the ‘WHY’ of it all…………

Why Shaggy Creek ??

Ever since I was a kid I’ve wanted a ‘bit of dirt’. Didn’t need to be ‘flash’, just some acreage to call my own. Preferably a buggered up bit of land that need some TLC, something to keep a man ‘active’ in his old age. I’ve seen way too many fellas retire and die before they had a chance to enjoy it all. Damn waste of a life if you ask me !!

I’ve been living and working in Central Victoria well over 40 years, and despite bein drier ‘n  a witches tit, hotter than hell and prone to fast running Bush and grassfires, its a Good place to live. Not too many Cityslickers and only One Freeway !!

We still have Small Country Towns with sidewalk Petrol Bowsers, and REAL Bakeries and one man Butcheries… and the People running the Post Office know you by name, and a large part of the adult population Volunteer in the local Fire Brigade. You don’t see many of your scumsuckinCityslickers doin That !!

My Great Grandfather came here from Yorkshire about 1860 and went Mining. But by that time the ‘easy stuff’ (the alluvial gold’) had mostly played out..and the deep lead mines were kicking in..so he got into that for a spell  as a Millwright, met the daughter of a Transported Convict in Eaglehawk and Married her.

So that, in short is more or less how This Old man came into
the picture….

The Land hereabouts is either ‘reef country’ (Quartz & Ironstone) or ‘old alluvial’ diggins, interspersed with good fertile grazing lands which have been farmed and cultivated since the early 1800’s.

There are also Volcanoes… dozens of them extending right to  the Coast a couple of 100 kilometers away.  The last ‘active’ Volcanoes expired around 6-12,000 years ago. Hence there is a Lot of scoria and basalt lying about. As a result you see miles and miles of rock walling, forming fences along the old Laneways and Coachroads. Backbreaking work indeed, but it cleared the land for ploughing and makes for excellent Fire stoppers !

There is also a lot of ‘Forest’ hereabouts..classified as LTF ..Light Timbered Forest…. mostly Box and Ironbark. None of it particularly old or large in size.  Theres a ‘reason’ for that ,  firstly the Squatters cleared the land for grazing and timber for  houses and fencing.  Then came the Diggers in the middle of the Century scrabbling for Gold, trees were hacked down for pit props and windlasses and tent poles and firewood. Look at the  old paintings and drawings from the Era and there is a massive dearth of Trees, they cut 95% of the tree cover down….  The Diggers moved on and more permanent wannabe farmers settled the land on inadequate sized sections of land….they hadn’t allowed for the ‘water issue’, or rather ‘lack of water’ issue !

the word ‘Drought’ is wrongly used here in Australia as if it is ‘something Unusal’…..it is Not !! Drought is the Natural state of this land !!   Unless you live in the Tropics, ‘rain’ is- Not- the- ‘norm’.   Lack-of-Rain is………… Sure it rains here, but it not something you’d wanna lay money on !  Dry land farming is the Norm here…but its a risky business.   If you get one Good year in Seven you can make a living. Maybe….

I  strongly suspect Land Salesmen back then were the equivalent of todays Used Car Salesmen, didn’t matter ‘how- where’ or what ‘ as long they got a Sale.

This patch of ours is about 35 acres in size and is one of 1000’s of ‘Lifestyle blocks’ carved out of unprofitable farmland back in the 1970’s and 80’s. Back then you could buy a 20 acre block for about $12 grand, and many people did. No water, little grass, hammered over by Mining, but ‘room for a Pony’ as the Adverts say…..

For me, its ‘room for a Forest’.  I get on with trees…people ? Not so much. First job I had was working for The NZFS in one of their Pine mills, loved the smell of that wood !! And I’ve worked my life around timber mostly ever since.

The aforementioned ‘scumsuckin/cityslickers’ whinge and wail about ‘Global Warming’ and ‘Climate Change’ and other apparently ‘Immanent Disasters’, and my response always is :  “quityerbitchin…….Buy some Land..and Plant Trees !”

Fortunately around half of this block is already covered with timber the oldest going back to the Great Depression (1930’s-40’s)  Forgot to mention, the Forests got a 2nd hammering as ‘Firewood’ for Victorian Townies and again for Charcoal Burners. During WW2, it got another flogging for more charcoal to go into Private cars to make gas , so they could get around Petrol Rationing.

Since that time it has again been flogged as “Firewood Coupes’ by the Forestry Dept. At about $10-20 for a couple of ‘help-yourself’ trailer loads of ‘fah-wood’……….

The Long term plan for Shaggy Creek, is to thin the forest of coppiced regrowth to allow the stronger leaders to thrive, and to plant More Trees !!  Don’t care ‘what’ or where…… as long as they’re Green…………