it was not often that we could persuade father to talk to us of the early days, but a schoolmate of his, whom he had not seen for over forty years, called last week. they talked of the "old times" and all that had befallen them since last they had gripped each other"s hand. so that was, perhaps, the reason why father now wheeled his chair round in answer to our request, and began.
"you see this house," he said, "and yonder barn, stables, and yard, and the lucerne fields over there, and the miles of fencing. forty years ago there were none of these. you would have lost yourself right on the spot where you now sit at the dinner-table.
"bill and i rode over this part first in "53- two youngsters we were, eager-hearted, strong and well-knit in body, and with any amount of spirit in us to face whatever the future years should bring. we were on the lookout for a good sheep-run.
"a faithful old blackfellow had told us about the lagoons you see yonder; so after a week"s hard riding, camping out in all weathers, with any sort of food to eat, we came to this spot. it didn"t take us long to settle on our run. we rode over the country round here for miles, and within a fortnight knew that this run- with its abundant never-failing water, its level black-soil patches,its grassy ridges-was just what we wanted.
"camping out in all weathers."
"twelve months afterwards we felt pretty well settled, but no book could tell you what hard struggles were crowded into that first year:-how we brought, up our sheep; how we got out goods along by a bullock team; how we struck dry weather from the start and had to cart water ; how we were surprised one night by blacks and lived three days in hourly peril of our lives; how we did our own cooking and washing and work of all sorts (you have to be a jack-of-all-trades when you first start to conquer the bush); how we ran short of food once, and bad nothing tolive on, not even damper1 or kangaroo steak; how we were more than once ready to throw aside our whole enterprise and go four hundred miles back to town life with its quill-driving2 and starched collars and narrow living.
burning off scrub for fruit-growing
"but we stuck to our task, and for twelve months worked at a hundred jobs, as every man has to work who wants to carve out a home for himself in the bush. newchums? yes, we were then;but that wore off, and a year"s experience seasoned us.
"you know quartz gully, four miles this side of talbot"s store? we found that gully one day when after some lost cattle. my mate saw the shining gold first, and for a time there was a rush1damper: bread made of flour and water, without yeast, and generally baked inthe ashes.
2quill-driving: using a. pen. goose-quills or feather-pens were in use before steel nibs and wooden holders.
to these parts, but it died away, and not a digger or prospector1has been in this district for many a day.
the first home
"yes, you become an explorer, whether you will or not, when you turn to pioneering2. white"s range, thirty miles away, is named after my mate-he was the first to cross it, and dip down into the fine grazing country beyond. king parrot creek i named over forty years ago.
"the round lagoon named itself-there"s a story about a murder in that lagoon. it"s an old dark chapter of history, and dates from the days when bushranging was common, and a white man"s life was sometimes held cheap. but i must tell that some other time.
1prospector: one who explores a region with the object of finding valuable minerals.
2pioneering: "pioneers" lit. means the men who march in front of the army to clear the way for the main body.
"you ask me, when did mother come here first? i first met your mother when-"father stopped, as if in thought, and his eyes seemed to look back forty years, to a day when he had wooed and won the bonny daughter of a storekeeper in a town far away; when, hand in hand, they took up the white man"s burden1, and all the new world of hopes and fears lay before them. we were wishing father would tell us all about these things, but his thoughts were left unspoken.
"there was little schooling then," he continued. "it is only a dozen years or so since the first school was built in this district. don"t you remember riding there and back on horse- back-fourteen miles every day? mother taught the eldest of you herself, and taught us all, too, to remember when the week brought round its sunday.
"there"s a great difference to-day," mused father, "you boys will each have a slice off this run, when you grow up and become farmers for yourselves, with school and store and church and railway all within easy distance. pioneering now-even on the stations2 far west- is rapidly changing from what it was in the early days. but give me the early days!" concluded father, and when he took up his glasses to read the newspaper we knew that his talk was over- for that night at all events.
-e. w. h. f.
1took up the white man"s burden: bore their part in civilising the country.
2stations: sheep or cattle stations; large areas or "runs" on which stock are pastured.
