So Joseph said to Sarah - lets head North and I'll build a home for you and the children and we'll farm and prosper. So they packed up their 5 children and belongings and travelled 500km North and claimed and named Appealinna Homestead. Joseph was not the best stone-mason and the house was not the usual neat and tidy stone structure - and after a few good years things got dry - and this was the view from the bedroom. They fought with their neighbours over water, they fought with the miners over water, they fought with the S.A. Government over water.... and this is all that is left standing now. Unfortunately - a very common story in this area.
@etienne Thanks Etienne - this whole area is just mind-boggling as an example of the attitude of the early settlers - they had no idea of the land they were attempting to utilize, they were incredibly hard working and tough but they tried to use methods and ways from their old country. And they generally fought with and killed the people who actually knew how to live in these environments. It's a snapshot of Australian colonisation - sad but fascinating. :)
@peadar Thanks Peter - it's incredible how hardy many of these people were - and such risk takers - they went out to nothing - and took their children with them. The cemeteries tell lots of tales.:)
@golftragic It's a bit scary Marnie - how many of the current farming areas are going to end up the same way if they don't get some rain soon? And Stanthorpe is going up in flames today- everything is so dry and brittle - we're on the GC at the moment - but the news from the Granite Belt has been horrific. Tenterfield seems to be in the same situation and the no. of fires along the Qld coast is quite crazy......
@robz I've been thinking in the same vein Rob, very scary indeed. My son has 6000 acres of Riverina land with around ten miles of frontage to the Edward River (an anabranch of the Murray). For the second year in a row my he has a zero water allocation so can't grow any rice or irrigate any crops or pastures. At the same time the Edward is full - all going to South Australia. There's a real row brewing between farmers in different states. With the Darling virtually dry pretty much everything's coming down the Murray system - en route to South Australia thanks to some piece of paper dating from Federation, plus some very feisty politicians who smother any criticism pdq. In the meantime dairying in the Riverina is now almost gone, ditto round Shepparton in Victoria and we're only growing a very small percentage of our possible rice crops. Cotton and almonds are two of the worst villains, very water-hungry. One of the biggest mistakes has been to allow speculators to buy up water instead of restricting that ability to actual farmers. Grrrr, don't start me!!
@robz As for the fires, my ears pricked up this morning when I heard Stanthorpe mentioned. From the sound of it there are massive fires threatening several places, and this is only September!!! Les is going up to the GC mid-week for a week to visit her daughter and, being an asthmatic, is getting worried about the smoke.
@golftragic Oh Marnie - we just said yesterday we didn't know how an asthmatic would cope - the smoke was quite thick and spread pretty much over the whole coast. It's a bit better today and there has been a mention of possible rain on Monday which would clear it away - but that still has to happen.
How on Earth is your son expected to survive two years in a row with no water!? It seems to be that we should be really concentrating on food crops - otherwise we'll end up dependent on another nation for our food supplies - not a good thought. And that whole debacle about speculators buying water just to sell it back again is absolutely disgusting - why are so many of our politicians so incredibly stupid? I'm like you in that it is so bad ,and so impossible for normal people to do anything about that it just drives you mad!......
How on Earth is your son expected to survive two years in a row with no water!? It seems to be that we should be really concentrating on food crops - otherwise we'll end up dependent on another nation for our food supplies - not a good thought. And that whole debacle about speculators buying water just to sell it back again is absolutely disgusting - why are so many of our politicians so incredibly stupid? I'm like you in that it is so bad ,and so impossible for normal people to do anything about that it just drives you mad!......