LIFE AT GUNYAH
by: Caroline Hamilton (Contributed Joan Tanner)

One of the earliest selectors was Walter English who came in 1898 and stayed until 1932 - "Far too long" according to his son, Jack.  It was arduous work felling and burning the huge trees.  Blackbutt trees were hard to burn and not much use for fence posts; however they did have some value as they could be split into palings and sent to Melbourne.  Another early source of income was the sale of skins from trapping of wallabies and black possums.

It was quite some time later that rabbits came in, in plague proportions, and provided a further source of income for the farmers.  Jack English thinks that he was the first person in the area to catch a rabbit and on that day recalls that his father said: "That's the end of the Hills".  And how right he was !  Rabbits were sold for 8d (eight pennies) each, and later the princely sum of 1/- (one shilling).

As clearing of the land progressed, the family became self sufficient and never went hungry, their thrifty mother of Scottish descent making sure of ample supplies  for the winter months.  Any surplus after meeting family requirements, of vegetables, fruit, and dairy products, was sold.

Jack didn't  remember ever seeing a doctor -  a person had to be really sick before such course of action was taken.  There were very few road accidents in the hill country until roads were built around the hills instead of over the top.  Many of these roads were built, using picks and shovels, during the Depression years after World War 1, by men out of work. (Click on this thumbnail photo, right,  to see the enlargement  of one of the camps for the unemployed road builders in the hills country) You earned your pay in those days.

Later, when suitable stone was found on English's property, Charlie Snell brought in a stone-crusher and produced metal for the roads, which, up   until this time had been impassable in winter months.

The stone-crusher weighed between 10 and 12 tons and was taken in by 2 bullock teams.  It was a slow and dangerous journey on the narrow winding road.   Bullocks were used in preference to horses as they were steadier and extreme caution was needed.

Photo, left, from the Society's archives, is of a similar bullock team hauling similar machinery at Balook, in the same area of Gippsland.

Jack thinks that the main reason his family was able to stay in the hills so long was that they had the Post Office and boarded the school teacher;  they also received royalties from the stone quarry, 8d. a cubic yard, which was very good as the usual rate was 3d. a cubic yard.

The Rogers family arrived in 1901 and stayed until 1918.   Lil Rogers was a school teacher and she taught our secretary, Valma (Plant) and her sister, when they were very young and went to school at Boolarra.  The Gunyah school and hotel were built in 1907.

Cattle sales, mainly of dairy cattle, were held at Gunyah once a month, and buyers came from as far away as East Gippsland as stock from this area had a very good reputation.   On sale days the hotel catered for up to 100 two course meals comprised of Roast Beef and Vegetables followed with steamed Date Pudding, all for the sum of 1/-.   Inspectors for all sorts of things stayed at the hotel - school inspectors, Post Office inspectors, Road Inspectors, even Inspectors of the proposed railway line.   Supplies came to Gunyah from Boolarra, and the doctor and dentist visited from Toora, Gunyah being equi-distant from both places.

William Smith, father of Tom Smith, came in 1902 and left in 1913.  Tom was born in 1903 and was the second youngest of 9 children.  The family tackled the job of clearing the forest in the same manner as was employed throughout the hill country.  Among the species cleared was Sassafras, Wattle and Beech.  Eventually they had sufficient pasture to enable them to send 2 cans of cream a week to Boolarra during the summer months.  Tom remembers seeing one cheque for £2.10.0  -  not much money for so much effort.

As the winters were very severe, cattle went down to Yanakie or over to Snake Island.   It was possible to walk them over to the island when the tide was low.

Supplies for winter were brought in by bullock wagon before the roads became impassable due to the heavy rainfall in the area.

Bush fires were always a danger.  The Smith family had a dug-out in the side of a hill, for protection.

Often, dances and sing-songs were held at the Smith home, as theirs was the only piano in the vicinity.  On moonlight nights they would do the old dances, such as the Lancers, outside in the yards and a great time would be had by all.   By 1913, Mr. Smith had had enough of the hardships and left, taking his family to New South Wales.  At about this time many other families also left, their holdings being heavily mortgaged.  Eventually much of the land reverted to the Crown.

Mrs. Love came to Johnstones Hill in 1936 with her husband, Harry, and they took up the last virgin block at English's Corner.  They cleared quite a bit of the land but left many trees as shelter for their stock.  Mrs. Love is still living on this block in much the same way as she did 40 years ago, but now with a son and daughter, he only concession to modern-day living being a CB Radio.  However, she is not lonely or neglected as she has many visitors, of all age groups, coming and going continually.

The land they took up was very steep and local people thought they would never stay.  But they did.  Mrs. Love educated her children by correspondence, with lessons often held at night by lamplight as precious daylight hours were spent working the selection.  Nowadays, the Love family can pass on to new neighbors their knowledge of how to survive on a hill farm.  Mrs. Love is sure that it was the foresight and labour of her husband, and the good advice that he has given to his children that has enabled the family to stay on the farm.  There are no rabbits now and noxious weeds are no great problem due to the use of sprays for blackberry, ragwort, and thistles - one other concession to modern methods.

Mrs. Love recalls the days when 34 children attended the Johnstone Hill school, and they were all christened in the one year. Some of their neighbors were Johnstone, Bruce, Waack, and Billingsley. Many of the neighbors left the land during World War 2 to take work in the munitions factories.

Ray Waack was born in 1928 and lived in the hills for about 20 years.  His parents' first home was on the Grand Ridge Road, near the Albert river.   The Miles family were neighbors and their daughter, Cora, taught Ray at the Ryton school, where there were 25 pupils in 8 different grades.  The Merit certificate could be obtained in Grade 8.

When World War 2 broke out, Ray was 11 years old, and a regular Friday afternoon activity was the making of camouflage nets out of twine, sizes from 20 ft square to 30 ft square.  All houses had to be blacked out at night and car headlights had to be hooded.

Ray remembers helping the men with their work from the time when he was 4 years old.   There were fences to build, some with plain strands of wire and some with netting in a vain attempt to keep rabbits and wombats from the pastures and crops.  Wombats were declared to be vermin by the Shire, and in the winter the men would hunt for them after dark.  Wombats, along with rabbits and foxes, were a source of winter income.

There was an accident one night, involving an an aircraft crashing on Mt. Fatigue.  Rescuers were guided to the scene by a keen bushman who had carefully followed the sound of the plane's engines, and heard the crash.

As Ray grew older, he worked in the bush as a timber getter during the winter months while the cows were dry, and later took on the job permanently.   Ron Leviston had a contract to cut timber for the A.P.M. using a crosscut saw, maul and wedges, and Ray worked for him.  He says the Grand Ridge Road became very busy after the War, with 12 log trucks a day using it.  Contracts in those days were made verbally and were honored.  Ray later owned his own truck and used to cart logs to a mill at Pakenham.  Logs ranged in size from 35 ft to 45 ft in length; the journey   took 5 hours, and he received £30.0.0 for the job.  He could only make one trip a day as considerable time had to be spent in getting his load from the bush.

Cows on the family farm were milked by had until just prior to their leaving the property, when milking machines were installed. Petrol for the engine came from Foster on the cream wagon in 44 gallon drums.  Ray remembers those time with affection; they were good days and he would be happy to go back again.

A vote of thanks to the Speaker was proposed by Bert Deane, bringing a very interesting talk to a close.  Many photos were on display, giving an excellent visual description of what the hill country was like in the early days of settlement.