A Bushman Remembers: Life on the Land when Horsepower Held SwayWhen hard work was a way of life ... James Mahoney remembers life on a mixed farm, cooking in camp ovens, problems with wooden handles, gates, fences, and snakes, and cooling off under the willows with billy tea after a hard morning's work. And he recalls learning how to plough a straight furrow, making money from rabbits, spuds, old bones and pigs, and clearing the property of blackberries and bunnies, and washing done in a pioneer laundry. They were the days when racing trotters had a daytime job in the baker's cart, of home-trained blacksmiths, of expert saddlers and coach painters, half-time school, the mounted police, reading by kerosene lamp, noisy political rallies and looking for Ben Hall's gold. |
Common terms and phrases
Australian bareback riding bark became Ben Hall black tea blackberries Blayney Blue Mountains bones brought bucket bush bushfire bushranger camp oven Christmas clean colour cooking couple course cows crop crosscut saw dairy dance district dogs dray early eggs especially farm farmers fence filly fowls gates Goulburn handle harness horses keep kerosene kerosene lamp killer Land look machine Mahoney mead meant miles milk milker million motor neighbours nest never night numbers old-time paddock Parramatta pick pigs plough Pony Club potatoes Rabbit trapping rabbits rails remember road saddle saddler settlers shearer shearing shed sheep Slocombe snake someone sometimes South Wales story straight furrow sulky Sydney thing timber town track traction engine traps trees wagon washing wattle weather willows wire wood wool young youngsters