The old school-house :From the station archives

No-one knows how old this map is. No doubt if I studied it carefully I may well be able to work out the dates as the pink shaded areas depict those lands falling under the rule of the British Crown (British Malaya, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Australia, Canada - among others). I do know [...]

By | August 19th, 2015|A WRITERS LIFE, COUNTRY LIFE, Inspiration|0 Comments

From a croc-wrestling poet, to books and film crews.

From the Burdekin Writer's Festival in Far North QLD where a croc-wrestling bush poet got into a fight outside the local and had to be taken to hospital by an eminent historian (who says writer's fests are boring?)...           to a film crew descending on the property to talk books and farming ...followed [...]

By | August 10th, 2015|A WRITERS LIFE, COUNTRY LIFE, Inspiration|0 Comments

From the Station archives: The homestead my great-grandfather built in the 1890s.

When my great-grandfather moved westward from the New England north-west region of Inverell in the early 1890s to our current property he built a homestead on one of two separate holdings. The property was called Mona and the original house was of mud-brick and cypress pine. This early building was made with the black soil mud found on the property with the bricks [...]

The Dog Blog: Jack the kelpie & Clancy of the Overflow

There I was. Clancy of the overflow (With apologies to Banjo Patterson)… heading towards the yards… So Jack raced to wheel them—he was running on the wing, where the best and boldest kelpies take their place, And he raced past all the other dogs, and he made those old cows cringe With his ferocious bark, [...]

By | June 10th, 2015|COUNTRY LIFE|1 Comment

From the station archives: The Pastoral Review & The ANZAC Book.

Well I’ve been digging around in the family archives again. This time searching for information from the 1950s for one of my works-in-progress. Opening boxes at our place is a bit like Christmas at times. You never know what gems you’re going to discover. Authenticity is mandatory when you’re writing bush stories with a historical [...]

By | May 30th, 2015|A WRITERS LIFE, COUNTRY LIFE, Inspiration|1 Comment

A creeping natural disaster.

And the drought goes on… I’m wondering if anyone is going to take a stand for rural Australia. I’m speaking of those areas such as Western NSW and Central and Western QLD still fighting the extremes of a never-ending drought. Surely it is time for serious attention to be given to those who are suffering. [...]

The Dog Blog: Jack’s back, lock up your daughters!

It's been a long hot summer and I  mean l-o-n-g. Droughts mean boredom for us four-legged kind. Why? Because there's little or no work. I mean, where are the cattle? Walking the long paddock or trucked to greener pastures until things improve on the run. Hardly any beeves or sheep to chase, the ground so hard and dry [...]

By | April 11th, 2015|COUNTRY LIFE, MOTHER NATURE|3 Comments

Bush History – The One Ton Post at Mungindi

Our property is between the village of Boomi and the town of Mungindi, in NW NSW. It can be a lonely stretch of dirt road at times, at others, during peak seasons, extraordinarily busy. But you can bet that if you get a flat tyre, there won't be a soul around. Mungindi's an interesting place. It's situated on [...]

By | March 19th, 2015|COUNTRY LIFE, Inspiration|1 Comment

Bush news & views.

When the overseas guys arrive with wads of cash in the palms of their hands. It’s a contentious issue, foreign investment, but for all the opinions many argue that overseas dollars are a major component when it comes to keeping primary industries viable. Do I like the idea of foreign ownership of the land, of [...]

By | March 17th, 2015|COUNTRY LIFE, Opinion, Rural Affairs|0 Comments

Stand up for farmers!

It's about time that NSW regional and rural voters had a bigger say ahead of the March 28th State election, don't you think so?  So does NSW Farmers.  They have created StandupforFarmers, a campaign giving country NSW voters a greater voice enabling them to shine the spotlight on issues impacting rural and regional communities. If you head to [...]

By | March 2nd, 2015|COUNTRY LIFE, Opinion, Rural Affairs|0 Comments
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