18 May 1933

SETTLING A DISTRICT

During the past thirty or forty years many new agricultural districts have been developed. The story of early settlement is always of interest, and the historians have many quaint tales to tell of pioneering efforts.

FORMING A SETTLEMENT

In 1897, just thirty-six years ago, saw the dawn of a vigorous agricultural settlement in the Beautiful Valley district as it was then called. It was in these times that to see a string of camels passing through Maltee on its way from Murat Bay to Tarcoola was a very common sight.

The camels were very useful beasts of burden, carrying half a ton of wool or other produce to the part for shipment overseas. An average load for a camel would be about six hundredweights and would often consist of long sheets of galvanized iron up to ten feet in length. They formed an adaptable means of transport for the sandridges encountered on the trip after passing through this district on the way to Tarcoola could not be crossed success fully except by employing these useful animals. Another great advantage is the convenience in supplying of food and water since one drink every eight days is sufficient to keep them 'on the track.'

These camel trains were, of course, controlled by Afghans, but other people also owned an odd one or two of these beasts of burden and included among them may be mentioned the waterworks inspector who visited the Government tanks in a buggy drawn by a pair of camels which trotted along nicely side by side.

In these times there were few settlers, and all were batching with the exception of Mr. W. H. Simmons, who resided in the Murat Bay district. It was a time when the young settlers would arrange a meeting place somewhere in the scrub, pick out a level patch of ground, and enter whole heartedly into an enjoyable game of cricket.

Men would often walk miles to the boat at Denial Bay calling once every month. This would provide an opportunity of supplementing the rather sparse diet on which the settlers existed during their pioneering daily toil opening up fresh country which was to become a valuable wheat-farming area.

Mr. J. B. Talbot, of Maltee, was the first settler in the district, and later followed by two other settlers who are also still residents of the district.

Loading the boat with wheat was, in those days, a some what more tedious process than present day methods. The waggons were driven as far out into the water as possible when the load was transferred to small boats and taken out to the big boat anchored out. Every day the boat called was a 'red letter day' for the early settlers who were pleased to see some form of human activity.

During 1914, a drought year, the railway line from Port Lincoln to Thevenard was being built. It was during these operations that the camels proved so useful for carrying the materials required for construction work. At the time the line was being surveyed through this district it was suggested that the line should be built from Maltee to Penong which would have resulted in a junction at Maltee. As it is, the branch line to Thevenard and Penong is at Wandana Siding, about eight miles on the Ceduna side of Maltee.

In 1915 the line was opened for traffic by Richard Butler, M.P. About the same time the town was laid out by a surveyor from Adelaide. The town reserve was surveyed alongside the railway line at the Maltee Siding and the Maltee Hall is situated on part of this reserve. Butler avenue, along which trees have been planted on both sides, was named after Richard Butler. The sandalwood trees which once beautified this valley, were cut down for firewood during the cleaning of the Government tanks and dams about two years before the completion of the Tod mains which were ceremoniously opened at Thevenard in June, 1928, by the Hon. W. Macintosh, M.P.

Previous to these mains being opened, the water supply for this district was drawn from the Government tanks, one of which contained about half a million gallons when full. This tank was constructed in 1919, and during that year it was a common sight to see as many as twenty-seven teams carting from this tank in one day.

It is interesting to note that during March of one year, the tank was emptied and by a peculiar coincidence a heavy shower helped to replenish supplies that same night. Although the rainfall only averages just on ten inches per annum the district is very adaptable for growing wheat and in a reasonably good year can produce well over 20,000 bags for export.

The soil is of a sandy nature and hence receives comparatively little cultivation but can produce a wheat sample which compares very favorably with wheat grown anywhere else in the State.

We should ever greatly honor the first settlers who toiled in these outback areas under much uncertainty of result, but with decisive confidence in the land which has been so blessed by nature. It is hard perhaps for us to realise what trials they had to face, what difficulties they had to encounter and surmount, and the hardships which had to be endured in the way of food, clothing and shelter. God bless the pioneers.— 'Emmco.'

Tales Of The Explorer:

— The 'passing away' of the veteran explorer, W. H. Tietkens, recalls tragic incidents of expeditions 50 and 60 years back. Tietkens gained experience of the arid waste of land contiguous to the Overland Telegraph. When, as second in command of the expeditions lead by Ernest Giles in 1873, and again in 1875; they made their way from Beltana and eventually reached Perth. Their objective was attained at the cost of one man's life. During a desperate search for water Giles and his companion Alfred Gibson made a 'break' for a distant range of mountains; horse after horse knocked up, to such straits were the men reduced, that Gibson was ordered back to camp for relief. Shortly after parting, Giles' nag gave in, and the leader was stranded 98 miles from his men. Fortunately, on their way out they had buried two and a half gallons of water. Gibson had not reached the refreshment, but had wandered off the track; for a man on foot to search that arid, spinifex, sandy waste was useless.

At last the foot-weary, starving leader staggered into camp. His substance for a couple of days had been junks of dried horseflesh, and as water was at a premium it was necessarily eaten raw. And excepting for finding a dying baby wallaby, also eaten raw, his food was nil. And yet of such dauntless courage, Giles lived, and furthermore, lead several expeditions into similar country. The tragedy of Gibson's passing is perpetuated in Gibson's Desert. A bitter incident of the 1875 expedition was a stretch of 325 miles from water to water, 17 days of nerve-wracking misery.

Tietkens himself lead several expeditions, the starting point always from depots along the Overland Telegraph west. But perhaps he is better known as a surveyor of York Peninsula lands.

South Australian explorers were surely immune to 'Father Time's' scythe thrusts. Eyre cheated death so many times; from drowning in his youth; starvation and murderous blacks on his epic trek round the Great Bight in 1841; a night spent among precipices in Maoriland; squelching a fire in a magazine; trouble with insurgents in Jamaica; and for saving the West Indies for England— censure. [?] But he was 91 years at the end.

Sturt lived to be 74. And his diet, or should one say, lack of diet, had at times consisted of rancid fat buried by the dogs, to be unearthed by the humans and devoured. Warburton reached 76, and on his excursion from Alice Springs to Oakover River his fare had often been boiled camel skin, and viscera.

A. C. Gregory, not so well known in South Australia, but probably an explorer who covered more miles than any other in Australia; lived to be 86. He came overland to Adelaide from Sydney via Cooper's Creek in search of Leichhardt in 1858.

John Forest, besides emulating Eyre's trek, but from Westralia to South Australia, did a good deal of pioneering in Western Australia. Notwithstanding the hardships of exploring, Forrest became even better known as a politician. While travelling to England to take his seat in the House of Lords, Forrest died. He was well over seventy.

There were other explorers within South Australian boundaries, whose work was perhaps quite as valuable; this is but a summary of those who reached the seventy mark. — 'Yacko.'

Getting What We Want.

— Some beg, some borrow, and some steal. The man whom this story concerns, had a strong penchant for the last-named method. Petty thieving was a weakness with him which amounted almost to kleptomania.

The neighbors tolerated his pilfering very often for the lack of evidence. The sight of an unattended harvester or any other machine left standing in a paddock was always an invitation to him to rifle the tool boxes. Fencing material, spades, shovels, &c., invariably vanished with his passing.

Once he overstepped the mark, when he possessed himself of a bundle of wire netting belonging to his neighbor, who threatened him with legal proceedings if it were not returned immediately.

So one night, under cover of darkness he harnessed his horse into the cart and set off on a journey of several miles distance, to a place where another farmer was erecting a fence, and throwing a bundle of netting into his cart he returned delivering it to his neighbor the following morning.

Before eventually leaving the district he held a clearing sale and those who suffered losses at his hands considered it rather a joke to have the privilege of buying back their own tools and accessories.— 'Peggotty,' Cowell.

Diversion At Race Meeting.

— It is not infrequent for humorous incidents to occur at country race meetings. Doubtless the following incident which occurred on the Robe racecourse about forty years ago can still be recalled by a few of the older hands who witnessed the event.

In a hurdle race three horses (Long Dog, Wild Dog and Sleight-of-hand) balked at a hurdle which was situated right in front of the grandstand. Despite the utmost efforts of his rider (Billy Mc Gregor, who later rose to considerable heights in the racing profession) Sleight-of-hand could not be induced to jump over the hurdle.

Doubtlessly feeling it incumbent up on himself to make a move to save his horse from the ignominy of having it said that he could not jump, the excited owner of Sleight-of-hand seized a walking stick, and to the accompaniment of cheers from the crowd and imprecations from himself he proceeded to ply it with such good effect that eventually the surprised animal decided that there was only one way out, and did as it was bid.

Though he certainly never won the race, never let it be said that Sleight of-hand was unequal to the jump. As his proud owner afterwards declared, 'If only he would jump as he could jump he would be a champion.'— A.H.B.

Homing Horses.

— Here is another instance that shows the homing instinct of horses. Some years ago Mr. H., of Hindmarsh Island, sold a riding hack to Mr. R., of Goolwa. The horse was duly delivered to his new owner at Goolwa, In a few days he was back on H.I. They took him back a second time, and he was soon home again. The third time we saw him walking along the edge of the river, opposite to where we live, on H.I. When he got to the spot nearest his old home he took to the water and swam across, and landed on his home farm. The last time he was allowed to stop, in recognition of his love of home and perhaps, his owner. How the horse knew when he was nearest his home when on the mainland is hard to tell.— Nee Miss Newell, of H.I.

Real Life Stories Of South Australia (1933, May 18). Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), p. 16. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90883621