1 June 1933

INCIDENTS OF EARLY DAYS

Pioneers' Trials And Troubles

The early history of the State bristles with incidents of outstanding interest, and in this week's issue we publish a further instalment of stories from our readers.

Pioneering Troubles.

— Living in my district is an old man who chuckles whenever anybody mentions the troubles which face Australia today, saying that they are nothing to what the pioneers faced. I have here written down his reasons for his statement, as told to me when I last visited him.

"I mean what I say, young man. My father emigrated to Australia in 1860. leaving England because in those days the upper classes thought that no man should attempt to rise above the state of life in which he had been born. We lived on a farm for three years, in order that my father could get an insight into farming methods out here, then came down here and took up what we call the homestead block. We had only a single furrow plough, three horses, two cows, a dray, and some tools.

Work? Really. I sometimes think that it is impossible when I look back on it. You talk of rabbits as being a pest — they are nothing to what the cockatoos were in those days. I can remember how they came in screaming white clouds at feeding time, and as my father walked two and fro across the paddock broadcasting the seed the cockatoos would eat the seed wheat faster than we could harrow it in.

Then, after the crop had sprouted would come the kangaroos— droves of the brutes. In those days it was all post and rail fencing, and kangaroos could easily jump a fence; our only hope, of keeping them off was to chain dogs along the fence and hop out with a gun whenever we heard them barking.

Later on the crop would ripen, and then it was cockatoos again. From the first streak of dawn one of us would have to be out with the gun, everlastingly shooting at them to keep them off.

And after the wheat was in the bag we could not cart it until the swamps were dry between here and Kingston, and then it was a three-day trip each way with a load of wheat.

What a blessing the railway was when it did come! That railway really gave us our first start, for my father went off to work as a navvy on it for two years, and the money which he saved enabled us to get a flock of sheep.

Then we were up against another pest —the wild dogs. They used to come down out of the scrub in the Ninety Mile Desert, mongrel crosses between the true dingo and dogs owned by kangaroo hunters, and they have our sheep no peace.

Just fancy what it would mean today if we still had to muster our sheep every evening and yard them to save them from being killed by the dogs. Poison and trap? Of course we did, killing scores, but still they came until the country to the north of us became settled, driving the dogs back into the scrub.

Do you young fellows today ever stop to think what super has meant to the farmer? Before it came in we never knew if we would get a crop or not.

And the financial stringency today is nothing near as bad as it was for many people in the nineties, for then bank after bank was closing its doors.

And it only seems like yesterday when the 1914 drought came along. I thought I knew what dry times were, but I learned better. I even fed old black straw off the shed roofs to the sheep to keep them alive. And we thought that we had plenty of hay on hand, too, when it struck us. Really. I think that I was borne about fifty years too early, for it seems to me that the world is growing better every day.

When I was young I used to envy the eagles as they circled round, never dreaming that I would one day be up there too. Yet I looked down on this farm from a mile up when that Miller chap had his aeroplane down here two years ago. And when I was young we never knew what was going on in the world except when the weekly mail came; today I sit by the wireless every morning and hear the news right up to the minute.

Women used to drag around in heavy dresses; look how sensibly they dress today. My boyhood was one round of unceasing work; look at the time you have off for play nowadays.

Most old fellows reckon when they were young was the best time; I reckon this is better than we ever dreamed of. This depression isn't a bit like other hard times were, for then we were short of things whereas today the world has too much of everything. I haven't yet heard of anyone starving in this depression, but I can remember when it used to be the case.

Yet, although it was a hard fight, I am glad, after all, that the family which I belong to is one of those who helped to make Australia what she is." —'BOGADUCK.'

A Daring Feat

— Without fear of contradiction, the Blue Lake, from which Mount Gambier's water supply is drawn, can be claimed to be one of Australia's most picturesque lakes. Besides, the quality of the water, being excellent, it has also been claimed that, owing to various chemicals which it contains, the water possesses valuable medicinal properties.

At one time, a person of rather more than ordinary business acumen, is said to have netted quite a small fortune by bottling a quantity of Blue Lake water, and selling it to a gullible public as a valuable mineral water, which was guaranteed to cure the majority of human ailments.

Despite the fact that the deep, unruffled water gives an impression of placidity, there are believed to be some particularly strong undercurrents in the lake.

In 1876 Mr. D. Turner, of 'Turner & Phillips,' accomplished the daring feat of crossing and recrossing the lake without pausing for a rest on the opposite side and unaccompanied by a boat. Mr. Turner dived in off a pathway, which had been cut some years previously for the convenience of Governor Fergusson. He swam to the deep indentation near the McDonnell Bay road, and, on reaching the small cove, he encountered a very strong undercurrent, which was believed to have been caused by some large caves under the bank. It required considerable effort to escape from the current, and spectators were alarmed to lose sight of him for a few moments.

However, he was successful in escaping from the current, and was in nowise exhausted on returning to the starting point. This was the first occasion on which this courageous and rather dangerous feat had been accomplished, and it caused quite a stir in the neighborhood; but, possibly, nothing with the stir that a similar attempt would cause today if a person was caught swimming in Mount Gambier's water supply. — A.H.B.

'A Feather Thief.'

— Magpies are attracted by bright, shiny objects, and will carry any such articles away in their beaks if they have the opportunity.

Several years ago a certain woman, after doing the weekly washing, noticed that her wedding ring was missing. She concluded that it had slipped from her finger into the soapy water. She went and had a look around where she had emptied the washing tubs, but could not see it. She was certain that it had been on her finger when she started to do the washing, but, in spite of all her searching, it could not be found. So her husband bought another ring.

Four years went by, and one day the woman's little son went out 'bird nesting.' He came home in a state of great excitement. "I've found a gold ring," he called out, "it was up near a magpie's nest hanging on a branch!"

Sure enough, he had a wedding ring with a branch as thick as his finger growing through it. His mother recognised the ring by the engraved initials inside the band. Evidently a magpie had picked it up and flown off with it the day it was lost. The bird had hung it on the tiny twig (or else it had dropped there out of its beak by chance) and had hung there while the twig grew into a branch inside of it. —'R.V.H.'

An Unenviable Experience

—In the lower South-East the country is of a peculiar formation, and there are many caves and underground passages, most of them containing water. One of these subterranean caverns was discovered more than 40 years ago in a manner terrifying for the discoverer.

A man named Cousins lived in a hut in a lonely spot about 15 miles south-east of Mount Gambier, where he shepherded sheep in the then unfenced country for the late Mr. Matheson. One afternoon he went out to look for a kangaroo to shoot, and did not return. Whilst walking through thick undergrowth, he had stumbled and pitched forward over a little depression. Attempting to scramble up, he slipped feet first down a hole just big enough for him to go through.

After falling some distance he managed to brace himself and prevent his going any further, and found that he was in a funnel-like aperture which opened out into a large and deep cave — just how large or how deep he could not tell. He dropped his box of ammunition so that he might judge how far he would have to fall, and, to his horror, did not hear it land.

When he could hold on no longer, he let himself go, and instead of falling into space, as he expected, a narrow ledge of rock about 10 feet lower down stopped his fall, and there he stayed.

When he had not returned the next day his wife became alarmed, and taking her child, walked to Wye station, where the Mathesons lived, a distance of about five miles. Mr. Matheson went immediately to Summer Hill to secure helpers for a search, and Mrs. Matheson rode out to begin searching.

By a miracle, almost, she rode straight to the right spot, and Cousins, hearing the hoof beats over head, whistled. Mrs. Matheson stopped to listen, and Cousins, when he could no longer hear the horse, thought the rider had passed out of hearing, and groaned in despair.

This sound led Mrs. Matheson to the spot where the unfortunate man had fallen through, and she was able to assure him that help was coming. She was able to direct Mr. Matheson and Messrs. James and Jack Pick to the place, and a rope was procured and let down to him. Cousins was able to fasten this around himself, and he was hauled to the surface, a task which proved difficult on account of the opening through which he had fallen.

He was little the worse for his experience, although he had been for 24 hours in his terrible plight, and what a night of terror and despair he must have spent.— A.M.P., Mount Gambier.

'Our Constitution.'

— About 82 years have elapsed since South Australia was granted a Constitution of its own by the British Parliament.

South Australia has since led the other States towards modern democracy in many ways. It was the first State to pay its members of Parliament, the first to give every man a vote, and the first to give women a vote.

The system of passing money bills through the Federal Parliament was copied from the South Australian Constitution.

At first the system by which South Australia was governed was far from democratic, and during the years from 1834 to 1850-51 the management of State affairs were in many different hands. The baby colony was at first governed by a board of eight commissioners and a Governor. These were appointed in 1834 by the British Parliament in an Act known as 'The South Australian Act.'

The commission consisted of men who had had previous experience in colonisation; one of the most prominent being E. G. Wakefield. Colonel Torrens was appointed chairman of the commission, and a Mr. Fisher its colonial representative. Captain Hindmarsh was the first Governor. Fisher was supposed to supervise the administration of The South Australian Act, while the Governor was to attend to public affairs generally.

After the founding of the Adelaide in 1836, there followed great friction between Fisher and the Governor. In 1838 Fisher was removed from office, Hindmarsh recalled, and Colonel Gawler sent out as Governor. Gawler, who spent most of his private fortune in financing a practically bankrupt colony, in 1841 asked the British Government for a grant of £400,000. Instead of receiving this he found himself on the way back to England.

At the end of 1841 the board of commissioners was abolished and Captain Grey appointed Governor with full powers. The British Government by an Act of 1842 granted the colony £155,000, and established a small two-thirds elective nominee council.

In 1845 Grey was succeeded by Colonel Robe, who, however, was not generally popular. He was replaced by Sir Henry Young in 1848.

An Act of 1850 gave the colony the right to form a constitution of its own, but subject to the approval of the British Government. In 1851 it was granted practically the same constitution under which it has since prospered.— The Kangaroo.

Real Life Stories Of South Australia (1933, June 1). Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), p. 16. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90884038