194307
Differences
This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.
Both sides previous revisionPrevious revisionNext revision | Previous revisionNext revisionBoth sides next revision | ||
194307 [2016/10/25 15:48] – tyreless | 194307 [2016/10/27 10:56] – tyreless | ||
---|---|---|---|
Line 33: | Line 33: | ||
---- | ---- | ||
+ | Would you like to adopt a Soldier, a W.A.A.F., a Sailor, an A.W.A.S. or a lad who flies the skies? | ||
+ | |||
+ | As you know the book shortage and the photographic shortage are daily becoming more acute and the Services Committee is hard pressed to provide " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Here is a proposal. A list is being prepared of members who are at battle-stations and you are asked to adopt one, and __guarantee__ to supply him or her with reading matter or photographs each fortnight or month or more often if you wish. | ||
+ | |||
+ | You may find certain books or magazines hard to procure but there is for instnce that excellent publicaation " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Again and again the Services Committee has received letters of thanks for photographs that bring back to these people far away, memories of Coastland and mountains where you are still free to roam. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The list will be available in the club room. Come soon and adopt your chosen one or if you are not able to come in, write at once. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Editor. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | =====Geehi.===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | By Dorothy Hasluck. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Near Nimmitibel in N.S.W. there is a sign post which says "To Tom Groggin" | ||
+ | |||
+ | It was so long ago. Surely the fathers of these oldest here\\ | ||
+ | Were children when I lived. I built a house\\ | ||
+ | And made a fence and ploughed a field. To-day\\ | ||
+ | A name is all of me that lingers here;\\ | ||
+ | And still the proud trees stare into the creek,\\ | ||
+ | And still the bright wild mustard holds its ranks\\ | ||
+ | And shades its twisted banners in the grass.\\ | ||
+ | All, all things have forgotten me; and I\\ | ||
+ | I am so old, so old I have forgotten\\ | ||
+ | If ever I knew stranger things, for now\\ | ||
+ | I only know I built a little house\\ | ||
+ | And made a fence and ploughed a virgin field. | ||
+ | |||
+ | So on a very windy morning we set off from Seaman' | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the teeth of a howling gale we made our way to the South Ram's Head, hardly able to keep our feet against the blast. For once I felt more kindly towards my pack, as I am sure that it was only with its help that I remained anchored to the ground. Very glad were we when the track dropped and we were in comparative calm. At lunch time we arrived at a very charming spot beside a creek and backed by a grove of trees; most pleasant after the barren slope with patches of frost-blasted spectre-like gums, from which we had just descended. Fate here stepped in. The jade, deciding that things were going far too easily, led us down the garden path, in the shape of a track taken by mistake by a stockman a few days previously. By the time the mistake was discovered, we decided it was too far to go back, so emerging on to a saddle, we held a council of war, scouted around and finally decided on a ridge which we hoped might lead us in the way in which we should go. On entering a belt of trees we were greeted by a burst of derisive laughter from a number of kookaburras. When I wasn't dropping down a hole in a thicket of brambles, I was catching my foot on rocks hidden in the long grass, missing my balance and nearly taking a somewhat prematuro dive into the creek. However we were soon bathing our frayed legs and tempers and sunning ourselves on the warm rocks which soon restored to us a sense of well-being. | ||
+ | |||
+ | It was a delightful spot to camp, the creek taking a big horseshoe bend, enclosing a grassy flat from which numbers of gums reared their stately heads. We rose at the crack of dawn, and while prowling round in the dark, for some or other, I think every one of us walked into the water buckets. Edna, I think it was, distinguished herself by putting her foot into one, an extremly chilly proceding. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ray and Grace having spied out the ridge they thought might take us on our way, hopefully led us forth and before long we struck a well-defined stock route, which seemed very probably the one which we should have been on all the time. Rejoicing, we went on, there being a cold wind which was not conducive to lingering. After some hours we began to drop very much, the ridge widening out into beautiful parklike grassy flats. Numbers of the loveliest gums marched in stately files right to the Snowy Creek, on the banks of which were the remnants of the hut formerly owned by Banjo Patterson' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Soon we reached the Murray, winding its way through grassy flats, our ridge having brought us to our goal in about four hours of continuous descent. After about half-an-hour' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Having been told there was a swing bridge, we approached the contraption and what an approach! Just a tangle of brambles which grasped every portion of one's anatomy as one scrambled up to its slatted flooring. Don't misunderstand me. It was not all slats, slats and gaps (large gaps) was the construction. I did a cake walk across with one hand grasping the fencing wire that did duty as a rail and the other grasping my plate loaded with mugs and containers, and as the swing became more violent, expected to see them hurtling into the depths below. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The track to Geehi led us through the same delightful parklands filling one with the desire to linger, and rebellion at having to proceed. We now found we had an addition to the party in the shape of one of the dogs and to our consternation nothing we could do could make him go back. We would think we had been successful, then would turn round to find an enquiring head with a very determined expression on its face appearing round the corner. He had decided to join the party and join it he would by hook or by crook. However we thought when no food was forthcoming he would depart, but never were people more mistaken, he just sat at a respectful distance while we had our meal. There was no food for him for we had made the startling discovery that we had lost the macaroni and soup meal, this in addition to being short of sugar and butter. Still we had hopes that he would return to tho bosom of his family as we slept, but alas, in the early hears of the morning we were awakened by a series of short, sharp barks. I concluded resignedly that he was catching his breakfast. Grace, noble soul, volunteered to take the hound back, adding 3 miles to the 12 to Geehi Flats. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Arriving at the flats, we were delighted with the situation, all three rivers, Geehi, Swampy Plains and Bridges, coming in at this point. The whole was enclosed in a circle of ranges and ridges; Hannel' | ||
+ | |||
+ | After having viewed the Geehi hut, we crossed another of those delectable bridges and came back to the Geehi, to find Grace had arrived with a tale of woe re the hound' | ||
+ | |||
+ | As we were resting from our labours, having pitched the tents and gathered bedding etc., we enjoyed the most beautiful sunset; the sky shading from saffron pink to mauve; the moon rising wraith-like over a bushclad ridge, suffused in a sea of pink mist. It was the exquisite delicacy that entranced one, like a beautiful impressionistic painting. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Next morning we commenced the ascent of the celebrated Hannel' | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the distance was the sunlit Murray Valley, the Murray Gate, and Mount Buffalo. Beyond spread range upon range as far as the eye could see. One felt a veritable God enthroned on high and monarch of all one surveyed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | We had just finished lunch when Ken rode up on mustering bent, and was very surprised to find we had arrived already. The motley array of garments which Ray had on the trees to dry, together with the tents and other miscellaneous articles, I am sure afforded him a great deal of amusement. It certainly looked as if we were settled there for the day. After two hours basking in the sun, we wound our way round Townshend to the Wilkinson Valley. Here the creek winds in serpentine turns through the flower-strewn flats. Once more we met out mustering friends who decided we would be very useful to them, as we could walk nearly as fast as the horses. I seriously thought of taking on the job as being more restful than the business world at the present time. Far from the madding crowd etc. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Once more making our adieus, we took a short cut down the Snowy, back to Foreman' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The next day, Sunday, we had a rest day; washing, getting in wood, making dampers etc. But disaster overtook us in the shape of grass-hoppers. Never have I seen such voracious appetites. I had formerly been delighted with them in their jade-green coats, hopping about like little gnomes, but when I surveyed the remains of my pyjamas and Sheila' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thus ended our first week with its joys, beauties and humour, all to be enjoyed over and over again by us all, more fully and more richly, in retrospect. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | =====Fruit Picking At Mildura and Holiday In Tasmania.===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Dot English. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Having finished my allotted span at the Munitions Laboratory, and as there was an urgent call being made just at that time for volunteers to bring in the grape harvest at Mildura, and some thousands of pickers were required if the harvest was not to be lost, I entered my name with the Harvest Labour Bureau and was right smartly and without further delay allotted to Redcliffs, up in the Murray River Irrigation area, 350 miles from Melbourne. | ||
+ | |||
+ | A special " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Jacobs household consisted of Dad Jacobs and Mum and two charming and talented daughters 18 and 20 years of age. I was boarded at their house, two other young lasses were boarded next door, a young married couple and brother put up a tent in the vineyard, and several men had shacks down by the river. We worked from 8 a.m. to 5.15 p.m. and the sun shone strongly all day on the bright red earth and I sat under the vines and pickd purple currants for a week at the rate of 100 or so buckets a day (the bucket is really a flat tin which holds abour 20 to 25 lbs. of fruit) at £1 per hundred, and the next week golden sultanas at the rate of 200 tins a day. Before we got enough men on the job to do the heavy lifting I assisted Pa with the loading. Daughter Barbara drove the tractor towing a long wide dray, and up and down the vine rows we dashed, Pa and I running on opposite sides and stacking the filled tins on the dray. Then we'd lumber off with our load to the racks, the tractor and its loosely attached purple hindquarters looking like a not-too-well-organized huge insect. Here we'd empty the fruit out onto a wide flat tray, and Pa with a smart sudden jerk would spread the grapes out over the wire mesh racks. Then we'd load the empties back on the dray and Barbara would run us down the unpicked rows while Pa and I threw out bundles of tins at regular intervals under the vines. By the time we'd loaded and tipped and re-stacked and hurled the tins forth again - several hundred tins up to 25 lbs. weight each - we sure knew we'd been working. I was there about 3 weeks, at the end of which time I banked a cheque for £20 and sang the praises of piece-work which allowed an energetic person like myself to reap the reward of extra work. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Returning to Melbourne I found that a party from the Munitions Lab. with whom I had been discussing the possibility of taking our annual holidays in Tasmania, had finalised arrangements, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Tourist Bureau had told us that there was no chance of getting trans[ort to the Cradle Mountain Reserve (our destination) so we took bikes with us. The crossing is by night, and we arrived early next morning. With 50 lb. packs balanced on the handlebars we made a pretty rough journey over terrific 5th grade roads, through first a hail storm which later developed into a snowstorm - and us with no gloves! O dearo dearo dear! We took the best part of two days to do what the service car does in an afternoon, and when we were only a couple of miles from our destination (what irony!) we met the service car and the driver told us that of __course__ it was still running, what nonsense! and he didn't know what was biting the Tourist Bureau people. | ||
+ | |||
+ | We eventually reached Waldheim, the guest house at the Northern end of the Reserve, and thawed out in front of a big log fire. A large stew and a warm bed and life once more assumed a rosy hue. We awoke to find all the mountains and highlands covered white (and this __March__, and __Australia__! - incredible!). The huts are spaced through the Reserve at 1-day stages (anything from 8 to 15 miles) and the track goes through rugged mountainous country, peaks and lakes and innumerable tarns, swampy button-grass plains, birch forests and pine forests filled with thousands of wallabies and wombats and almost __millions__ of possums at night. This is the most marvellous mountainous spot in Australia. I had no idea we could turn on such New Zealand-like scenery. We walked 150 miles and climbed 10 first-class peaks in as many days. They are only 6 thousand footers, but one forgets they are not so high as the Mt. Cook giants and enjoys them just as much. We had snow the first day, and then a fortnight of perfect sunny days, so once again the gods smiled on me. And once again, just to keep up the old tradition, we managed to get ourselves benighted while completing a successful traverse of four 5,000 ft. peaks. One of the party was quite new to mountaineering and so somewhat slow on the rough stuff, so the final burst of speed which would have just got us back to the hut by dark had to be foregone and we spent a pretty cold night, first sliding and crawling and falling down through a mountainside of dwarf beech (or birch) in the dark, then through dense almost impenetrable wet forest along the valley floor until they called a halt, so I bedded the party down on a spot of dry ground and covered them with dry dead palm leaves, then crawled into the pile myself and shivered and dozed and woke and slapped ourselves and each other, and changed our positions and sang all the songs we knew, beating a tattoo meanwhile on the beck of whoever happened to be in front of us, while the river gurgled and rushed and crept through the dark tangle of trees and vines, and the glow-worms turned on their cold ineffectual fires in all the crannies and crevasses in the moss. | ||
+ | |||
+ | An hour or so before drawn I'd had quite enough of inactivity (I'd always much prefer to go on through pitch dark grizley ways rather than indulge in spineless inaction), so I voted that we get going again and warm up. I might say we had set out in nothing but shorts and shirts and boots, and crawling through the dwarf beech had torn our clothing to ribbons, so for all practical purposes we might just as well be naked. Anyhow, not to prolong the agony any further, at last the dawn arrived, and was just as welcome and miraculous as the time on Mt. Cook after picking our way down the thousand feet of rock face and negotiating the maze of crevasses in the dark. Half an hour more saw us at the hut. We put on billies of water and had hot baths and a big stew, than slept till mid-day and felt not a whit the worse for the night' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | =====Stranger Than Fiction.===== | ||
- | Would you like to adopt a Soldier, a W.A.A.F., a Sailor, an A.W.A,S. or a lad who flits the skis? | ||
- | As you know the book shortage and the photogra-ohic shortage are daily becoming more acute and the Services Committee is hard prosed to provide " | ||
- | Here is a pro posal. A list is being prepared of members who are at battle-statins and you are asked to adopt one, and GUARANTEE to supioly him or her with reading matter or photographs each fortnight or month or more often if you wish. | ||
- | You may find certain books or magazines hard to procure but there is for instnce that excellent IDublicaation " | ||
- | Again and gain the Services Committee has received letters of thanks for photographs that bring back to these people far away, memories of Coast- land and mountains wh re you are still free to roam. | ||
- | The list will be available in the club room. Como soon and adopt your chosen one or if you ,-,re not able to come in, write at once, | ||
- | EDITOR. | ||
- | 2. | ||
- | G E H I | ||
- | By Dc,r?thy | ||
- | Near Ni=itibel in thre is a sign post which says "To Tom Grogginn inspiring Mary Lang to write the following poem:- | ||
- | It was so lon ago. Surely the fathers of these old 'st here Were children when I lived. I built a house | ||
- | And made a fence and ploughed a- field. To-day | ||
- | A na-.,e. is all of me that lingers here; | ||
- | And still the proud trees stare int, the creek, | ||
- | And still the bri ht wild mustard holds its ranks And shaJes its twisted banners in the grass. | ||
- | All, all things have forgotten me; and I | ||
- | I am so oldi so old -I have forgotten | ||
- | If ever I knew stranger things, for now | ||
- | I only know I built a little house | ||
- | And made a fenc and plouhed a virgin field. | ||
- | So on a very windy morning We set off from Searn' | ||
- | In the teeth of a howling gale we made our way to the South Ram's Head, hardly able to keep our foot ae;ainst the blast. For once I felt more kindly towards lay pack, as I am sure that it was only with its help that -I rem4ned anchored to the ,:;round. Very glad were we when the track drop' | ||
- | in comparative calm. At lunc_h time wc: arrived at a very charming spot 13side | ||
- | a creek 7'.nd backed by a grove of tra.,s; most pleasant after the barren sloe6 with patches of frost-b1, | ||
- | we held a council of war, scouted around and finally decided on a ridge which we hoped might lead us in the way in which we should go. On entering a bolt of | ||
- | tre?s we were greeted by a burst of der-.sive laughter from a number of kookaburras.. Then I, lusn't dro-,1-)ing down a hole in a thicket of brambles, I was catching my foot on rocks hidden in the long grass, missing _my balance and | ||
- | nearly taking a somewhat :2rematuro dive into the creek. However we were soon bathing our frayed legrnd tem,:,ars and sun7ing ourselves on the w= rocks which soon restored to us a sene of well-being. | ||
- | It was a delightful s ot to camP, the creek taking a big horseshoe bend, | ||
- | enclosing a grassy flat from which numbers of gums reared thAr stately heaes. We rose at the crack of dawn, ank'fi wh:_le -.prowling round in the dark, for soma | ||
- | or other, I think every one of us walk ed into thce water buckets...Ednal I think | ||
- | it was, distinguished herself by ;Putting her foot into one, an extremly chilly proceding. | ||
- | 11.1y and Grace having spied out the ridge they thought might take us on our way, hopefully lad me forth and before long we struck a well-defined stock r7utal which seemed very -Irobably the on:, which we should have been on all the time. Rejoicing, we went oni th.,ro being a cold wind which was conducive to lingering. After some hours we began. to (./13 very much, the ridge widening out intc beautiful parklike grassy flats. Numbers of the | ||
- | 3. | ||
- | lo d-oliest gums marched in stately files right to the Snowy Creek, on the banks of which were the remnants of the hut formerly owned by Banjo Patterson' | ||
- | Soon we reached the Murray, winding its way through grassy flats, our ridge having brought us to our goal in about four hours of continuous descent. After about half-an-hours walking, during which we consumed quantities of blackberries, | ||
- | not say no to junket and blackberries. I could have eaten the whole dishful but being a lady, I just helped us all to modest quantities. On hearing that we were going back via Hannellts Ridge, they thought we were taking on more than we realised, and I am sure, -)rivately thought we would be taking all day over it. They were also very emlohatic in their warnings to bew ro of fogs in crossing the range, sa-ing that they would be unable to find t1 hemseives in | ||
- | such weather. We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch and their kind hos.Atality; | ||
- | will go a long way before finding a finer ty-oo of men than hoso of the Mountains. I have found it just the same in the mountains of New Zealand. Deciding to proceod a few more miles that day, we bade adieu to our frionds, in spite of a pressing invitation to stay and coOk for 24 mon. | ||
- | Having been told thre wo s a swing bridge, we approached the contraption | ||
- | and what an approachl Just a- tanle of brambles which grasped every portion of one's anatomy as one scrambled up to its slatted flooring. Don't misunder- | ||
- | stand me, It was not all slats, slits and gaps (large gaps) was the construction. | ||
- | I did a cake walk across with one hand gras-ping the fencing wire that did duty | ||
- | as a rail and the other grasping my plate loaded with mugs and containers, and as | ||
- | the swing became more viol_nt, ex-)octod to soo thorn hurtling into the depths below. | ||
- | The track to Geohi led us through the same delightful iprklands filling | ||
- | one with the desire to linger, and rebellion at having to proc.,..d. We now | ||
- | found we had an addition to the party in the shape of one of th. dogs and to our | ||
- | consternation nothing we could do could make him go back. We would think we | ||
- | had been succeseful, then would turn round to find an enquiring head with a | ||
- | very determined oxlprossion on its face aDoaring round the corner. He had decided to join the party and ji-)in it ho would by hook or by crook. However we | ||
- | thought when no food was forthcoming he would doplrt, but never were people | ||
- | more mistaken, he just sat at a rospoctful distance while we had our moa] There was no food for him for we had made the startling discovery that we had lost the macaroni and soup meal, this in ad atioa to being short of sugar end butter, Still us-) had hopes that h- would return to tho bosom of his family as We slept, but alas, in the early hears of the morning we were awakened by a seri,s of short, sh _roe barks. T conclud d resignedly that ho was catching hie breakfast. Grace, noble soul, voluntc-rod to take the hound back, adding 3 miles to the 12 to Goohi Flats. | ||
- | Arriving at the flats, we woro delighted with the situation, all thrao | ||
- | 4. | ||
- | "....- *, - | ||
- | rivers, Geehi, Swam 'y Plains and Bridges, coming in at this point. The whole was enclosed in 1 cir-cle of ranges and ridges; Rannelts, our objective, rising up to the mojectic looking Townshend. One cannot help but feel that the | ||
- | general opini-m is right, that Townshend was the mountain climbed, by Strezlecki, We climbed from Geehi, and from there, Kosciusko, besides being a more insignificant mountain, is not visible. | ||
- | After having viewed the Gehi hut, we crossed another of those delectable bridges and came back to the Geehil to find Grace had arrived with a tale of woe re the houndts delinquincies. She had had to rescue it from a thick | ||
- | tangle of bl, | ||
- | As we were resting from our labours, having pitched the tehts and gathered boding etc., we enjoyed the most beautiful sunset; the sky shading from saffron pink to mauve; the moon rising wraith-like over a bushclad ridge, | ||
- | suffused in a sea of Pink mist. It was the exquisite delicacy that entranced one, like a beautiful impressionistic painting. | ||
- | Next morning we commenced the ascent of the celebrated Hannelts Ridge. We soon gained height and the ridge being fairly narrow we had glimpses of | ||
- | the valleys on both sides, Looking back we had a delightful picture of the sun rising from the mist-filled depths and later on to our right, a gully came into view. A mauve mist, like a transparent veil hung over its deep recesses and narrow clefts, with here and there shafts of sunlight piercing the mist like golden and jewelled dagger' | ||
- | In the distance was the sunlit Murray Volley, the Murray GL.te, and Mount Buffalo. Beyond spread range uPon range as far as the eye could see. One felt a veritable God enthroned on high and mon-xch of all one survey)d. | ||
- | We had just finished lunch when Ken rode up on mustering bent, and was | ||
- | very surprised to find we h'Id arrived alread-. The motley array of garments which Ray had on the trees to dry, together with the tents and other leiscellaneous articles, I am sure afforded him a great deal of amusement. It certainly looked as if we were settled there for the day, After two hours basking in the sun, we wound our way round Townshend to the Wilkinson Valley. | ||
- | Here the creek winds in ser.)entine turns through the flower-strewn flats, Once more we met out mustering friends who decided we would be very us,ful to | ||
- | them, as we could walk nearly as fast as the horses, I seriously thought of taking on the job ad being more restful than the business world at the present time. Far from the madding crowd etc. | ||
- | Once more making our adieus, w, teok a short cut down the Snowy, back to Foremanto hut to a scrumptious dinner of tongues, asparagus and tinned | ||
- | fruit rios delectable after a week of dried food, "How have the mi,lnty fallen Can this be the women who t:-:es no interest in food?" | ||
- | The next day, Sunday, we had a rest day; washing, getting in wood, making dampers etc, But disaster overtook us in the shape of grass-hoppers. N-ver have I seen such voracious aopetites. I had formerly been delighted | ||
- | 5. | ||
- | ...-", | ||
- | with them in their jade-green cats, hoppinE, about like little gnomes, but when I surveyed the remains of my pyjamas and Sheila' | ||
- | Thus ended our first weak with its joys, beauties and humour, all | ||
- | to be enjoyed over and over again by us all, more fully and more richly, in retrospect. | ||
- | FRUIT PIC.T.C.ING AT MILDURA and HOLLeAY IN TASMANIA Dot English. | ||
- | Having finished my allotted span at the Munitions Laboratory, and as there was an urgent call being made just at that time for volunteers to | ||
- | bring in the grape harvest at laTdura, and some thousands of pickers wore required if the harvest was not to be lost, I entered my name with the He_rv:st Labour Bureau and was right smartly and without further delay allotted to Redcliffs, up in the Murray River Irrigation area, 350 miles from Melbourne. | ||
- | A special " | ||
- | was a strange and motley collection of Pickers in every type of garb imaginable, mostly fairly juvenile, and all in great s-)irits 7. just like a holiday train, | ||
- | boys and girls calling out to each other, laughter and songs ,nd ukeleyles(? | ||
- | metropolis. Men sat at tables along th) street outside the station calling 0, out name 6 and allotting numbers, with queues of people lined in sieerny rowsrp | ||
- | up and down the stret. Growers pushed thsir way through the milling throng | ||
- | uttering unintelligible calls, and railway hands and officials dircted enquiring pickers to Mr. This or Mr. That fast vanishing in the seething mob. | ||
- | However the organization was pretty good, and by the time I had located a Station master, who iodated Mr. Jacobs (my " | ||
- | seemed to be emerging from chaos and various cars and lorries etc. were | ||
- | moving off with their full tally of pickers collected. | ||
- | The Jacobs household consisted of Dad Jacobs and Mum and two charming and talented daughters 18 and 20 years of age. I was boarded at th ir 11PLIM | ||
- | two other young lasses were boarded next door, a young married couple and brother put up a tent in the vineyard, and several men had shacks J!own | ||
- | by the river. We worked from 8 a m. to 5.15 p m. and the sun shone stron:Jly | ||
- | all day on the bright red earth and I sat under the vines aftd pickd purule | ||
- | currants for a week at the rate of 100 or so buckets e, day (the bucket is | ||
- | really a flat tin which holds abour 20 to 25 lbs. of fruit) at1-:1 per | ||
- | huedred, and the next we-)k golden sultanas at the rate of 200 tins a day. :fore we got enough non on the job to do the heavy lifting I ascisted Pa | ||
- | 17:1th the loading. Daughter Barbara drove the tractor towing a long wide | ||
- | dray l and up and down the vine rows we dashed, Pt and I running on o-7:posite | ||
- | sides and stacking the filled tins on the dray. Then we'd lumber off with | ||
- | 6. | ||
- | .our 'load to the racks, the tractor and its loosely attached purple hind- | ||
- | ' quertees looking like a not-too-well-organized huge insect. Here we'd empty the fruit out onto a wide flat tray, and Pa with a smart sudden jerk would spread the grapes out over the wire mesh racks. Then we'd load the emties back on the dray and Bakbara would run us down the unpicked rows while Pa and I thraw ol;t bundles of tins at regular intervals under the vines, By the ti/T1,.? I0,1ad and tipped and re-stacked and hurled the tinc forth | ||
- | again Idrad tins up to 25 lbs4 weight each - we sure knew ' | ||
- | been worXi u:, I iac7 there about 3 weeks, at the end of which time I banked | ||
- | a cheq-a=?, f_20cad s:_ng the praises of piece-work which allow d an ener- | ||
- | getic zyc,:.if to reap the reward of extra work, | ||
- | to Melbourne I found that a party from the M7Initir., Lab. | ||
- | wit. } i dir_cuseing the possibility of taking In- o 1olidays | ||
- | in , ii nalised arrangements, | ||
- | a 1:ujilag provisions for a fortnight' | ||
- | The Tourist Bureau had told us that there was no chance of poi:tjng transliort to the Cradle Mountain Reserve (our destination) so we tr-,ok bjkes us, The crossing is by night, and we arrived early next morning, With | ||
- | 50 21o, eelcLes balanced on the handlebars we made a pretty rough journey over | ||
- | teerAfie !:-,th grade roads, thr,-ugh first a hail storm which later developed into a snowstorm - and u with no gloves! 0 dearo dearo dean l We took the 11; part of two days to do what the service car does in an afternoon, ana wheu viz: were only a couple of miles from our destination (what irony)) we mEA the service car and the driver told us that of course it was still running, what nonseusel and he didn't know what was biting the Tourist Bureau people. | ||
- | We eventually reached Waldheim, the guest house at the Northern end | ||
- | of the Reserve, and thawed out in front of a big log fire. A large stew and a warm bed and life once more assumed a rosy hue. We awoke to find all | ||
- | the mountains and highlands covered white (and this March, and A..us_tralial - incredible1). The huts are spaced through the Reserve at 1-day stages (anything from 8 to 15 miles) and the track goes through rugged mountainous country, peaks and lakes and innumerable tarns, swampy button-grass plains, birch forests and pine forests filled with thousands of wallabies and wombats and lroost millions of possums at night. This is the most marvellous mountail-et: | ||
- | th: -r:rT-,1 day, and then a fortnight of perfect sunny days, so once again the | ||
- | gods smiled on me. And once again, just to keep up the old trc.!1: | ||
- | moillring and e, somewhat slow on the rough stuff, so the final burst | ||
- | of v!hich would have just got us back to the hut by dirk had to be foregoTe and we spent a pretty cold night, first sliding and crawling and falling down through a mountainside of dr-orf beech (or birch) in the dark, then through dense almost impenetrable wet forest along th valley floor | ||
- | 7. | ||
- | a../. | ||
- | until they called a halt, so I bedded the party down on a spot of dry ground and covered them with dry dead palm leaves, then crawled into the pile myself and shivered and dozed and woke and slapped ourselves and each other, and changed our positions and sang all the songs we knew, beating a tattoo meanwhile on the beck of whoever happened to be in front of us, while the river gurgLed and rushed and crept through the dark tangle of trees and vines, and the gLow-werms turned on their cold ineffectual fires in all the crannies and creyassec in the moss, | ||
- | An hour or so before drawn I'd had quite enough of inactivity (I'd always much prefer to go on through -pitch dark grizley ways rather than indulge in spine:ess inaction), so I voted that we get going again and warm up. I might say we had set out in nothing but shorts and shirts and boots, and crawling through the dwarf beech had torn our clothing to rjbbons, so for all practical purposes we might just as well be naked. Anyhow, not to prolong the agony any further, at last the dawn arrived, and was just as welcome and miraculous as the time on Mt. Cook after picking our way down the thousand feet of rock face and negotiating the maze of crevasses in the dark. Half an hour mdre saw us at the hut. We put on billies of water and had hot baths and a big stew, than slept till mid-day and felt not a whit the worse for the night' | ||
- | and was drifting in a most disconcerting manner around in a circle, Then a light loomed out of the darkness, and our boat ran up a signal and I discovered to my relief that we were just entering Port Phillip Bay, It gave | ||
- | one a strange feeling to think such things were going on in mid-ocean., | ||
- | STRANGER THAN FICTION | ||
by " | by " | ||
- | Rationing and lack of various commodities have caused us inconvenience and irritation but should we be forbidden to discuss and argue life would be for some appalling. And quite unrecognisable. To prove this let me take | + | |
- | a concr,te exam-)1e. There will, of tdurse, be nothing concrete about it - it will resemble more a jelly on the top of Mouin in a heat wave. However, you understand my meaning I hope so that we may begin with a feeling of having our feet firmly planted on the ground before we enter this Lunar Park of giddiness and vertigo. | + | Rationing and lack of various commodities have caused us inconvenience and irritation but should we be forbidden to discuss and argue life would be for some appalling. And quite unrecognisable. To prove this let me take a concrete example. There will, of course, be nothing concrete about it - it will resemble more a jelly on the top of Mouin in a heat wave. However, you understand my meaning I hope so that we may begin with a feeling of having our feet firmly planted on the ground before we enter this Lunar Park of giddiness and vertigo. |
- | For those who can read between the lines there are several lessons to be learnt including | + | |
- | (1) (a) Democracy will always get THERE (b) and poscibly back-again.. | + | For those who can read between the lines there are several lessons to be learnt including |
- | (2) We are therefore fighting for the RITHT THING. | + | |
+ | (1) (a) Democracy will always get __there__ | ||
+ | |||
+ | (2) We are therefore fighting for the __right thing__. | ||
(4) All's well that ends well. | (4) All's well that ends well. | ||
+ | |||
It would be impolitic for me to disclose (3) - the scene of the events to be described - as they were too much like a rehearsal for the Second Front. In addition to the above there is some interesting news for those who think that in a democracy the majority rules and its verdict is final. | It would be impolitic for me to disclose (3) - the scene of the events to be described - as they were too much like a rehearsal for the Second Front. In addition to the above there is some interesting news for those who think that in a democracy the majority rules and its verdict is final. | ||
- | One would imagine that Bushwalkers wanting to go walking would just go; but not that would be too easy for people looking for the SIM]:' | + | |
- | enviyorment | + | One would imagine that Bushwalkers wanting to go walking would just go; but not that would be too easy for people looking for the __simple life__. Besides, how could one appreciate the __simple life__ |
- | that the birds supplied a symphony of song" unless one had a yelling, | + | |
- | Now it would have been too, too sim-ole | + | Now it would have been too, too simple |
- | to fit into the seven-seater | + | |
- | don't you think? We sense a battle. A few preliminary rounds among the " | + | Unfortunately the room stewards are trying to enforce the Early Closing Act so a decision seems imperative. Vive Democracy, we shall vote! All those in favour of trip " |
- | that nip; | + | |
- | bacilli in the blood stream is circulating. They are engaged in fierce | + | But, yearning after the original venture, everyone cherishes resentment in his heart and, as we collect our hats, the whole structure is undermined, at the door one begins |
- | controversy. Now and then an interested observer will hover near, judge the position, perhaps have a skirmish and then retire for long range scrutiny. | + | |
- | Maps are waving in the air, maps are being draped on walls and are being drawn in space. Suggestions are made, pounced upon, ridiculed and torn to shreds. At length everyone agrees that trip " | + | Sunday - day of rest - quite true, perhaps, some time before dawn. Up hill and down dale every conceivable |
- | Unfortunately the room stewards are trying to enforce the Early Closing Act so a decision seems imperative. Vive Democracy, we shall votes All those in favour of trip " | + | |
- | But, yearning after the original venture, everyone cherishes resentment in his heart and, as we collect our hats, the whole structure is undermined, at the door one be; | + | By lunch, triumph! oddsboddikins! eureks! |
- | Sunday - day of rest - quite true, perhaps, some time before dawn. | + | |
- | Up hill and down dale every conceivable | + | It is now all plain sailing - only the food to be arranged - who likes this and that, what shall be eaten when and by whom, who will carry what and what will be bought and by whom. Where trip " |
- | 0 | + | |
- | 0 and contributed one just does it by a combination of permutations and the human ingenuity is ataggering. | + | |
- | By lunch, triumph oddsboddikins | + | |
- | We shall follow plan Axb if Y is suitable, B and C willing and -orovided | + | |
- | It is now all plain sailing - only the food to be arranged - who likes this and that, what shall be eaten when and by whom, who will carry what and what will be bought and by whom. Where trip " | + | |
Do you now think that every detail was irrevocably settled and that the trip was performed with the closest co-operation? | Do you now think that every detail was irrevocably settled and that the trip was performed with the closest co-operation? | ||
- | Poor innooent | + | |
- | 501YETTIING FOR NOTHING | + | Poor innooent! Read next month' |
- | Anyone who is interested in the stars may pick out the constellations described in previous issues of the magazine by referring to the same month of the year before. The stars are in the same place at the same time every year and will continue to be in the s-me place atthe same time as long as your magazine hangs together and can be road, | + | |
- | "CANOPUS". | + | ---- |
- | ,.,0 | + | |
- | MORE GOSSIP | + | ====Something For Nothing.==== |
- | The Social Committee | + | |
- | No doubt many of us would rather not be seen outside a sleeping bag in the | + | |
- | assortment of clothes that we feel is very necessary to our:comfort, but others with no r; | + | Anyone who is interested in the stars may pick out the constellations described in previous issues of the magazine by referring to the same month of the year before. The stars are in the same place at the same time every year and will continue to be in the same place at the same time as long as your magazine hangs together and can be read. |
- | An exceedingly well turrnod log was cl ir., | + | |
- | Walt.Disney must h;; | + | "Canopus". |
- | his famous Mickey | + | |
- | We felt quit6.Concern: | + | ---- |
- | Arthur Gilroy, timing,it very nicely made, a late entrance very effectively, | + | |
- | and another beautiful | + | =====More Gossip.===== |
- | We hope th, | + | |
- | "I wonder How I Look When I'm Asleep" | + | The Social Committee put on a vary nice dance for us on Friday the 13th June in the Club room. Members |
- | think, don't it. | + | |
- | Someone mentioned to us th, oth,,r nijlt that quite a few male members are sporting growths on th,ir 1.11) -r lips. We inv, | + | An exceedingly well turned leg was displayed |
- | It is rumoured of one of newer brir? | + | |
- | Betty Pryde droed in to tell us that she is not in Adelaide as we said. We are rather unfortunate with Betty, we always station her in the wrong places. It is her move now, we hay,e. done our best for her. | + | Walt. Disney must have seen Ray Kirkby |
- | Another junior Bushwalkor to s to the' | + | |
- | 11. | + | We felt quite concerned |
- | LETTERS FROM THE LADS AND LASSES. | + | |
- | . - | + | Arthur Gilroy, timing it very nicely made a late entrance very effectively, |
- | LAters | + | |
- | P. Huntley. Tucker George Archer (P.O.W. Germany) | + | We hope the committee |
- | J. W. Edwards Rory Lofts | + | |
- | Bruce Simpson Jack Parkinson | + | ---- |
- | Peter Merle W. Spedding | + | |
- | Bill Burke Les Douglas | + | Someone mentioned to us the other night that quite a few male members are sporting growths on their upper lips. We investigated |
- | Betty Isaacs. Rita Stanford. | + | |
- | RORY LOFTS.(u-, | + | ---- |
- | I introduced our shas to the sround | + | |
- | sped a lot of my time teaching | + | It is rumoured of one of newer brides |
- | LES DOUGhf1S, | + | |
- | alse eo eee such a healthy list of war-like | + | ---- |
- | to it; they':ee all still whole and hearty - if in some cases suffering in | + | |
- | duleAne,o v:ILo., It would be marvellous to meet some of the gang - so if they know they' | + | Betty Pryde dropped |
- | My work ire here is very interesting - although naturally I can't tell you | + | |
- | p | + | ---- |
- | meell about it - exce-)t | + | |
- | that got away. I' | + | Another junior Bushwalkor to add to the long list. Mrs. Mitchell, to us, Muriel Hall, has a daughter. |
- | four of us - and shoved big cane arm chairs in the back and away - we created much comment and 1, | + | |
- | NOT coming back after the war.. | + | ---- |
- | ffiLL__22, | + | |
- | i:air eft-Sr | + | =====Letters From The Lads And Lasses.===== |
- | up the following morning | + | |
- | place our glad rags at the bottom of the pack and move on to greener fields. quite | + | Letters |
- | a pretty little place; much nicer than Sydney I thought, but perhaps I was influence by the proximity of the surrounding bushlands Twenty minutes, by tram, from the heart of the city to a cool shady, clear run-ling | + | |
- | the people impressed | + | R. Huntley Tucker; George Archer (P.O.W. Germany); J. W. Edwards; Rory Lofts; Bruce Simpson; Jack Parkinson; Peter Allen; |
- | it is quite the acce-)ted | + | |
- | quite a pleasant chat with the lass sitiing alongside me. Thought perhaps that I was lucky but the others all had a similar | + | ===Rory Lofts:=== |
- | rip. -1rig green of the cane fields, grey 3.reen , | + | |
+ | Up Queensland way. Dear S.B.W.s. I was very pleased to receive the May issue of the S.B.W. today. Its good to get a breath of the old fellowship of the bush which seems to come with each issue. Although my whereabouts are all shrouded in mystery, I can talk of some things without fear of the razor blade. I find this one of the most interesting places I have been in from a walker' | ||
+ | |||
+ | I introduced our chaps to the ground | ||
+ | |||
+ | I spend a lot of my time teaching | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Les Douglas: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Port Moresby. I was more than pleased to get your letter - pleased | ||
+ | |||
+ | My work up here is very interesting - although naturally I can't tell you much about it - except | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Bill Burke:=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Up Queensland | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
THY NOT CUT DOWN TES? | THY NOT CUT DOWN TES? | ||
By Arbores Australis, | By Arbores Australis, |
194307.txt · Last modified: 2016/10/27 13:55 by tyreless