Wheat and windmills. This is just a typical farm where wheat is grown and harvested along with fattening sheep
for the meat market. Near the Great Divide so not way out west beyond the black stump. No electricity to power pumps , thus the need to raise water by wind power. Probably from a spring found by a water diviner and a bore hole. Further west it may be from an artesian source. Intercolonial Boring Company came to Australia from Canada in the late 1800s to drill for oil but found a great need for water and so for almost 100 years IBC was a manufacturer and supplyer of all parts needed to achieve this. Their HQ was on Anne Street Brisbane and I remember being sent there to collect nuts and bolts, taps and dies ect. for Power Manufacturing. As one of about six Australian manufacturers of wind mills , it was common to see these products on farms anywhere from the coast to inland. There was another maker , Southern Cross in Toowoomba who also made diesel engines.
for the meat market. Near the Great Divide so not way out west beyond the black stump. No electricity to power pumps , thus the need to raise water by wind power. Probably from a spring found by a water diviner and a bore hole. Further west it may be from an artesian source. Intercolonial Boring Company came to Australia from Canada in the late 1800s to drill for oil but found a great need for water and so for almost 100 years IBC was a manufacturer and supplyer of all parts needed to achieve this. Their HQ was on Anne Street Brisbane and I remember being sent there to collect nuts and bolts, taps and dies ect. for Power Manufacturing. As one of about six Australian manufacturers of wind mills , it was common to see these products on farms anywhere from the coast to inland. There was another maker , Southern Cross in Toowoomba who also made diesel engines.
In the early post war years [1946-] when the "Pomes" were migrating to Australia by the boat load an enterpriseing Aussie organised coach trips to the Dead Hart that included a visit to see the most elusdive marsupial/chickens " Kangaroosters". A two day drive through the dry dusty interior to the yard where they were kept only resulted in what you see in this picture, someone had left the gate open and they all ran off never to be seen again.
My last employer in Australia.1963. On Breakfast Creek, a tributary of the Brisbane River where I was part of the team servicing Johnson Outboard motors. The launching was a public axcess to the water and used by the Government Army Depot who maintained ex ww2 Duwk anfibious craft. This severly damaged the old wooden ramp and it was replaced with a concrete one. I launched a boat there and drove the van and trailer up the road to park only to have to go back and recover the boat as I had not fitted the bilge plug and it was sinking . OOPPSS.
The building across the creek was the Brisbane Depot for the ww2 equipment brought over by the Americans to work the unloading of supply ships . At the end of the war the Commonwealth Government took over all this equipment throughout Australia and formed the Commonwealth Handling Equipment Pool, CHEP to carry on the good work and modernise the docks. In the UK GKN formed a company with CHEP and hired out pallets.
The building across the creek was the Brisbane Depot for the ww2 equipment brought over by the Americans to work the unloading of supply ships . At the end of the war the Commonwealth Government took over all this equipment throughout Australia and formed the Commonwealth Handling Equipment Pool, CHEP to carry on the good work and modernise the docks. In the UK GKN formed a company with CHEP and hired out pallets.
Brisbane Marine CentreThe Managing Directors Personal Barge. A 25 foot Hartley cabincruiser with twin 75hp. Johnsons that on full chat consumed 12 gallons per hour so Doug would need to refuel by the time he reached the mouth of the river. Friday morning routine was to remove 5 gallons of petrol from a full 44 gallon drum and put in 1 gallon of the latest 50/1 twostroke. An air line with a slow bleed was left in the drum for some hours to bubble and stur the mix. Mid afternoon all the fuel was pumped aboard the barge along with crates of Coke-Cola and a carton full of bottles of "Bundy" rum. It was posible to follow the boat's path down river by finding the empty floating bottles . Sometimes solid food was also loaded.First job Monday morning was to go on the landing stage and see if any oil slick was rising from the underwater gearboxs and props. Sunday afternoon the group of boats would have bets on who would be home first and Doug would try and win this by cutting across sandbars where deepkeel boats would not go. But this could result in the outboard underwater gear striking the bar sufficiently to crack the alloy case. If there was oil, we would have to remove the engine and strip the gearbox and have it welded.There are many stories of these weekend jaunts that are not suitable for telling here.
To conclude . the group purchased the defunct Tangalooma Whaling Station and we supplied Pioneer chainsaws used to cut down the flensing deck.
To conclude . the group purchased the defunct Tangalooma Whaling Station and we supplied Pioneer chainsaws used to cut down the flensing deck.
In 1950 the Australian Company Whale Products
Pty Ltd was formed. Tangalooma was
chosen as the site for the largest land-based
whaling station in the southern hemisphere.
The first two humpback whales were harpooned
in June 1952 near Cape Moreton
marking the beginning of operation.
By October, the Station had killed and processed
the yearly quota of 600 whales, with the
season lasting only 124 days.
One whale could yield more than 8000 kilograms of oil, the most valuable resource,
which was used to make margarine, glycerine, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
The meat was used for pet food or human consumption overseas, and the bones,
offal and low-grade meat were turned into meal for livestock or fertiliser.
In the late 1950s vegetable oil was introduced and then in 1959 there was a fall in
world whale oil prices. By 1961 the whales were becoming scarce and light planes
were employed to spot the whales from the air.
In August 1962, only 68 whales had been caught and the whaling station closed.
In the 10 years of operation 6,277 humpback whales and one blue whale were killed
and processed.
The operation seriously decimated the east coast population of humpback whales to
less than 500 individuals from the original population, which was estimated at 15,000.
In 1965 humpback whales were placed on the Protected Species list.
It is estimated that $32 million was earned each year from whaling in Australian
waters. Currently whale watching in Australia earns around $70 million per annum.
Today
In June 1963 the Tangalooma Whaling Station was sold to a syndicate of Gold Coast
businessmen. In 1980 the resort was purchased by a local Brisbane family, the Osborne’s.
Today, Tangalooma Island Resort is still owned and operated by the Osborne family,
Brian and Betty, along with sons Jeff and Glenn.
Shark netting has been carried out on Australian beaches for over 50 years and is said to have saved the lives of swimmers.
Today there isa body of thought that this should stop to save endangered species. Submarine nets were placed across the annual path of the sharks after much study. Off the Gold Coast beaches, drum lines were set overnight and any sharks caught were put on ice in a tent with admission charged to support the Lifesavers.
We used to swim our ponies in the Brisbane River under the Indooroopilly road and rail bridges until we observed sharks there during a dry summer.
Today there isa body of thought that this should stop to save endangered species. Submarine nets were placed across the annual path of the sharks after much study. Off the Gold Coast beaches, drum lines were set overnight and any sharks caught were put on ice in a tent with admission charged to support the Lifesavers.
We used to swim our ponies in the Brisbane River under the Indooroopilly road and rail bridges until we observed sharks there during a dry summer.
aSugar cane was grown from the northern coast of New South Wales to the North Queensland coast.When conditions were right a controlled fire was carried out to remove trash prior to harvesting and transport to the mill on the minature portable railway. The fire also chased out the reptiles and animals that had been living in the cane. Trash is mostly the dry leaves from the growing cane that is shed at every notch as it grows. Edges of the dry leaves are very sharpe and can cut fingers severly, thus the need of the fire to remove it. Cane cutters would end the days work black from the soot.
In the mill the cane would be crushed to remove the sugar bareing juice and the remaining outside called "migas" was compressed into "Caneite", an excellent sound deading and temperature insulating wall board. It was also used to fire the boiler. The juice went on to be boiled to produce mollasses, treacle, syrup and finally sugar.
A ready supply of suger saw rum being manufactured local to Brisbane at Beenleigh, half way to the Gold Coast. Due to housing development there is no distillery or cane fields in the area now. Bundaberg Rum is exported throughout the world but some damage was done to the factory and town in the last floods. The town is about 230 miles north of Brisbane , half way to the Tropic of Capricorn and Rockhampton on the Bruce highway
The picture below is from Nambour where we had sunday evening meal of fish and chips after looking at a dairy farm that was for sale. There was a "Toot Toot" from a steam engine as the cane train stopped all trafic on the Bruce Highway while it went through the town centre to the Moreton Sugar Mill. Sadly this no longer happens as there has been a slump in the world price of sugar and the mill has not reopened. Farmers have had to find alternative crops or sell to property developers who are expandin the Sunshine Coast to rival the Gold Coast in the south.
In the mill the cane would be crushed to remove the sugar bareing juice and the remaining outside called "migas" was compressed into "Caneite", an excellent sound deading and temperature insulating wall board. It was also used to fire the boiler. The juice went on to be boiled to produce mollasses, treacle, syrup and finally sugar.
A ready supply of suger saw rum being manufactured local to Brisbane at Beenleigh, half way to the Gold Coast. Due to housing development there is no distillery or cane fields in the area now. Bundaberg Rum is exported throughout the world but some damage was done to the factory and town in the last floods. The town is about 230 miles north of Brisbane , half way to the Tropic of Capricorn and Rockhampton on the Bruce highway
The picture below is from Nambour where we had sunday evening meal of fish and chips after looking at a dairy farm that was for sale. There was a "Toot Toot" from a steam engine as the cane train stopped all trafic on the Bruce Highway while it went through the town centre to the Moreton Sugar Mill. Sadly this no longer happens as there has been a slump in the world price of sugar and the mill has not reopened. Farmers have had to find alternative crops or sell to property developers who are expandin the Sunshine Coast to rival the Gold Coast in the south.
PETE and the PINEAPPLES.
My school mate Pete, had one aim in life when he left school at 14 years old without being fortunate to pass his "Scholarship Exam". All he wanted to do was drive a tractor. To this end he took a job on a pineapple farm at Beerwah near the Glasshouse Mountains. At harvest time he was placed on the trailer full of ripe fruit to sort the crop by size. According to Pete, after a while they all looked the same size so he sent half one way and half the other way.
They recieved new 6" alloy irrigation pipes and decided to try driving a tractor over the pipe when water was being pumped through resulting in it being flattened and scrap. oops !!!!!
Another of their exploits happened when they were moving a tractor on a flat bed truck and everyone who passed them on the highway waved to them. When they stopped for a cup of tea, they discovered the tractor missing. What the passers-by were trying to tell them was that the tractor was sitting on it's radiator in the middle of the highway.
Pete's next job was to drive a D7 crawler dozer up the mountain. No problem until he reached the farming area on top where he decided not to damage the dirtroad and went along the side where the post office had just laid a new underground telephone cable. When the exchange opened at 7PM, no one had a connection as Pete had cut the new cable into 8" pieces with the toenails on the tracks.
They recieved new 6" alloy irrigation pipes and decided to try driving a tractor over the pipe when water was being pumped through resulting in it being flattened and scrap. oops !!!!!
Another of their exploits happened when they were moving a tractor on a flat bed truck and everyone who passed them on the highway waved to them. When they stopped for a cup of tea, they discovered the tractor missing. What the passers-by were trying to tell them was that the tractor was sitting on it's radiator in the middle of the highway.
Pete's next job was to drive a D7 crawler dozer up the mountain. No problem until he reached the farming area on top where he decided not to damage the dirtroad and went along the side where the post office had just laid a new underground telephone cable. When the exchange opened at 7PM, no one had a connection as Pete had cut the new cable into 8" pieces with the toenails on the tracks.
1947 An enterprising gent sprayed "instant tan" on all willing to pay. My dad said it was alcohol and shellac. Coolangatta Beach on the border of Queensland and New South Wales.
Later in the 1960 young people would gather in the local guest houses for a wild weekend at the height of summer. A major attraction was a fancy dress ball and everyone was encouraged to paint their faces with paint supplied by the local chemist shop. Unfortunatly the paint was not water soluable and very hard to remove so that some were still wareing it when they returned to work. Much to the amusment of all who saw it
The town of Tweed Heads is linked to Coolangatta by history and the Pacific Highway. The NSW/Queensland border is no longer a barbed wire fence but the Tweed River still flows out to the Pacific Ocean at Australias most easterly point and provides a safe haven for the local fishing fleet. Research indicates that at least 10 steam driven ships, some wooden and others iron or steel have foundered on the Tweed Bar or nearby. My family had a two week holiday in a rented flat in Coolangatta about 1946/7 and as we looked down from the rocks of Point Danger to the mouth ofthe Tweed River we could see a ships boiler on the sandy bank of the river. I do not remember any rusting ship only the boiler. In 2007 I was able to visit there again and the whole area has changed including "Snapper Rocks" from where Dad tried surf fishing during our holiday. The history of the area is well written on Wickipedia. My research indicates the last steam ship to founder on the old bar may have been "Urana" in 1937. Sister ship to "Tyalgum" also lost in the area in 1939 Both were built on the Clyde and carried coal and general cargo to the towns on the Tweed River.
To remember the rivers of NSW, Tweed Richmond Clarence went hunting [ Hunter] hawks [Hawkesbury] on the Shoalhaven [south of Sydney].
To remember the rivers of NSW, Tweed Richmond Clarence went hunting [ Hunter] hawks [Hawkesbury] on the Shoalhaven [south of Sydney].
The photos above were taken by me when I visited in 2007. The Captain Cook Memorial stands astride the border. Qld. on right and NSW. on left of line.
From 1947 to 1950 we farmed Chelmer Dairy and delivered milk daily with a horse and cart. After school we took the cows out on the road to eat the grass . This included the river bank under the Indooropilly road bridge and the rail bridge. Sons of the Taylor Family went to school with us as their father collected tolls and they all lived in the bridge. The cables suspending the bridge were used first on the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge to carry components out to the workers. The Indooropilly Bridge company had a 50 year franchise to collect toll to pay for the bridge. This proved to be very good such that the company was the highest paying annual divedend of about 25%
While the cows were grazing we swam the ponies in the river until during a dry summer sharks were seen under the bridges..
While the cows were grazing we swam the ponies in the river until during a dry summer sharks were seen under the bridges..
Looking across to the beach downstream from the Indooroopily side on the road to Mandalay , a riverside bar and dance hall . A stopping point for pleasure cruises to Lone Pine.
Chelmer Queensland Swamp 1947
In 1947 we farmed "Chelmer Dairy" and delivered fresh milk daily with a horse and cart. At this time it was possible to stand on the platform of Chelmer Station and look east over Chelmer swamp. The southern end of the swamp was being filled by the council with ash from a power station along with any other landfill rubbish. The eastern end was used to dump wood , both old buildings and tree trunks and branches. The western end was mostly soil and bricks and stone. As could be seen this was all going to cover up an aboriginal "Corrobrie" ring that was under water and had reeds growing out of it. There was a large Moreton Bay Fig tree on the corner of Oxley Road and Queenscroft st under which the council established a road making gravel and metal dump.
We "liberated" logs and timber for our Guy Fawks bonfire using the horse and spring cart after school with the help of our friends. Dad erected a centre pole for it between the dairy shed and our house and next morning after the bonfire we had problems getting the cows to be milked to pass the remains.
Left hand corner was the "School of Arts" hall and right corner, St Davids church
We "liberated" logs and timber for our Guy Fawks bonfire using the horse and spring cart after school with the help of our friends. Dad erected a centre pole for it between the dairy shed and our house and next morning after the bonfire we had problems getting the cows to be milked to pass the remains.
Left hand corner was the "School of Arts" hall and right corner, St Davids church
FRESH FISH ALIVE ALIVE O. 1940s On the Gold Coast.
In the late 1940s a Southport commercial fishing group stationed rowing boats complete with nets on each of the south coast beaches, The observer on the headland with binoculars would scan the bay for hours in daylight watching for a shoal of fish to enter the area whereupon he would jump on his bike and race to the nearest phonebox to alert the group of available catch. Soon after an exarmy 4x4 with a team of helpers would arrive and launch the boat to surround the shoal with a net from beach out round and back to the beach. Any available people would help to draw the net back to the beack along with the fish. Fresh live fish were sold on the beach and the rest loaded on the 4x4 for transport to the packing station in Southport and on to the fish market in Brisbane .
Bellthorpe and The Ha Ha Pigeons.
The Ha Ha pigeon / Jackass / Kookaburra couple came back each year to burrow out the "white-ant" nest and lay their eggs. The carpet snake was chased off but was too big to eat. White ants are blind and use secreations to build their nest and the tunnels from the ground. These are the main wood eating termites that cause the need for stump caps on posts supporting the houses. 50 years of cows walking along the ridge to the dairy shed leaves foot holes about 8 inches deep.
"Bluey" our Queensland Blue Heeler. The start of the breed was an English Cattle Dog taken to Australia and crossed with a tame Dingo. Some don't believe the dingo does interbreed. The Blue heeler shares web feet and a natural resistance to scrub ticks. They rarely bark but go down on all foures when nipping the hind feet of the cattle to avoid being kicked although horses sometimes catch them. They also share the Border Collie ability of being a natural herder. we were able to send "Bluey" down onto the bottom flats to bring up the cows or horses approx one mile away. But you have to watch them as they will nip the heels of running children and anyone walking down open stairs from under the stairs. The postman found he had to give him something when no letters or the dog would nip his back wheel. They love to work and I spent many happy hours on the pony with 2 dogs hearding the cattle.
BLUEY and THE BIRDS.
Our cattle dog, Bluey developed a hate of the Magpies that feasted on the worms and grubs that could be found in the carpet of Kiku-u that grew in the red volcanic soil of the home paddock. Shoots from this grass climbed up in the hedge round the house. So we could claim that the grass grew over the cows backs [in a good year ?] Bluey chased the noisy birds up onto the branches of a dead tree where they squarked loudly at him . He barked back at them [ unusual for a cattle dog , maybe a bit of cross-breed showing ] and tried to climb the tree until he tired of the game.
Our cattle dog, Bluey developed a hate of the Magpies that feasted on the worms and grubs that could be found in the carpet of Kiku-u that grew in the red volcanic soil of the home paddock. Shoots from this grass climbed up in the hedge round the house. So we could claim that the grass grew over the cows backs [in a good year ?] Bluey chased the noisy birds up onto the branches of a dead tree where they squarked loudly at him . He barked back at them [ unusual for a cattle dog , maybe a bit of cross-breed showing ] and tried to climb the tree until he tired of the game.
My life story and family history and
stories are published on "Kindle", at
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B28KKYA
My art relating to it is at
http://blackbirdacrylicart.weebly.com/
http://daviesfamilyalbum.weebly.com
In memory of Uncle Ernie at
http://ernestlewisdavies.weebly.com
https://woodfordhistoricalsociety.com
stories are published on "Kindle", at
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B28KKYA
My art relating to it is at
http://blackbirdacrylicart.weebly.com/
http://daviesfamilyalbum.weebly.com
In memory of Uncle Ernie at
http://ernestlewisdavies.weebly.com
https://woodfordhistoricalsociety.com