

00:22:45.400 --> 00:22:49.140
part of a community. Yeah, exactly, yeah. Yeah,

00:22:49.420 --> 00:22:53.839
life's a funny thing. You might help someone

00:22:53.839 --> 00:22:57.400
and you might never see them again, but someone

00:22:57.400 --> 00:23:01.000
else helps you out and what goes around comes

00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:04.730
around. How far did you go in your career and

00:23:04.730 --> 00:23:07.509
at what age did you retire? I was lucky enough

00:23:07.509 --> 00:23:10.890
to get picked in the New South Wales under -18

00:23:10.890 --> 00:23:14.069
side and then the New South Wales under -21 side.

00:23:14.750 --> 00:23:18.890
I played in the open country side for 10 years

00:23:18.890 --> 00:23:21.890
on and off. I'd get picked and I'd get dropped

00:23:21.890 --> 00:23:24.390
and I'd get picked and I'd get dropped and very

00:23:24.390 --> 00:23:27.930
challenging. We used to play against touring

00:23:27.930 --> 00:23:31.150
international sides and in the country it was

00:23:31.150 --> 00:23:34.650
really good. Played for Shelavon for, I was in

00:23:34.650 --> 00:23:38.630
my 40s when I finished up. The boys were playing

00:23:38.630 --> 00:23:42.549
up at school in Sydney and so it was time to

00:23:42.549 --> 00:23:45.910
watch them and make careers out of it. William

00:23:45.910 --> 00:23:48.230
did very well and George has done very well.

00:23:48.470 --> 00:23:51.230
So you're mentioning your children. Yep. Why

00:23:51.230 --> 00:23:53.710
don't we just, while we're there, tell me their

00:23:53.710 --> 00:23:57.049
names. I've got Caroline, she's my oldest girl,

00:23:57.190 --> 00:24:00.509
then William. two years after Caroline, then

00:24:00.509 --> 00:24:03.650
Madeline, two years after William, and then George,

00:24:03.869 --> 00:24:06.990
two years after Madeline. And they've all got

00:24:06.990 --> 00:24:10.150
their little family started now, so that's great

00:24:10.150 --> 00:24:13.750
to see. There's a few dairy farmers there amongst

00:24:13.750 --> 00:24:16.509
them. How many wanted to... Three. Three of the

00:24:16.509 --> 00:24:20.009
four want to milk cows. And who are they? Madeline,

00:24:20.089 --> 00:24:22.970
William and George. So how do you solve that?

00:24:23.450 --> 00:24:26.029
Yeah, it's a bit of a puzzle. So William's gone

00:24:26.029 --> 00:24:30.170
off and he's renting his own farm down O 'Keefe

00:24:30.170 --> 00:24:32.950
Lane off Paul Thames. Leasing it. Leasing it,

00:24:32.990 --> 00:24:36.049
brought the herd and leasing it. The first step

00:24:36.049 --> 00:24:38.529
in... How much land does he have there to lease?

00:24:38.569 --> 00:24:40.869
I think there's... I'm not sure, to tell you

00:24:40.869 --> 00:24:44.049
the truth. I think there's about 280, 300 acres.

00:24:44.390 --> 00:24:49.440
So that's really nice because... The Allsizer

00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:52.319
family used to own that farm and they were close

00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:56.319
to my grandfather and Frank and Bill Allsizer

00:24:56.319 --> 00:25:00.880
were mates with Dad and Gus. Yeah, so it's really

00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:05.559
nice that he's out there on that farm, sentimentally.

00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:07.920
Did you ever meet them yourself? Yeah, I knew

00:25:07.920 --> 00:25:12.200
Frank. Yeah, Frank and Vera. They were pretty

00:25:12.200 --> 00:25:16.119
elderly when I knew them, but still driving.

00:25:18.200 --> 00:25:21.460
playing in the band, and they all, their social

00:25:21.460 --> 00:25:24.339
life revolved around the band, the Berry Silver

00:25:24.339 --> 00:25:29.319
Band, and Gus and Dad played in it for years,

00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:34.539
and Gussie in particular played for 75, towards

00:25:34.539 --> 00:25:38.039
80 years in the band, and started off on the

00:25:38.039 --> 00:25:41.660
baritone, which is a horn, and then went to the

00:25:41.660 --> 00:25:45.180
euphonium, which is a bit bigger, and the double

00:25:45.180 --> 00:25:48.200
bass is bigger again. And your father, what did

00:25:48.200 --> 00:25:50.960
he play? He played a cornet. Were they self -taught?

00:25:51.480 --> 00:25:56.579
No, no, they learned as kids. Wessie Moore and

00:25:56.579 --> 00:25:59.660
Harvey Hitchcock taught them how to play and

00:25:59.660 --> 00:26:03.220
their father used to play the drums in the band

00:26:03.220 --> 00:26:07.039
and he was the president for a fair while and

00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:08.920
of course the kids would have to play if you

00:26:08.920 --> 00:26:11.480
were president. What's Tim's doing in the interim?

00:26:11.880 --> 00:26:15.150
He's retired. So there's a dairy there? There's

00:26:15.150 --> 00:26:17.289
a dairy there, yeah. What type of dairy is there?

00:26:17.410 --> 00:26:19.269
It's a herringbone, yeah, herringbone dairy.

00:26:19.589 --> 00:26:23.190
It was a functioning farm. Paul Tim's milked

00:26:23.190 --> 00:26:26.230
there for many years, just got to that stage

00:26:26.230 --> 00:26:29.710
in life, a time to step back. George and Madeline

00:26:29.710 --> 00:26:32.430
are with me on this farm. We've got our challenges

00:26:32.430 --> 00:26:36.049
ahead of us, getting them all set up on farms.

00:26:36.859 --> 00:26:39.759
How big's the dairy where you are at Wharf Road?

00:26:40.019 --> 00:26:42.660
It's a 20 -a -side herringbone. It's fairly big.

00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:46.859
We can increase the herd if we want to. We've

00:26:46.859 --> 00:26:50.220
got capacity to increase it, the number we're

00:26:50.220 --> 00:26:53.839
milking. What are you milking? What cows? They're

00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:56.799
Holstein Friesians. When my father was going

00:26:56.799 --> 00:27:00.759
out with my mother, she came off a... Well, her

00:27:00.759 --> 00:27:03.720
parents were... Business people, the butchers

00:27:03.720 --> 00:27:06.859
in it now are the Morrisons. There's an arcade,

00:27:07.160 --> 00:27:09.700
my uncle built an arcade there. He kept the butcher

00:27:09.700 --> 00:27:13.660
shop open until its 100th year and then built

00:27:13.660 --> 00:27:17.259
that arcade and retired. Her mother came off

00:27:17.259 --> 00:27:20.799
a dairy at Pirie and Mum was always down at the

00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:25.339
farm. He got Dad started in Holsteins. He and

00:27:25.339 --> 00:27:29.019
a fella called Vijay Lemon, the Jindy Andy Lane,

00:27:29.220 --> 00:27:32.450
were... One of the first... They brought... When

00:27:32.450 --> 00:27:36.690
the government farm imported the first Holsteins,

00:27:36.710 --> 00:27:39.470
they only lasted a few years and then went back

00:27:39.470 --> 00:27:43.170
to Illawarra's and sold them all out and Vijay

00:27:43.170 --> 00:27:46.829
and Uncle Alan brought most of the cows and calves

00:27:46.829 --> 00:27:50.910
and he got Dad started in the 40s with a few

00:27:50.910 --> 00:27:53.890
calves. Every time Dad went down, he'd put one

00:27:53.890 --> 00:27:56.029
in the chaff bag and put it in the back seat

00:27:56.029 --> 00:28:00.079
and Dad would bring it home. rear it and yeah,

00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:03.720
we got started then in Holstones. What were the

00:28:03.720 --> 00:28:07.980
original cows? Illawarra's. Milking? Yeah, Illawarra's.

00:28:08.059 --> 00:28:12.259
My grandfather, dad's father was a, I never knew

00:28:12.259 --> 00:28:15.599
him. What was his full name? William, just William.

00:28:15.819 --> 00:28:18.960
William. Yeah, William Miller. Yeah, his father

00:28:18.960 --> 00:28:22.059
was a big wheel in the Illawarra's, went everywhere

00:28:22.059 --> 00:28:25.130
judging. He was a fellow called John Miller at

00:28:25.130 --> 00:28:27.910
Gerringong and he actually brought the land off

00:28:27.910 --> 00:28:31.309
the berries. The Millers, they settled in Gerringong

00:28:31.309 --> 00:28:35.829
in the 1830s, early 1830s. So they migrated from

00:28:35.829 --> 00:28:39.009
where? Scotland, Paisley in Scotland. And they

00:28:39.009 --> 00:28:41.950
arrived in Gerringong? Yeah, well, they spent

00:28:41.950 --> 00:28:45.329
six months in Sydney. Mrs Miller didn't like

00:28:45.329 --> 00:28:49.089
city life and wanted to get out of Sydney, so

00:28:49.089 --> 00:28:51.369
they ended up in Gerringong. Brought a paddock

00:28:51.369 --> 00:28:53.250
at Gerongong. Came here from Scotland with a

00:28:53.250 --> 00:28:55.670
sack on their back. Brought a paddock at Gerongong.

00:28:55.690 --> 00:29:00.430
We've never looked back. Thank you, John. They

00:29:00.430 --> 00:29:04.470
sort of ran out of land there. My grandfather

00:29:04.470 --> 00:29:07.750
was actually born in Robinson with a number of

00:29:07.750 --> 00:29:10.089
his brothers because there was just no land,

00:29:10.190 --> 00:29:13.369
no farms in Gerongong. So you say he's brothers,

00:29:13.509 --> 00:29:16.690
so George is one of them? George, he had eight

00:29:16.690 --> 00:29:18.990
brothers and a sister. My great -grandfather

00:29:18.990 --> 00:29:22.099
moved to Robinson. Farmed up there. When the

00:29:22.099 --> 00:29:24.660
brewery estate opened up, he came back and brought

00:29:24.660 --> 00:29:27.940
a farm in Gerringong. So he was a tenant farmer

00:29:27.940 --> 00:29:30.180
up at Robertson? I think he might have owned

00:29:30.180 --> 00:29:33.220
a farm and he had a creamery. He opened a creamery

00:29:33.220 --> 00:29:37.400
and a butter factory. I think it was Honey Bee

00:29:37.400 --> 00:29:40.720
Butter or Beehive Butter Factory, I think it

00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:44.339
was. But when farmers brought their own separators,

00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:48.180
my dad always said he went broke because... Everyone's

00:29:48.180 --> 00:29:50.039
making their own... Yeah, making their own cream

00:29:50.039 --> 00:29:54.180
to take to... But he probably wound it up before

00:29:54.180 --> 00:29:56.539
he went broke. He moved back to Gerringong. Yeah,

00:29:56.539 --> 00:29:58.400
so how did he get to Gerringong, do you know?

00:29:58.660 --> 00:30:02.019
Yeah, he brought the herd back in two stages.

00:30:02.380 --> 00:30:04.900
I think it was Belmore Falls the first night.

00:30:05.140 --> 00:30:08.960
They camped there, they woke up, no cows. They'd

00:30:08.960 --> 00:30:11.559
all bolted back to Robinson. So they had to go

00:30:11.559 --> 00:30:15.380
back to Robinson and start again. So they went

00:30:15.380 --> 00:30:19.039
to... Gerringong in the one. Then they didn't

00:30:19.039 --> 00:30:22.380
bother camping overnight. There was John, John

00:30:22.380 --> 00:30:25.180
Miller, my great -grandfather, and there was

00:30:25.180 --> 00:30:28.799
all his sons. They were pretty well all born

00:30:28.799 --> 00:30:31.599
up there except for Hedley. He was the only boy

00:30:31.599 --> 00:30:35.299
born at Gerringong. Grandfather and Uncle George,

00:30:35.480 --> 00:30:38.160
when they got old enough, they rented a... a

00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:42.339
farm under the water tower there at Mount Pleasant

00:30:42.339 --> 00:30:45.779
on the mountainside there at Jerringon, overlooking

00:30:45.779 --> 00:30:48.799
the sea, just up from the original Miller farm.

00:30:49.099 --> 00:30:52.619
It was as steep as anything. My Uncle Hedley

00:30:52.619 --> 00:30:55.180
used to tell a story that his mother would cook

00:30:55.180 --> 00:30:58.220
a leg of lamb every Sunday for him to take up

00:30:58.220 --> 00:31:01.119
to him, and they lived in this humpy with a...

00:31:01.420 --> 00:31:04.680
chaff bag as a window, and outside the window

00:31:04.680 --> 00:31:07.700
was all these baked bean tins. So they'd open

00:31:07.700 --> 00:31:10.039
a tin of baked beans, throw it out the window.

00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:13.319
By the end of it, you couldn't see the window.

00:31:13.339 --> 00:31:16.400
There was that many baked bean tins, like a pyramid.

00:31:19.900 --> 00:31:23.359
Typical bachelors. They were going to go to the

00:31:23.359 --> 00:31:27.789
war together. But my grandfather didn't get enlisted

00:31:27.789 --> 00:31:29.890
because he had a broken leg and had a bit of

00:31:29.890 --> 00:31:33.890
a limp. But Uncle George went off with his brother

00:31:33.890 --> 00:31:37.390
Harry over to Palestine in the Middle East. They

00:31:37.390 --> 00:31:40.190
brought their cows down here thinking the great

00:31:40.190 --> 00:31:42.670
-grandfather brought the farm off the dairy estate,

00:31:42.809 --> 00:31:45.930
but he rented it out to tenant farmers. There

00:31:45.930 --> 00:31:50.009
was a sort of a change. the people who were leasing

00:31:50.009 --> 00:31:52.029
the place for leaving, so they thought they'll

00:31:52.029 --> 00:31:54.609
bring their cows down, dry them off. The first

00:31:54.609 --> 00:31:57.150
war was only going to go for two months. They'll

00:31:57.150 --> 00:32:00.569
be back in time when they calve and start milking

00:32:00.569 --> 00:32:03.509
again down here, but it didn't quite work out

00:32:03.509 --> 00:32:06.470
that way and my grandfather stayed here and milked.

00:32:06.470 --> 00:32:10.190
Uncle George went off when he came back. He brought

00:32:10.190 --> 00:32:13.490
this place here. A funny little story about...

00:32:13.819 --> 00:32:16.420
My grandfather and his brothers were with their

00:32:16.420 --> 00:32:19.359
father at Kiama Wharf one day, putting loading

00:32:19.359 --> 00:32:22.779
butter to send up to Sydney. There was this 19,

00:32:23.039 --> 00:32:26.400
20 -year -old wandering around the wharf from

00:32:26.400 --> 00:32:29.180
England. They got talking to him and he'd come

00:32:29.180 --> 00:32:31.960
out. You know how kids have gap years nowadays?

00:32:32.279 --> 00:32:35.079
Well, they had them back then too, in the early

00:32:35.079 --> 00:32:39.200
1900s. And this fella had come out from England

00:32:39.200 --> 00:32:42.779
to have a look at Australia. He was only 19 or

00:32:42.779 --> 00:32:45.819
something and knew no one, and he got talking

00:32:45.819 --> 00:32:48.839
to our lot, and they took him home and looked

00:32:48.839 --> 00:32:51.920
after him and gave him a bit of work and whatnot,

00:32:52.079 --> 00:32:54.960
and he stayed there for quite a while and then

00:32:54.960 --> 00:32:57.700
went back to England. And anyway, Uncle George

00:32:57.700 --> 00:33:01.000
and Harry and Jack Campbell, their brother -in

00:33:01.000 --> 00:33:04.539
-law, and Stan Miller, they were all in the light

00:33:04.539 --> 00:33:08.119
horse, and all the Aussies were giving their

00:33:08.119 --> 00:33:11.759
horses a drink in the Euphrates. Poms were on

00:33:11.759 --> 00:33:14.579
the other side and they were watering their horses.

00:33:14.619 --> 00:33:17.259
This fellow yells out, you're from Australia,

00:33:17.259 --> 00:33:20.920
boys? Yes. Anyone from New South Wales? Yes.

00:33:21.140 --> 00:33:27.019
Anyone from Gerringong? Yes. And any Millers

00:33:27.019 --> 00:33:32.259
there? Yes. So he got across to them and it was

00:33:32.259 --> 00:33:35.460
this Gerald Ainslie. He was general or something

00:33:35.460 --> 00:33:39.029
in the English Army. After the war, he... took

00:33:39.029 --> 00:33:41.789
George and Harry and Jack Hamill back to England,

00:33:41.950 --> 00:33:44.869
looked after them for 12 months. They had a 12

00:33:44.869 --> 00:33:48.390
-month holiday there on him. And he was a...

00:33:48.390 --> 00:33:52.230
His people made pottery, Ainslie pottery. Every

00:33:52.230 --> 00:33:54.769
year he'd come out for a holiday here. Uncle

00:33:54.769 --> 00:33:58.269
George called this place Devon Farm after Devon,

00:33:58.289 --> 00:34:01.910
where he had an estate. Yeah, every year he brought

00:34:01.910 --> 00:34:05.069
horses out. Yeah, I've got some photos there

00:34:05.069 --> 00:34:08.599
of him. He played up a bit. He brought his girlfriend

00:34:08.599 --> 00:34:13.179
out, which was a bit of a no -no and caused a

00:34:13.179 --> 00:34:16.199
bit of a ruckus. Well, they were congregationalists

00:34:16.199 --> 00:34:20.159
up in Daringong, so they weren't too happy with

00:34:20.159 --> 00:34:22.679
him, but he stayed in Tadner's pub down here

00:34:22.679 --> 00:34:25.039
where the Great Southern is now. How long did

00:34:25.039 --> 00:34:28.599
that go on for, the friendship life? Until they,

00:34:28.599 --> 00:34:33.659
yeah, until Uncle George died in 62. So, yeah,

00:34:33.699 --> 00:34:38.300
I'm not sure when Gerald died. It's a great story.

00:34:38.739 --> 00:34:41.900
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a small world. Think about

00:34:41.900 --> 00:34:45.780
even the showground attending the shows. They

00:34:45.780 --> 00:34:48.460
would have been very involved. Reflect on that

00:34:48.460 --> 00:34:51.280
a bit. My great -grandfather, John, he loved

00:34:51.280 --> 00:34:54.519
shows, from what I'm told. Like, he died back

00:34:54.519 --> 00:34:59.719
in the early 1930s, but loved shows. He had a

00:34:59.719 --> 00:35:02.500
cow called Belle, an old Illawarra cow. I've

00:35:02.500 --> 00:35:05.960
got a photo of her somewhere. meant to be unstoppable,

00:35:06.340 --> 00:35:09.559
you know, but she looks an ordinary cow compared

00:35:09.559 --> 00:35:12.579
to cattle today, you know. Cattle have just improved

00:35:12.579 --> 00:35:16.000
and improved in genetics over the years. But,

00:35:16.079 --> 00:35:19.079
yeah, he loves showing and he'd take six weeks

00:35:19.079 --> 00:35:23.239
off and go to Taree Show to judge and, you know,

00:35:23.239 --> 00:35:26.960
all that sort of stuff, go by steamer and horse

00:35:26.960 --> 00:35:29.800
and cart and, you know. I've been told he was

00:35:29.800 --> 00:35:33.650
an original foundation. Member of Berry Show?

00:35:33.869 --> 00:35:36.369
Committee member? I'd love to find out. What's

00:35:36.369 --> 00:35:40.269
his name again? John. John Ritchie. So what era

00:35:40.269 --> 00:35:43.550
are we talking about when you say... It would

00:35:43.550 --> 00:35:46.010
have been before he went to Robinson, in the

00:35:46.010 --> 00:35:49.929
1880s. Did he breed? Yeah, yeah. And showed?

00:35:50.289 --> 00:35:53.969
Yep, yep. Loved the shows. Where was he based

00:35:53.969 --> 00:35:56.989
here? He was up at a farm called Whingy Wall.

00:35:57.230 --> 00:36:00.010
It's opposite the golf course up in Gerringong.

00:36:00.349 --> 00:36:02.869
right on the edge of the Berry Estate. Did he

00:36:02.869 --> 00:36:05.469
marry? Yeah, yeah, he had a lot of kids, yeah.

00:36:05.590 --> 00:36:08.090
He had eight boys and a girl. Oh, that's right,

00:36:08.170 --> 00:36:09.929
so that's the story you're telling me. Yeah,

00:36:09.929 --> 00:36:13.250
yeah. I always used to write Dad and Gus and

00:36:13.250 --> 00:36:16.909
Paddy a letter at Christmas time with a... penny

00:36:16.909 --> 00:36:19.449
in it or something and just say you know whatever

00:36:19.449 --> 00:36:22.369
you do just at the end of it remember your name's

00:36:22.369 --> 00:36:24.849
everything and a lot of people have done you

00:36:24.849 --> 00:36:27.630
know worked hard for the miller name and you

00:36:27.630 --> 00:36:30.309
know whatever you do don't you know take it for

00:36:30.309 --> 00:36:33.710
granted that what was he involved actively in

00:36:33.710 --> 00:36:36.789
any co -ops or anything jeringon co -op yes yeah

00:36:36.789 --> 00:36:40.250
yeah he was um he chairman up there for a while

00:36:40.250 --> 00:36:43.650
and on the board for 30 odd years and his son

00:36:43.650 --> 00:36:46.800
jack Well, he was John, but they called him Jack,

00:36:46.920 --> 00:36:50.920
J -R -M, John Ritchie McKellar Miller. Jack farmed

00:36:50.920 --> 00:36:54.019
at Tula Dew. He was chairman of dairy farmers

00:36:54.019 --> 00:36:56.679
at one stage. We're in the 20th century, isn't

00:36:56.679 --> 00:37:00.159
it? Yeah, 1930s, I suppose, yeah. Most co -ops

00:37:00.159 --> 00:37:05.619
were, I think, yeah, Gerongong, Berry, Jamboree.

00:37:05.719 --> 00:37:08.800
They all had a representative who was a director.

00:37:09.239 --> 00:37:12.519
Pianero did, yeah. Did your father? Yeah, Dad

00:37:12.519 --> 00:37:14.760
was the Director of Dairy Farmers. He was on

00:37:14.760 --> 00:37:19.280
the board here at Berry for 40 -odd years. Director

00:37:19.280 --> 00:37:22.119
of Dairy Farmers for, I don't know, 10 or so.

00:37:22.340 --> 00:37:26.039
Yeah. I was on the board of Berry. Still am.

00:37:26.159 --> 00:37:29.300
We've still got officially a co -op, even though

00:37:29.300 --> 00:37:32.239
we're pretty well wound up now. Yeah, Berry Royal

00:37:32.239 --> 00:37:35.480
Co -op, yeah. First co -op in Berry was Broughton

00:37:35.480 --> 00:37:38.739
Creek Co -op and it was out opposite Stewie Blow's

00:37:38.739 --> 00:37:42.960
farm. Yeah. If you go past the bowling club over

00:37:42.960 --> 00:37:45.940
the bridge and you take that sweeping bend to

00:37:45.940 --> 00:37:48.480
the left, that's where it was, the little co

00:37:48.480 --> 00:37:51.699
-op was up on that hill there, Broughton Creek.

00:37:52.119 --> 00:37:54.719
I've got some articles there on when they were

00:37:54.719 --> 00:37:57.500
first going to form it and David Berry donated

00:37:57.500 --> 00:38:00.380
a paddock for them to build a factory on and

00:38:00.380 --> 00:38:04.460
then in 1911 John Hayes set up the creamery here

00:38:04.460 --> 00:38:08.710
when the railway came through. In 1885 and in

00:38:08.710 --> 00:38:12.690
1911, farmers brought it out and it became Berry

00:38:12.690 --> 00:38:16.349
Royal Co -op. So it does go back in sort of different

00:38:16.349 --> 00:38:19.750
stages, but we do go right here. I think Norco

00:38:19.750 --> 00:38:22.909
claim fame as being the oldest one, but they

00:38:22.909 --> 00:38:26.110
were actually a pig co -op before a dairy co

00:38:26.110 --> 00:38:28.789
-op. Oh, well, that doesn't count. No, but they

00:38:28.789 --> 00:38:30.909
sort of, you know, fudge in the books a bit,

00:38:30.929 --> 00:38:34.449
I suppose. Yeah, so we're pretty proud of it.

00:38:34.710 --> 00:38:37.750
our association with the Berry Co -op and we

00:38:37.750 --> 00:38:40.530
worked damn hard to try and make it work. When

00:38:40.530 --> 00:38:44.289
you say you've had your ups and downs, let's

00:38:44.289 --> 00:38:48.170
start with the positive, the ups, the influences.

00:38:48.630 --> 00:38:52.570
The ups was the social fabric that the Co -op

00:38:52.570 --> 00:38:55.869
provided for a lot of people. I mean, when I

00:38:55.869 --> 00:38:59.010
was a kid, I can just remember taking cans of

00:38:59.010 --> 00:39:02.789
milk and all the farmers, it was such a social...

00:39:03.099 --> 00:39:06.900
gathering you know every morning they'd be laughing

00:39:06.900 --> 00:39:10.599
and chatter and you know jokes and when times

00:39:10.599 --> 00:39:13.360
were tough you know they'd be talking to one

00:39:13.360 --> 00:39:15.760
another and how are we going to get through this

00:39:15.760 --> 00:39:18.360
how did it look so that you're delivering your

00:39:18.360 --> 00:39:21.360
milk yeah yeah backing trucks backing that way

00:39:21.360 --> 00:39:24.980
yeah yeah and people you know pulling off to

00:39:24.980 --> 00:39:29.139
one side and groups talking and then when that

00:39:29.139 --> 00:39:31.519
went out when how many farms are we talking about

00:39:31.519 --> 00:39:35.099
back then like Well, originally, back in the

00:39:35.099 --> 00:39:39.320
40s and 50s, I think there was about 150 farms.

00:39:39.559 --> 00:39:43.199
When bulk milk came in, a lot of the farms up

00:39:43.199 --> 00:39:46.000
around the hills gave up because they couldn't

00:39:46.000 --> 00:39:48.860
get trucks up. Dairies had to be modified to

00:39:48.860 --> 00:39:51.920
put in big tanks and people just couldn't afford

00:39:51.920 --> 00:39:55.519
to... Vats. The expense of vats and, you know,

00:39:55.539 --> 00:39:59.699
the expense of modifying dairies. So anything

00:39:59.699 --> 00:40:02.400
up high really went, didn't it, across the landscape?

00:40:02.460 --> 00:40:04.559
Yeah, yeah. Which would have impacted a lot of

00:40:04.559 --> 00:40:06.940
farmers. Yeah, a lot of farms. Yeah, yeah. We

00:40:06.940 --> 00:40:09.659
lost a lot. I think I have got the figures there

00:40:09.659 --> 00:40:12.380
somewhere in information. There's been stages

00:40:12.380 --> 00:40:15.460
of impacts all the way through, like when...

00:40:15.659 --> 00:40:18.500
Automotion came in. There used to be contractors,

00:40:18.820 --> 00:40:21.699
a gang of men that used to brush the sides of

00:40:21.699 --> 00:40:25.579
hills with brush hooks and scythes and plough

00:40:25.579 --> 00:40:28.760
with horses. When tractors came in, well, you

00:40:28.760 --> 00:40:31.380
couldn't get tractors on those steep hills, so

00:40:31.380 --> 00:40:34.039
they were the first to go out, you know. And

00:40:34.039 --> 00:40:37.860
then bulk milk was another big hit. And then

00:40:37.860 --> 00:40:43.059
deregulation in 2000 was a huge hit. Broadly,

00:40:43.059 --> 00:40:47.369
we went from... a set price and that price would

00:40:47.369 --> 00:40:50.309
get reviewed every year and normally it went

00:40:50.309 --> 00:40:55.789
up with CPI to what they said would be like market

00:40:55.789 --> 00:40:59.349
for supply and demand. Your price would be governed

00:40:59.349 --> 00:41:03.090
on that. Yeah, really it wasn't. It just handed

00:41:03.090 --> 00:41:07.300
the supermarkets so much buying power. They really

00:41:07.300 --> 00:41:10.480
forced the price. Not a real great surplus of

00:41:10.480 --> 00:41:13.400
milk. So you would have thought that if it was

00:41:13.400 --> 00:41:16.199
supply and demand, then you'd be assured of a

00:41:16.199 --> 00:41:20.659
fair price. But our price went in deregulation

00:41:20.659 --> 00:41:27.340
from 47 cents a litre in 2000 down to 24, like

00:41:27.340 --> 00:41:32.099
overnight. And it took 20 years to... get it

00:41:32.099 --> 00:41:35.820
back to a sustainable price. Even now, like our

00:41:35.820 --> 00:41:39.679
power's gone in the last few years from $1 ,800

00:41:39.679 --> 00:41:43.559
a month to nearly $7 ,000 at the dairy. And you've

00:41:43.559 --> 00:41:45.940
got to absorb that in your milk price, and it's

00:41:45.940 --> 00:41:49.360
very, very hard. You know, we just need great

00:41:49.360 --> 00:41:53.860
seasons to get a... to really water those costs

00:41:53.860 --> 00:41:56.880
down. The same money changed hands. It just went

00:41:56.880 --> 00:41:59.840
into different pockets. That's the hard bit,

00:41:59.880 --> 00:42:02.219
the swallow, you know. It's the supermarkets.

00:42:02.219 --> 00:42:06.119
They put pressure on processes. Who's your buyer?

00:42:06.260 --> 00:42:11.400
A company called Saputo. Norco's really the only

00:42:11.400 --> 00:42:15.170
true Australian. Bega probably are too. I don't

00:42:15.170 --> 00:42:18.289
know who owns their shares near Bega. They're

00:42:18.289 --> 00:42:20.949
a public company too. Norco's probably the only

00:42:20.949 --> 00:42:25.170
true Australian dairy company in New South Wales

00:42:25.170 --> 00:42:28.409
anyway. Are their foundations north? Yeah, yeah,

00:42:28.510 --> 00:42:31.329
Lismore up the north coast there. They're all

00:42:31.329 --> 00:42:35.550
multinational giants. We supply Saputo, which

00:42:35.550 --> 00:42:39.809
is a Canadian company. And they basically just...

00:42:39.809 --> 00:42:43.110
They've got brands like Devondale and they basically

00:42:43.110 --> 00:42:47.110
just broke our milk off to cheese, little independent

00:42:47.110 --> 00:42:50.389
cheese factories or yoghurt factories or whoever

00:42:50.389 --> 00:42:53.690
they can sell it to for the best price. I don't

00:42:53.690 --> 00:42:55.489
know where our milk goes, to tell you the honest

00:42:55.489 --> 00:42:57.869
truth. That's the way it operates as of today.

00:42:58.210 --> 00:43:01.989
Yeah, yeah. So when they deregulated back in

00:43:01.989 --> 00:43:06.940
2000, like, we were all going... Bananas. Yeah,

00:43:07.300 --> 00:43:10.320
very quickly. Really, the smart ones, business

00:43:10.320 --> 00:43:13.280
-wise, got out. We all took on a lot of debt

00:43:13.280 --> 00:43:15.599
just trying to stay in. Things will get better.

00:43:15.739 --> 00:43:17.800
Everyone's getting out. There'll be that short

00:43:17.800 --> 00:43:20.340
of milk, blah, blah, blah, you know. It really

00:43:20.340 --> 00:43:24.119
took 20 years before the supermarkets and the

00:43:24.119 --> 00:43:27.300
processors come to the realisation, where's all

00:43:27.300 --> 00:43:29.900
the milk gone, you know? Queensland haven't been

00:43:29.900 --> 00:43:32.840
able to supply their own enough milk for themselves

00:43:32.840 --> 00:43:35.679
for years. The North Coast milk's been going

00:43:35.679 --> 00:43:38.679
up there to sustain them. You know, our milk

00:43:38.679 --> 00:43:41.710
goes here, there and everywhere. but now it's

00:43:41.710 --> 00:43:44.969
at the point that they're short of milk, burnt

00:43:44.969 --> 00:43:47.489
their own fingers in a way. But Dairy Australia,

00:43:47.750 --> 00:43:50.530
we pay a levy through our milk, and Dairy Australia

00:43:50.530 --> 00:43:52.530
mainly, yeah, do that sort of stuff. It's all

00:43:52.530 --> 00:43:55.489
in commercial hands, not so much government hands,

00:43:55.610 --> 00:43:58.329
with hence deregulation. Is that really what

00:43:58.329 --> 00:44:01.429
that means? When you deregulate, you let go?

00:44:01.710 --> 00:44:04.110
Yeah, yeah. The government lets go? Yeah, yeah,

00:44:04.130 --> 00:44:06.909
yeah. See, they brought quotas in after the Second

00:44:06.909 --> 00:44:09.829
World War because... They were worried about

00:44:09.829 --> 00:44:12.929
food production, the shortages of food and, you

00:44:12.929 --> 00:44:14.570
know, all that sort of stuff. So they brought

00:44:14.570 --> 00:44:17.750
quotas in to make sure they had X amount of milk

00:44:17.750 --> 00:44:20.949
to supply to the city. Safeguard that they'd

00:44:20.949 --> 00:44:24.269
have enough milk. By wiping that, then you're

00:44:24.269 --> 00:44:27.110
at the whim of... The market. Market forces.

00:44:27.329 --> 00:44:30.070
And if you're not making money, what's the point?

00:44:30.190 --> 00:44:33.179
You know, it's just... I had... Kids that were

00:44:33.179 --> 00:44:36.960
keen to come on, so I hung on for grim debt because

00:44:36.960 --> 00:44:38.840
I thought by the time they come through, then

00:44:38.840 --> 00:44:41.579
it should be a future. I've just got to hang

00:44:41.579 --> 00:44:44.340
on. But you take on a lot of debt hanging on.

00:44:44.340 --> 00:44:46.960
Well, look at land prices. You need land to grow,

00:44:47.079 --> 00:44:49.980
don't you? And it's such a false economy because,

00:44:50.079 --> 00:44:53.360
like, if we buy the farm next door, we're not

00:44:53.360 --> 00:44:55.880
competing with another farmer who's done his

00:44:55.880 --> 00:44:59.159
figures on producing a million litres to pay

00:44:59.159 --> 00:45:03.010
a year to pay, you know. bank loan you're competing

00:45:03.010 --> 00:45:06.349
against the ceo from a multinational company

00:45:06.349 --> 00:45:09.130
come somewhere that comes down with a pocket

00:45:09.130 --> 00:45:11.369
full of millions and millions of dollars and

00:45:11.369 --> 00:45:14.550
he's just happy to build a mansion and overlook

00:45:14.550 --> 00:45:18.849
a you know pond yeah yeah that's right and have

00:45:18.849 --> 00:45:21.769
a million dollar garden yeah and you wouldn't

00:45:21.769 --> 00:45:26.039
pay the interest for milk So how many cows are

00:45:26.039 --> 00:45:29.480
you milking? About 210. Let's just look at some

00:45:29.480 --> 00:45:33.000
of the other dairy operations here. Who's operating?

00:45:33.219 --> 00:45:36.099
McIntosh is operating? Yep, McIntosh. Peter Cullen

00:45:36.099 --> 00:45:40.099
out at Harley Hill. William's out at Coast Lane.

00:45:40.440 --> 00:45:42.599
We've got Jarrett's out the back of Coolangatta.

00:45:43.079 --> 00:45:47.300
They were part of our co -op. There is one more

00:45:47.300 --> 00:45:52.500
farmer, Paul Leighton's son, out at Bolong there.

00:45:52.880 --> 00:45:55.679
Just getting back to deregulation. Yes. We were

00:45:55.679 --> 00:46:00.559
all going broke. Paul Timms had the idea of maybe

00:46:00.559 --> 00:46:04.539
making cheese. Diversifying. Yeah, yeah. And

00:46:04.539 --> 00:46:07.719
Gussie said to me, there was a fella up at Picton

00:46:07.719 --> 00:46:11.380
started a little dairy bottling, bottling his

00:46:11.380 --> 00:46:14.619
milk. And Gussie said, why don't you go up there

00:46:14.619 --> 00:46:17.800
and talk to that fella? So a group of us from

00:46:17.800 --> 00:46:21.070
the co -op went up. He took us on on a pilot

00:46:21.070 --> 00:46:23.989
scheme, bottle a bit of milk, see how it goes,

00:46:24.130 --> 00:46:27.750
you know. It took off, South Coast Dairy. Yeah,

00:46:27.809 --> 00:46:30.730
and it grew to a point we could get our own plant

00:46:30.730 --> 00:46:33.630
in. You know, we had our ups and downs and a

00:46:33.630 --> 00:46:36.889
very steep learning curve all the way through.

00:46:36.989 --> 00:46:41.210
But, yeah, eventually we went down in COVID.

00:46:41.909 --> 00:46:46.510
16 years we had it going for. Where is that today?

00:46:47.449 --> 00:46:53.969
We sold the brand to a Sydney consortium. They

00:46:53.969 --> 00:46:56.250
were going to use our milk and do all sorts of

00:46:56.250 --> 00:46:58.750
stuff, you know, keep it the same, but it never

00:46:58.750 --> 00:47:01.329
happened. We gave it a go, fought tooth and nail

00:47:01.329 --> 00:47:04.500
to make it work. A lot of blood, sweat and tears

00:47:04.500 --> 00:47:08.239
went into it. During COVID, we just couldn't

00:47:08.239 --> 00:47:11.539
sustain it. So what keeps you there today? At

00:47:11.539 --> 00:47:14.980
the co -op? No, on the land. I couldn't imagine

00:47:14.980 --> 00:47:19.920
anything else. I gave a talk once. They said,

00:47:20.019 --> 00:47:23.119
when did you first want to become a dairy farmer?

00:47:23.610 --> 00:47:25.769
I said, well, when I was in my mother's womb,

00:47:25.949 --> 00:47:28.250
I suppose. It might have been before that. It

00:47:28.250 --> 00:47:30.090
might have been when I was a twinkle in Dad's

00:47:30.090 --> 00:47:33.570
eye, you know. Like, I just never wanted to do

00:47:33.570 --> 00:47:36.369
anything else. Just loved tagging along with

00:47:36.369 --> 00:47:39.469
Dad and Gus and working with them as a kid and

00:47:39.469 --> 00:47:42.909
then on the horses doing stock work or milking

00:47:42.909 --> 00:47:45.550
or listening to all the stories up at the co

00:47:45.550 --> 00:47:48.440
-op and, you know, it was just... The people

00:47:48.440 --> 00:47:50.460
that were in it were the people I wanted to be

00:47:50.460 --> 00:47:53.199
around. Who were some of those men you remember,

00:47:53.300 --> 00:47:57.340
the families that aren't around today? Oh, look,

00:47:57.420 --> 00:48:00.559
there was Jack Ward. He was like a legend in

00:48:00.559 --> 00:48:03.639
the dairy industry and such a knowledgeable,

00:48:03.840 --> 00:48:08.960
confident, well -spoken man. Cole Bowley, Stuart

00:48:08.960 --> 00:48:13.679
Blow. Jimmy Bryce, any one of them. They were

00:48:13.679 --> 00:48:16.579
just, yeah, sort of people that you just had

00:48:16.579 --> 00:48:19.960
so much hard work and soul to the earth. You

00:48:19.960 --> 00:48:22.719
just had so much respect for them and families

00:48:22.719 --> 00:48:26.340
and, yeah. Good people. Great people. Unbelievable

00:48:26.340 --> 00:48:29.780
people. Great mentors. Yeah. If anyone was in

00:48:29.780 --> 00:48:32.639
trouble, they'd be organising something. Some

00:48:32.639 --> 00:48:35.500
of his hay shed burnt down, they'd be organising.

00:48:35.929 --> 00:48:38.489
made from everyone else. Blew down the bloody

00:48:38.489 --> 00:48:41.369
house or something? Yeah, yeah, yeah. All the

00:48:41.369 --> 00:48:43.710
flooding and fires. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's

00:48:43.710 --> 00:48:47.389
it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's such

00:48:47.389 --> 00:48:50.050
a great community. You earn to be a part of.

00:48:50.289 --> 00:48:52.769
Yeah, it's touching for you, obviously. It's

00:48:52.769 --> 00:48:55.989
part of you. It's who you are. What did you train

00:48:55.989 --> 00:48:58.230
in when you went down to Bathurst and you said

00:48:58.230 --> 00:49:01.010
you did a tech course? What was that? Mainly

00:49:01.010 --> 00:49:04.099
for Western. people like a fair bit of agronomy

00:49:04.099 --> 00:49:06.619
and you know stuff like that you know machinery

00:49:06.619 --> 00:49:09.639
stuff and you know but it was they were all cheap

00:49:09.639 --> 00:49:13.199
boys but i was just wanting to play rugby yeah

00:49:13.199 --> 00:49:15.420
to be honest with you oh you didn't study you're

00:49:15.420 --> 00:49:17.639
telling me now are you you didn't really attend

00:49:17.639 --> 00:49:23.860
to your studies i did all right i held my you've

00:49:23.860 --> 00:49:30.989
always got a good sign good sign yeah yeah Fair

00:49:30.989 --> 00:49:33.730
enough. I didn't waste your money, Dad. I'm boarding

00:49:33.730 --> 00:49:38.929
school plans in that last year. So some of the

00:49:38.929 --> 00:49:42.889
agronomists, what did you know much about Graham

00:49:42.889 --> 00:49:46.949
Park? Did you use their facilities? Yeah, yeah.

00:49:47.190 --> 00:49:50.469
And who were some people you remember from Graham

00:49:50.469 --> 00:49:53.710
Park there? Yeah, look. What did you think of

00:49:53.710 --> 00:49:56.929
that place? It was down your way initially, wasn't

00:49:56.929 --> 00:49:58.630
it? Yeah, that's right. That was the original.

00:49:59.340 --> 00:50:01.659
That place we brought off the government, that

00:50:01.659 --> 00:50:05.219
was the original AI centre in Australia. This

00:50:05.219 --> 00:50:07.019
is Wolf Road we're talking about? Yeah, yeah,

00:50:07.019 --> 00:50:09.320
yeah. It was the first AI centre in Australia.

00:50:09.619 --> 00:50:13.980
That was before my time. That's right. Yep. Before

00:50:13.980 --> 00:50:17.559
my time, it was a model farm. There were horse

00:50:17.559 --> 00:50:22.699
stables. My grandmother and an assistant niner

00:50:22.699 --> 00:50:26.380
and Jean, they milked there. The chisholms up

00:50:26.380 --> 00:50:29.860
in Bundiwala, like... Everyone was pretty poor

00:50:29.860 --> 00:50:33.340
and as soon as, like the girls, as soon as they

00:50:33.340 --> 00:50:35.539
were four, they were in the dairy milking and

00:50:35.539 --> 00:50:38.179
the boys were in the fields picking up stones

00:50:38.179 --> 00:50:41.900
and helping sticks and, you know, ploughing and,

00:50:41.920 --> 00:50:43.880
you know, that sort of thing. Clearing the land.

00:50:44.119 --> 00:50:46.980
Yeah, yeah, yeah. My grandmother went and milked

00:50:46.980 --> 00:50:50.500
down there. So she was a chisholm? She was a

00:50:50.500 --> 00:50:53.320
chisholm and they boarded in the house. When

00:50:53.320 --> 00:50:55.599
my grandfather moved down from Jurongong, they

00:50:55.599 --> 00:50:58.250
were boarding in the house. those three girls.

00:50:58.449 --> 00:51:01.150
So he got to know them and ended up marrying

00:51:01.150 --> 00:51:04.409
one of them, Winnie Chisholm. My grandfather,

00:51:04.869 --> 00:51:08.389
her father, worked down there also. He got killed

00:51:08.389 --> 00:51:11.090
in an accident there. There was a burning stable

00:51:11.090 --> 00:51:15.090
and they were getting horses out and a rafter

00:51:15.090 --> 00:51:17.969
or something fell and a burning rail hit him

00:51:17.969 --> 00:51:21.650
and he survived another week but ended up dying

00:51:21.650 --> 00:51:25.469
of the injuries. It was like a model farm. like

00:51:25.469 --> 00:51:30.170
bull sheds, horse stables. Was that for tourists

00:51:30.170 --> 00:51:32.989
or for other farms? Experimental. Experimental.

00:51:32.989 --> 00:51:35.860
Yeah, it was like a... The Berries set it up.

00:51:35.880 --> 00:51:38.940
See, they were so entrepreneurial, introducing

00:51:38.940 --> 00:51:42.539
new cattle years ahead of their time. We've got

00:51:42.539 --> 00:51:45.340
no leaders today like what they were, in a class

00:51:45.340 --> 00:51:48.280
of their own. Like, they set up this farm for

00:51:48.280 --> 00:51:50.920
the benefit of the rest of the farming community,

00:51:51.360 --> 00:51:54.619
trying to grow new species of grass, trying to...

00:51:54.619 --> 00:51:57.900
Educating. Educating. Like, importing cattle.

00:51:58.380 --> 00:52:00.719
They had all sorts of breeds of cattle there.

00:52:01.420 --> 00:52:04.449
Horses, you know. All sorts of stuff like that.

00:52:04.530 --> 00:52:08.010
And you said grasses. Yep, sort of native grasses

00:52:08.010 --> 00:52:10.550
trying to improve. Paspalum or something. Yeah,

00:52:10.570 --> 00:52:13.489
yeah, yeah. If they could improve the farmer's

00:52:13.489 --> 00:52:16.449
efficiency, they'd get more milk. They were buying

00:52:16.449 --> 00:52:19.369
the milk. They had all these factories everywhere.

00:52:19.550 --> 00:52:22.389
They wanted more milk, you know. They were exporting

00:52:22.389 --> 00:52:25.449
butter back to England. They had the American

00:52:25.449 --> 00:52:30.340
consulate for trade out. article there of a big

00:52:30.340 --> 00:52:32.760
dinner they had with all the farmers and this

00:52:32.760 --> 00:52:36.380
american and all the politicians and he was keen

00:52:36.380 --> 00:52:39.239
to get on board with them and export stuff out

00:52:39.239 --> 00:52:42.980
and back to america he said you know we can produce

00:52:42.980 --> 00:52:45.940
all we want in america but not in winter Our

00:52:45.940 --> 00:52:49.519
winter's your summer. They were just really entrepreneurial,

00:52:49.880 --> 00:52:52.920
the Illawarra Shorthorns. Like, I know that families

00:52:52.920 --> 00:52:55.920
like the Perichers came down to get the Illawarra

00:52:55.920 --> 00:52:58.460
Shorthorns from Kangaroo Valley. Yeah, yeah.

00:52:58.579 --> 00:53:00.840
Because that's the way they were doing it on

00:53:00.840 --> 00:53:04.260
the fringes. Yep. The first co -ops were set

00:53:04.260 --> 00:53:06.769
up, you know, at Kiama. Yeah, but the berries

00:53:06.769 --> 00:53:09.170
had a lot to do with that. It moved to Graham

00:53:09.170 --> 00:53:12.329
Park. Yep. The McIntosh family had a lot to do

00:53:12.329 --> 00:53:14.489
with that. Now, his father, what was his name?

00:53:14.550 --> 00:53:17.369
His father was Bruce, but his father was Fred.

00:53:17.530 --> 00:53:20.610
Fred was the one. Fred was the one, yeah. He

00:53:20.610 --> 00:53:23.750
did a lot of great stuff for the local dairy

00:53:23.750 --> 00:53:26.989
industry in New South Wales. So he was a leader.

00:53:28.280 --> 00:53:30.880
He was another Berry. He was a leader, yeah.

00:53:31.159 --> 00:53:33.960
Did they come from here? They came from Cobbety

00:53:33.960 --> 00:53:37.559
in Camden. Yes, it's interesting, isn't it? Because

00:53:37.559 --> 00:53:40.019
they would have seen a lot at Camden Park and

00:53:40.019 --> 00:53:42.380
be influenced by what was happening there perhaps.

00:53:42.719 --> 00:53:45.400
Yeah, perhaps, yeah, yeah, quite likely. Because

00:53:45.400 --> 00:53:48.579
I know Camden Park were influenced by Berry as

00:53:48.579 --> 00:53:51.260
well. Okay, yeah. Well, you were all at one point

00:53:51.260 --> 00:53:53.159
under the same parish or whatever it was called.

00:53:53.159 --> 00:53:55.099
Yeah, right, yeah, yeah. He brought attention

00:53:55.099 --> 00:53:58.380
to the area. Yep, yep. He was... He must have

00:53:58.380 --> 00:54:00.980
had influence in government. Yeah, he was...

00:54:00.980 --> 00:54:04.860
He did, yeah. He was the chairman or president

00:54:04.860 --> 00:54:09.199
of the Very Better Farmers League and he had

00:54:09.199 --> 00:54:12.619
the ear of politicians. A fellow called, I think

00:54:12.619 --> 00:54:15.400
it was Bob Graham, who was the Minister for Agriculture

00:54:15.400 --> 00:54:19.070
at the time. He convinced him that... The state

00:54:19.070 --> 00:54:22.710
needed an artificial, like we had it down at

00:54:22.710 --> 00:54:26.969
Wharf Road, which by then was probably underutilised

00:54:26.969 --> 00:54:29.710
compared to what the state needed, a much bigger

00:54:29.710 --> 00:54:34.250
facility. So he got up there and canvassed the

00:54:34.250 --> 00:54:36.849
Minister for Agriculture. That's why it's called

00:54:36.849 --> 00:54:39.969
Graham Park after, I think it was Bob Graham.

00:54:40.250 --> 00:54:44.670
Fred McIntosh got that place up and going. Agriculture,

00:54:44.710 --> 00:54:47.690
the department, was very active in its time.

00:54:48.210 --> 00:54:51.050
I just know they were at Camden Park as well.

00:54:51.090 --> 00:54:54.730
They had those big field days. Did you have that

00:54:54.730 --> 00:54:56.590
sort of thing here? You probably did. They probably

00:54:56.590 --> 00:54:58.650
got it from you. But they had a lot of great

00:54:58.650 --> 00:55:01.269
men working in agriculture that were really,

00:55:01.289 --> 00:55:04.190
like government, really committed to the work.

00:55:04.369 --> 00:55:07.900
Did you find that yourself? Yeah, yeah. I was

00:55:07.900 --> 00:55:11.099
sort of on the tail end of all that. Yeah, that's

00:55:11.099 --> 00:55:13.659
right. Back in the day they had funding, you

00:55:13.659 --> 00:55:16.519
know, like food production was a big deal. But

00:55:16.519 --> 00:55:20.019
now it's going to turn up from somewhere, isn't

00:55:20.019 --> 00:55:23.079
it? End up in the supermarket shelf, you know,

00:55:23.079 --> 00:55:26.900
from somewhere, won't it? We've never starved

00:55:26.900 --> 00:55:29.320
out here, so we take it for granted it's just

00:55:29.320 --> 00:55:32.619
going to turn up. But the Europeans and the Poms...

00:55:33.050 --> 00:55:35.710
They've all starved to death. You know how important

00:55:35.710 --> 00:55:39.050
food production and water security is, you know,

00:55:39.050 --> 00:55:41.190
and they protect their farmers. I'm not saying

00:55:41.190 --> 00:55:44.610
it should be subsidised or whatnot. People produce

00:55:44.610 --> 00:55:47.869
in primary industries are taken for granted that,

00:55:47.889 --> 00:55:50.829
yeah, they'll produce it for nothing. It's all

00:55:50.829 --> 00:55:52.929
right, though. Well, they're having big problems

00:55:52.929 --> 00:55:56.090
in Queensland at the moment, aren't they? where

00:55:56.090 --> 00:55:58.210
they're losing a lot of stock. The other worrying

00:55:58.210 --> 00:56:01.829
part that I think too is that a lot of farms

00:56:01.829 --> 00:56:04.730
are just getting swallowed up by huge corporate

00:56:04.730 --> 00:56:08.710
superannuation funds and family farms are just

00:56:08.710 --> 00:56:12.070
going out left, right and centre. I've got friends

00:56:12.070 --> 00:56:15.010
that I went to school with and tell me there's

00:56:15.010 --> 00:56:20.789
one kid on the school bus now out at parks. It's

00:56:20.789 --> 00:56:24.250
just all fly -in, fly -out workers. Truck them

00:56:24.250 --> 00:56:27.030
in, truck them out. Sad for communities. There's

00:56:27.030 --> 00:56:29.869
no community approach. No, and they're going

00:56:29.869 --> 00:56:31.809
through the same thing as us. If they want to

00:56:31.809 --> 00:56:34.710
buy the next door farm, they're up against a

00:56:34.710 --> 00:56:37.610
superannuation fund from Canada or wherever.

00:56:38.519 --> 00:56:40.980
Just can't compete. We're changing the topic.

00:56:41.119 --> 00:56:44.780
The Berry Showground and your family's role in

00:56:44.780 --> 00:56:46.920
that and your recent... Mentioned before, my

00:56:46.920 --> 00:56:49.800
great -grandfather was a committee member. His

00:56:49.800 --> 00:56:53.739
sons were committee members and presidents. My

00:56:53.739 --> 00:56:57.800
father was a committee member for well over 50

00:56:57.800 --> 00:57:01.989
years and president and he... exhibited there

00:57:01.989 --> 00:57:05.409
and part of our you know like we get up and go

00:57:05.409 --> 00:57:08.250
to milk and that and being part of the show is

00:57:08.250 --> 00:57:11.650
just as much part of us as what we do on the

00:57:11.650 --> 00:57:15.050
farm but it's just a little side tentacle it's

00:57:15.050 --> 00:57:17.809
just part of us and the kids are all involved

00:57:17.809 --> 00:57:20.230
now they're on the committee and the grandkids

00:57:20.230 --> 00:57:23.329
they're only little fellas but they're all members

00:57:23.329 --> 00:57:26.610
junior members i think it's just such an important

00:57:26.610 --> 00:57:30.559
part of the fabric of the community too keep

00:57:30.559 --> 00:57:33.460
that tradition going and keep the competitions

00:57:33.460 --> 00:57:38.780
for whatever farmers are left, but also for townsfolk.

00:57:38.900 --> 00:57:42.320
Everyone can get involved. It's just not a farmer

00:57:42.320 --> 00:57:45.440
thing, it's a community thing. So the show's

00:57:45.440 --> 00:57:47.619
coming up. What are you doing? I know you've

00:57:47.619 --> 00:57:51.000
just come off as president. I'm meant to be in

00:57:51.000 --> 00:57:54.179
the ring this year, in the main ring. They've

00:57:54.179 --> 00:57:56.880
given me a title, but I'm not sure. I've never

00:57:56.880 --> 00:57:59.420
been in the ring before. I've always been a steward

00:57:59.420 --> 00:58:01.820
in the cattle, so I'm not on a bit of a steep

00:58:01.820 --> 00:58:04.739
learning curve there. You're very well known,

00:58:04.760 --> 00:58:07.599
of course. You have to be. I think I've... Except

00:58:07.599 --> 00:58:10.639
for your outfits. I think I've piggybacked on

00:58:10.639 --> 00:58:15.460
the shirt tails of my parents and those that

00:58:15.460 --> 00:58:18.340
have gone before me. I just want to bring something

00:58:18.340 --> 00:58:20.780
up. You're known for riding horseback without

00:58:20.780 --> 00:58:24.110
a saddle and shorts on. In the nude. Oh, shorts.

00:58:25.510 --> 00:58:28.250
You ride downtown with shorts and a shirt on

00:58:28.250 --> 00:58:31.130
when you were younger. Oh, yeah, yeah, could

00:58:31.130 --> 00:58:33.469
have. You've always been quite, but you're your

00:58:33.469 --> 00:58:37.150
own person. Yeah, yeah. Well, I think that's

00:58:37.150 --> 00:58:39.510
important for everyone to be their own people,

00:58:39.710 --> 00:58:43.550
not try and be someone that you're not or somebody

00:58:43.550 --> 00:58:46.329
else wants you to be. It's important. I think

00:58:46.329 --> 00:58:48.329
that's when you look yourself in the mirror,

00:58:48.409 --> 00:58:51.570
you're honest with yourself. Tell me a bit about

00:58:51.570 --> 00:58:55.809
your wife. What's her full name? Jennifer Ruth.

00:58:56.050 --> 00:58:59.289
She was a cult art. Miller. What's her contribution

00:58:59.289 --> 00:59:02.269
to you? If she wasn't here, I don't know how

00:59:02.269 --> 00:59:05.309
I'd survive, put it like that. I don't know how

00:59:05.309 --> 00:59:08.710
I'd make it through tomorrow. She contributes

00:59:08.710 --> 00:59:15.010
that much to the family. She's a superwoman.

00:59:15.349 --> 00:59:18.909
How's that? She sounds strong. Yeah, she's very

00:59:18.909 --> 00:59:21.760
strong, yeah. But very soft. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

00:59:21.840 --> 00:59:23.699
yeah. You've got to be a bit of both, haven't

00:59:23.699 --> 00:59:29.519
you? Yeah. She's got so much talent. I can show

00:59:29.519 --> 00:59:33.179
you all the sewing and embroidery and, you know,

00:59:33.199 --> 00:59:38.800
anything she does, she excels at. But she hasn't

00:59:38.800 --> 00:59:42.360
got the self -awareness of that, if you know

00:59:42.360 --> 00:59:45.420
what I mean. The esteem. Yeah. She doesn't value

00:59:45.420 --> 00:59:48.340
herself enough. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How long have

00:59:48.340 --> 00:59:51.590
you been married? Since Haiti. Wait till she

00:59:51.590 --> 00:59:53.949
starts valuing herself. She'll really come alive

00:59:53.949 --> 00:59:55.510
then, won't she? I know, yeah. It's good. It

00:59:55.510 --> 00:59:58.449
takes a while. Yeah, yeah. But boy, watch out.

00:59:59.969 --> 01:00:06.429
So what's 2026 for you? I'll be 62 in October.

01:00:07.510 --> 01:00:10.889
So, yeah, just supporting the family, trying

01:00:10.889 --> 01:00:14.190
to get them set up, keep as healthy as I can,

01:00:14.329 --> 01:00:17.849
happy as I can. Family is so important to us.

01:00:18.090 --> 01:00:21.349
We were all here at Christmas dinner and I just

01:00:21.349 --> 01:00:24.389
sat back and looked and said, how lucky am I?

01:00:24.650 --> 01:00:31.210
How much has God blessed me? They're all here

01:00:31.210 --> 01:00:35.230
with their little babies. What else do you want?

01:00:35.369 --> 01:00:39.429
What more do you want? It's just amazing. If

01:00:39.429 --> 01:00:42.630
it wasn't for the help that Dad and my uncle

01:00:42.630 --> 01:00:46.250
and my mother... Gave me, you know, probably

01:00:46.250 --> 01:00:48.730
their parents gave them and their parents, you

01:00:48.730 --> 01:00:52.949
know. So I'm determined that while I'm here on

01:00:52.949 --> 01:00:57.369
earth to do whatever I can for those four kids

01:00:57.369 --> 01:01:01.090
and now they're little kids. And who are some

01:01:01.090 --> 01:01:05.570
of your peers? Today, I'm particularly close

01:01:05.570 --> 01:01:09.429
with the Bowleys. Kath and Cole, I grew up with

01:01:09.429 --> 01:01:12.369
the boys. They were my age. Brian was in my class.

01:01:13.389 --> 01:01:16.230
Had a bit to do with Al and Don, their older

01:01:16.230 --> 01:01:19.630
brother, and good friends with them. Where did

01:01:19.630 --> 01:01:22.349
they live? Right next door where you drove in.

01:01:22.590 --> 01:01:25.929
Oh, I apologise. On the farm next door. Cole

01:01:25.929 --> 01:01:28.690
and Kath were like second parents to me. They

01:01:28.690 --> 01:01:32.929
were very, yeah. And this is the thing that binds

01:01:32.929 --> 01:01:36.469
you to community, these people. Yeah, yeah. That

01:01:36.469 --> 01:01:39.769
know you. Yeah, yeah, that's right, yeah. And

01:01:39.769 --> 01:01:42.489
love you. Yeah, that's right. And care. Yeah.

01:01:43.099 --> 01:01:47.039
Yeah, exactly, yeah. We grew up in a special

01:01:47.039 --> 01:01:51.099
time when the community was just so there for

01:01:51.099 --> 01:01:55.659
one another, just unbelievably, you know. You

01:01:55.659 --> 01:01:58.099
couldn't survive without your neighbours, you

01:01:58.099 --> 01:02:01.280
know. It was like that. It just set you up for

01:02:01.280 --> 01:02:04.199
life, really. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Your values.

01:02:04.539 --> 01:02:07.019
Yeah, yeah, I think so. Your morals. Yeah, yeah,

01:02:07.039 --> 01:02:11.250
exactly, yeah. Like, you talked to... Not everyone,

01:02:11.449 --> 01:02:14.949
but you talk to people now about stuff and you

01:02:14.949 --> 01:02:18.130
can see behind the eyes, they're thinking, how

01:02:18.130 --> 01:02:26.210
can I work this to my advantage? You can just

01:02:26.210 --> 01:02:29.769
see them. Dad always said you can just look in

01:02:29.769 --> 01:02:32.650
their eyes, whether it's a horse or a bull or

01:02:32.650 --> 01:02:37.039
a cow or a calf, you can tell what... most especially

01:02:37.039 --> 01:02:39.900
people, you can tell. You can read them like

01:02:39.900 --> 01:02:43.059
a book, as you always used to say, and it's pretty

01:02:43.059 --> 01:02:49.099
true. I'll have to take more notice. Did you

01:02:49.099 --> 01:02:52.159
ever horse ride competitively? Oh, I did a bit

01:02:52.159 --> 01:02:55.420
of pony club. We went to Gymkhana's and, you

01:02:55.420 --> 01:02:59.099
know. Doesn't the pony club operate there anymore?

01:02:59.260 --> 01:03:01.559
I mean, I don't know. I don't know, yeah. But

01:03:01.559 --> 01:03:03.780
you went to the Berry Pony Club? Yeah, as a kid,

01:03:03.880 --> 01:03:07.139
yeah, when I went away to school. Was it busy?

01:03:07.260 --> 01:03:09.059
Did you have a lot of kids there? Yeah, it was

01:03:09.059 --> 01:03:13.079
about 15 or 20 kids. They were all girls, except

01:03:13.079 --> 01:03:16.639
for me and Tony Wybrow. That would have been

01:03:16.639 --> 01:03:20.719
good. Yeah. Maybe. Yeah, they used to pick on

01:03:20.719 --> 01:03:27.079
us. And who was running it, do you know? Geoff

01:03:27.079 --> 01:03:31.599
Monteith was the president. Mrs Bell was the

01:03:31.599 --> 01:03:34.420
chief instructor. I think the Priestly's got

01:03:34.420 --> 01:03:38.619
involved a little later, just after I left. And

01:03:38.619 --> 01:03:43.639
we used to ride out to Pat Ryan's paddock, where

01:03:43.639 --> 01:03:49.400
there was a few jumps, out at Farm Meadow. Good

01:03:49.400 --> 01:03:52.440
days, yeah. They sort of tried to teach us the

01:03:52.440 --> 01:03:55.480
etiquette of gentleman riding, but... Pete, you're

01:03:55.480 --> 01:03:58.960
not in France, are you? No, no. As long as we

01:03:58.960 --> 01:04:02.159
can get those cows in. You still ride today,

01:04:02.320 --> 01:04:05.639
don't you? Yeah, yeah. Yep. All right, that'll

01:04:05.639 --> 01:04:10.239
probably do us for today. That brings us to the

01:04:10.239 --> 01:04:14.400
end of the recording. I'd like to thank Ian Zanster

01:04:14.400 --> 01:04:17.679
again for this season. I'd like to thank John...

01:04:18.090 --> 01:04:22.909
Miller, also who I interviewed at the very start

01:04:22.909 --> 01:04:28.349
of season one, episode one, where I grabbed a

01:04:28.349 --> 01:04:30.809
vox pop from John about the importance of this

01:04:30.809 --> 01:04:34.150
project. So it seemed timely that I finish with

01:04:34.150 --> 01:04:37.329
this recording today. Terry Fylde's been another

01:04:37.329 --> 01:04:41.010
good person for me to engage and talk with. I'm

01:04:41.010 --> 01:04:44.230
grateful for those people supporting me. I'm

01:04:44.230 --> 01:04:48.469
off now to write a book I need to write. titled

01:04:48.469 --> 01:04:53.769
The Sacred Heart of Green Valley. It encompasses

01:04:53.769 --> 01:05:00.090
over 30 years of media and my own research, and

01:05:00.090 --> 01:05:04.269
it's waiting for me. So I'm committing to finishing

01:05:04.269 --> 01:05:07.869
that book, touring that book, selling that book,

01:05:07.989 --> 01:05:12.150
and then I'll see what's around the corner, folks.

01:05:12.570 --> 01:05:15.809
You know where to catch me, theresesweeney .com

01:05:15.809 --> 01:05:21.219
.au. Take care. Thank you. Signing off, Therese

01:05:21.219 --> 01:05:21.679
Sweeney.