They were new settlers
A promised land of milk and honey
He knew it was just damned hard work
Fifty acres of bush land
Each day he labored hard to clear it
While pregnant Sharon
Noxious weeds thrived there
Trees as iron stubborn as he was
The dog shook his head at the flies
His plough shear struck rock
The creek chose not to flow in summer
Finally he now had a son
They lasted a few years
But the crops would not grow without rain
They walked off the land penniless
The land breathed again
Haphazard bushland reclaimed its own
‘Til miners and cattle men came
In 1865 George Goyder, Surveyor General of South Australia
determined that growing crops in the north of South Australia
Image found at www.flickr.com
sad but the plight of poor farmers everywhere
ReplyDeleteIt's never a good idea to build our plans around the way we wish the world was instead of how it actually is. Ask the people who built on floodplains
ReplyDeleteVery interesting work about a sad subject.
ReplyDeleteVery thoightful!
ReplyDeleteSo many wasted years. Sad.
ReplyDeleteVisit Keith's Ramblings!
There was something almost biblical in this piece...the hope that crops will thrive through hard labour and toil...there is something to be admired in grit and determination...and its remembrance
ReplyDeleteSad that he wasted his years.
ReplyDeleteSome of the German immigrants who came to Texas found similar situations in the western part of the state.
ReplyDeleteMoral of the story: Homesteading is hard work, and sometimes you fail at it.
ReplyDeleteIt was ever so.
ReplyDeleteYou bring the history to life.
ReplyDelete