Growing up on a farm in 1950’s Australia
Missed the first part of the “Growing up on a farm in 1950’s Australia”? Read Chapter 1: Aussie Summers – 1950s.
Chapter 2: Aussie Winters – 1950s
Now retired, as I reflect on my life thus far, the ‘50s were without doubt the most enjoyable. I was happy and had great family and friends. We lived on a farm, what more could I want?
Lambing time
We heard the heavy rain falling on the roof.
Dad looked happy and said to Mum “Just what we need to make the grass grow for the ewes.” The weather was still fairly warm, but the days were getting shorter.
I love lambing time.
I go out every day with Dad, if I get the chance, to see the ewes and lambs and to make sure that everything is OK which it normally is. It is great fun to see the lambs running around together with their tails in the air playing “chasey”.
Sometimes though, we have to bring a lamb home to look after it, if their mums can’t feed it properly. Our Mum would mix up warm milk in a bottle. Then it was fun to feed them, as they wagged their cute little tails.
When they got bigger, Dad put them out with the other sheep. They still loved to come over for lots of pats every-time they saw us.
The first ewe (girl) lamb was always called Sally and the ram (boy) lamb was called Jimmy. I don’t know why, it’s just how it was. Any other lambs, my sister Claire and I got to choose their names.
As Dad and me drove around the paddocks, sometimes Dad would see a dead lamb, and would say “Darn foxes”. Then he and some of our friends would go out on a dark night to try and shoot foxes.
After all the ewes had had their babies, Dad would bring them into the sheep yards. It would take a long time with lots of noise ‘cause sometimes the Mum’s and their babies could not find each other and cry out for each other. Then Dad, with the help of us kids would sort out the babies from their Mum’s, and then they REALLY made lots of noise as they tried to get back to each other.
After that, my brother Robin would catch them one at time while Dad put a round green thing around something stopped the ram lambs from making babies. Then with a really sharp knife, Dad would cut off their tails. Then Robin would let them go and they would run flat out crying all the way back to their Mum’s.
Shearing time
The other job I really loved at the end of winter was shearing time. Most times we had two men who were local farming friends that shore the sheep for us.
I loved the smell of the wool and the sheep. Before and after school I really enjoyed helping. It was my job to sweep any bits of wool left over after each sheep was shorn and Dad had picked up the fleece. I always thought I did a good job, ‘though sometimes I probably got in the way a bit.
Sometimes one of the shearers as he was going to get another sheep, would pretend to grab me and say “Time for a hair-cut” and I would laugh but run pretty quick back to Dad or Robin ‘cause I thought he was joking but I wasn’t sure.
After we had finished for the day, I would help fill the shed with more sheep ready for the next day.
Tractors
After it had rained, Dad would spend lots of days driving a tractor, pulling something that had “things” that dug up the ground. Dad would try to drive it in a really straight line. Sometimes there would be a tree in the way, so he had to drive around it. I thought Dad was pretty clever ‘cause he always got real close to the tree, but never hit it.
I loved to sit on the green and yellow (John Deere) tractor with Dad.
When I was little, the tractor was brand new and it looked all bright and shiny and smelt great.
After a day at school, I would ride my bike flat out to our house, and yell out to Mum, “Which paddock is Dad was in”? Then I would change into my old clothes making sure I was warm ‘cause the weather was cold and sometimes wet. Then I would rush to where Dad was and sit with him until it was dark and then I would ride my bike home again. Dad usually came home much later.
When I got a bit older and Robin had left school, Dad brought another green and yellow tractor for him to drive. I liked to be with Dad but Robin was better and more fun. Robin liked to sing a lot, and some people seemed to think he was pretty good. He sang in a choir (whatever that meant) so he liked to practice while he was driving the tractor and I thought he was so clever ‘cause he could sing AND drive the tractor in a straight line at the same time.
Sometimes he liked to “show off” by doing all that while he was driving standing up…wow!
Sometimes Dad would drive pulling something else that Robin sat on. It had kinda bins with lids that lifted up that they poured stuff into. Sometimes they would stop by the truck that had bags on them and carry them over. When I got a bit bigger I could carry them as well, but they were REALLY heavy. While Dad was driving, Robin would tip the stuff out of the bags into the bins, and I thought he was so clever. Then we would just sit and talk.
Most times it was really, really cold and we would put the empty bags over us to keep out the wind and rain.
When I got a bit older, I asked Robin what we were doing and he told me we were “Seeding, planting the grain (wheat or barley) with the fertiliser, to make it grow”.
Passing time in winter
On one side of the farm, we had a dirt road and ‘cause it was a road between two district councils (whatever that meant), nobody looked after it so it became like a fairly narrow track in places with a few trees. It was known as the Boundary Road.
One day when I was about 6, and Robin was about 15, somehow he was driving the Land-Rover with just me with him. We ended up on the Boundary Road. It had lately been raining lots. Robin was driving real fast probably ‘cause he wanted to “show off” when suddenly we struck a real slippery patch, and he lost control. The Land-Rover did a full circle.
Lucky we did not hit a tree or a fence post and damage the Land-Rover, or hurt ourselves. Robin went real quiet but I thought it was funny. He drove real slow back to the house after that and made me promise not to tell Mum and Dad ‘cause he knew they would be cross with him, but it wasn’t my fault.
The other thing we did during winter time was play table-tennis. Our team was Reeves Plains and we used to play against a lot of local teams. When we played our home matches it was always in our barn, and was great fun.
The barn was where we stored the seed wheat, barley and fertiliser. Being really little I thought the barn was a long way from the house (it was probably about 50 metres) and even with the outside lights turned on at the house and the barn, there was lots of dark places. There were sheds both sides with trees, and sometimes the branches would make a noise on the roof of the shed and I would get scared and run flat out if I was by myself. I never told anybody ‘cause I didn’t want them to think I was a baby.
When I first started to play I was only little and couldn’t reach very far, so I used to stand on a box. I always thought I was pretty good.
Often I used to pester Robin for a hit and try my new fancy trick shots and thought I could beat him. I never did, but sometimes I got close. Maybe he just let me. He was the second best player in the WHOLE district so I was dreaming if I thought I was ever going to beat him. Dad was really good, and Mum was fairly good too. Claire didn’t seem to like playing very much and was no competition for someone like me.
Starting school
When I was a bit older than five, I started going to school. Most days, Claire and I used to read our bikes on the dirt road, about two miles.
One day she wouldn’t wait for me so I went too fast trying to catch up and fell off grazing my knee. Claire asked if I wanted to go home so Mum could clean it up, but I didn’t want the kids at school, especially the three other boys in my class to think I was a baby by having a plaster on it, so I said “No”.
For the first three years before she went off to college in Adelaide, it was kinda nice to have Claire around, in case I got into trouble.
I loved Primary School and was always the smartest kid in my class. It was also great to play with all my friends.
The toilets seemed a long way away from the class-room. At least they did when I was little. They were in amongst the Pepper Trees and made of galvanised iron. As I went into them, there was a long trough thing to pee into that was always surrounded by spider webs. If I wanted to do “two’s” I went through a door. When lifting the lid I had to be careful not to sit on a Redback Spider, ‘cause I knew they would bite. When I lifted the seat it was a long drop and looked disgusting so I only used it if I was busting. I was always afraid I might fall in.
Dealing with kangaroos
During most winter’s Dad and some friends would “go bush” for about a week. Sometimes there were lots of kangaroos on the outback stations, so they would go up and shoot them, ‘cause the kangaroos ate all the grass the cattle were ‘spose to eat.
When I was about 10, people like Dad were stopped from doing that. Sometimes when a kangaroo was shot, without Dad knowing it, they had a baby (joey) in their pouch.
Every time Dad went away Claire and I would always hope Dad would come with one. One year, when I was about five, Dad came home with three of them.
The boy ones were brown in colour and the girls were blue. They were the most amazing, cute, gentlest, beautiful pets we EVER had. When they were really little they used to sleep in an empty wheat bag, hanging against the hot water thing to keep them warm. When it was feed time Mum or Dad would gently get them down and tip them out so Claire and me could feed them.
They would try to grab the bottle with their cute little front legs as we fed them. We had to be careful they did not slip on the lino floor. Their fur was so lovely and soft.
When they got a bit bigger we used to take them outside and they used to hop after us, and they looked adorable. By that stage they slept outside in a small yard close to the house Dad made for them. After that they spent the rest of the day and their lives in a really big yard, and one year one had a baby, but that’s another story.
The Royal Adelaide Show
At the end of winter was time for the 10-day Royal Adelaide Show.
On the Monday morning, the whole family would rush down to see the Merino Sheep judging to see Uncle “Henry” and his family with their stud sheep. I loved all the sights, smells and excitement of all the sheep and lots of people.
Uncle Henry always did really well and won lots of cups, medals and sashes with his sheep.
It was a great, fun day out, ‘cause after that we would spend the rest of the day looking at all the animals, and side-shows. After that, we had to see all the stuff the adults wanted to look at, which was a bit boring for us kids.
Usually we had lunch with other aunts, uncles and cousins so it was always a fun day out.
Yes, winter in the ‘50s took some beating, with so many great things to do.