THE DROUGHT TO END ALL DROUHGTS

That's what they are saying about this current drought. For a while I wasn't convinced that it was 'the worst'...as you all know... Queensland has been regularly effected by extreme weather conditions...either floods or droughts

Remember the poem..'.land of droughts and flooding rains'

This shows the extent of the drought at the moment. There is no real rain forecast for the near future.

But now I see why it is so...there are people in the north of this great state that are going into their 3rd year with out rain!!

Can you imagine what that must be like?

I heard a story from a 'truckie' yesterday (he was here delivering cattle)...and truckie's love to have a yarn...I asked my husband once why they are this way..and his answer was that they spend a lot of time driving and don't see people ..so they make up for it when they get a chance.

Which reminds me of a time a few years ago when we had a property out at Bollon in the south west of Queensland. We had bought cattle from New South Wales and they ended up arriving in the middle of the night around 2 am. It was also the middle of winter and it gets very cold in that part of the world.

If it wasn't bad enough having to get out of your warm bed and unload a couple of trucks of cattle ...we then had to stand around shivering while listening to the truckie's 'tall' story's......he didn't seem one bit concerned that he was keeping us out of bed......maybe he was enjoying himself at our expense.!!

Anyway, getting back to the story at hand.

Yesterday's truckie story was about a farmer and his wife up north, who because of the on going drought had completely destocked their property...all 400,000 acres of it.

There was not a beast, not a horse, nothing except he and his wife.

Drought

Can you imagine them sitting out there on their ruined, parched land with nothing. They can't leave as they would have no money to go. They have to stay and protect what is left. What will happen to people like this?

They are not alone, there are probably hundreds out there doing it tough like that ...just going from day to day, looking at the sky, hoping the rain will come.

I was speaking to my sister recently and they are really suffering with the dry as well. Their biggest problem is they are quickly running out of water.

This water problem is one of the reasons this drought is worse than others,   people can see an end to their water supply.

A dam gone dry

What to do next?

You can buy feed to feed your cattle or sheep but you can't buy water...well maybe you could but it would be impossible to cart enough water to keep a mob of cattle  alive.

A cow with a calve will drink up to 120 litres a day. In drought conditions this could reach as much as 150 litres.
Over a mob of 500 head of cattle that would be 60,000 litres a day, 420,000 litres a week and 1,680,000 litres a month.

It is not ' if ' they run out of water it is ' when '.

People on the land have an incredible ability to look at things in a completely optimistic way. They all know that it WILL rain ONE DAY. So they just focus on that event ...and just keep going, getting out of bed each morning to face it all again.

This is all the water this farmer has left.

Making decisions that would break the spirit of lesser humans beings. These decisions are based mainly on HOPE and not much else.

They know there are cut off points. Like when they have to cut off feeding their cattle because they just can't borrow any more money and they also know they are fighting a losing battle as the cattle are dying faster than they can keep the feed up to them.

And as I mentioned before they have to work out, as best they can, how long their water supply will last, so that they can sell their cattle before they have to watch them perish.

Sounds unbelievable doesn't it?  But it's a reality. It is happening every day. When you are driving to work sipping on your early morning coffee, think of a farmer going about his morning shooting starving cattle and trying not to do the same to himself.

I heard that our treasurer Mr Hockey saying that he will ' look ' at the multi million dollar proposal put forward by Barnaby Joyce to support the cattle industry..part of that being a ' rural reconstruction type bank ' which would lend money to farmers at a reduced rate...something like the rate of a home loan. His comment was,'  why would you lend more to people who are already in trouble..'

But it looks like our treasurer is looking into spending zillions to bale out our failing the car industry.

The thing that people like Mr Hockey don't seem to be able to grasp is we are not dealing with a car industry or a shop owner ...we are dealing with animals and human beings. We are dealing with suffering.

 I'm sure there is a difference between a car and a cow!

Some how we have to get the message across that things are out of control for people in the bush. They need money to keep cattle alive and them selves.

They also need support and understanding from the rest of Australia.

The good times...lets pray the storms come soon!!

Until next time

18,000 CATTLE ON THE ROAD SOUTH

Over the past couple of weeks an interesting story is coming to light which has all the ingredients of a true Australian Outback legend in the making.

The right characters are all there. ..you have at centre stage the

 BOSS DROVER.....then you have

A very large amount of ....

CATTLE

Then the great Aussie

PASTORALIST

taking a risk only a mad man would take

And lastly you have

THE DREAM

....which to my mind is the most important ingredient.

The photo above is of the Boss Drover Bill Little who is probably a legend already in the Western parts of this great state of Queensland.
I'm not sure when he took on his first job of walking cattle from A to B. Thinking back it was probably around the mid 1980's

When ever you are driving the highways of the west and come across a drover it is usually Bill.
He is very noticeable by the way he sit in his saddle.

 A big man who is not to be messed with.....just the right ingredient for his ...I was going to say 'job' but I think 'passion' is a better word.

Droving is HARD you are out in the weather day after day night after night in all conditions.

You spend your days in the saddle and your nights in a swag.

There is no such thing as a day off.

You make discussions regarding your stock on an hour to hour basis and you and you alone are responsible for the safe arrival of these animals at their destination.

In this case this mob is worth in excess of $7 million

If you've had an inch of rain or 5 inches  and your horse and the cattle are knee deep in mud......if it is freezing with winds that will cut you in half....

It doesn't matter

The cattle still have to walk their 10klms a day ...this is the law imposed by the shire councils that the stock routes run through.

 A stiff fine is the result of not keeping the mob on the move.

But Bill is a master of his trade and if this outback legionary cattle drive is going to go down in history as the last great mass movement of cattle .....then having this man at the helm is the first ingredient for success.

The cattle have been purchased from the largest cattle company in Australia the Australian Agricultural Company know far and wide simple as the AA Company.

The cattle have come from the great cattle stations of the far north....places like the famed
'Brunette Downs'
It is situated on the Barkley Tableland of the Northern Territory.
It runs 110,000 cattle and is 660 klms north west of Mt Isa.

Then there's 'Anthony's Lagoon '
Another of the A.A. Company's major cattle factories.
It is also on the Barkley and is 440 klms north east of Tennant Creek.

And last but not at all least is

 'Camobie' which is in the far north west of Queensland and 180 klms from Julia Creek.

The cattle will be trucked to shires around the central western parts of Queensland ...like

Winton
Aramac and
Ilfracombe.

Each mob numbering 2000 head will be unloaded into the capable hand of drovers hand picked by the the boss drover.

They will follow each other leaving up to a week between mobs.

.
Bill will take the last mob.

In all 18,000 head of young female cattle will begin their journey south to Hay in New South Wales.

A journey of almost 3000 klms.

Bill has said he thinks it will take 3 months.

He is not concerned about the amount of feed for the cattle as they travel..but water he says will be the biggest thing on his mind as 18,000 head drink a lot and the stock route dams and troughs are not used to catering to this amount of cattle.

But of this he says that the cattle are all young and strong and if they have to go for a few 'dry spells' then this will not hurt them especially with winter in full force.

He says he is looking forward to the challenge and also feels that history is in the making...

Then we have the real risk taker enter South Australian Pastoralist Tom Brinkworth pictured above.

Don't let looks deceive you....

This humble looking 76- year- old  has a net worth of $200 million and controls   1 million hectares of agricultural land spread over 99 properties in his home state of South Australia and recently after purchasing the famous Merino Stud 'Uardry' has extended his interests into New South Wales.

 As yet he doesn't own any land in Queensland.

He also owns 350,000 sheep and 80,000 head of cattle....at last count!!

In an interview which he rarely gives, he is quoted as saying he has always been a fan of another days-gone-by great Australian Pastoralist Sir Sidney Kidman and says there is a lot to learn from this man achievements.

When asked if he considers himself a wealthy man he says he is 'comfortable'.....

" Wealth is related to the smallness of wants" he says.
He also says "I've got an awful determination"

.......... and a dream I'd say.


Well at last reports these 9 different mobs with their 9 different drovers and their men were all on the road and the 'Great Drive' has commenced.

I will try my best to keep you informed as this unfolds

Until next time.

Take a look at my paintings and drawings on my website
http://www.theoutbackartist.com.au

Land of Drought's and Flooding Rains.

"The sun is out
 the sky is blue
 there's not a cloud
 to spoil the view"

At Last.

We have had soooo much rain.

 I have just about given up measuring it.

BUT ...having lived on the land and run a business where the main ingredient for success is rain, I know not to complain, because rain can stop and then it can take years to start again. I know this because I have seen it happen....often.

 Australia is the driest country on earth, therefore droughts especially in Queensland are some thing we have to learn to deal with.

I remember the first drought I ever experienced. The time was the late 60's and I was about 10. I have a memory of skinny horses and dead sheep.

For thoes who don't know sheep are an animal that spends it's whole life looking for a way to die!!

(A direct quote from my husband.)

I think this is because they never ever have an original thought, they think collectively.

So if one sheep thinks it will walk into a muddy dam for a drink and gets bogged that doesn't mean that any of the others are going to say better not go in there or the same thing will happen to us.... no they all follow and they all get bogged

.....sheep!!

This brings me back to my first experiences of drought.....pulling out bogged sheep from dams.

Also another rather awful memory was when Dad would want us to " depth a dam" ...see how much water was left so that he would  know how long until the water dryed up and sheep had to be moved to another paddock or sold.

We would have to swim out into the middle of the dam which I might add usually had the odd dead sheep floating about in it. Once in the middle we would have to hold one arm above our heads with fingers pointing to the sky and go down until we touched the bottom. Dad could then judge the depth of water.

I hated this because I would imagine all sort of horrible things lurking on the bottom waiting for a little girls feet!!

I remember the incredible dust storms that would hit Longreach and just black out the sun, also a bit scary when your little.

The next big drought I remember was in 1982/3. We were living and working at " Mt Gray "
 at Emmet south west of Longreach. A property owned at the time by Tony's father Dick McLean.

 We used to breed our own horses back then. We had about 20 brood mares and a stallion. It was a bit of extra income for us as Tony would break in the grown foals and sell them, it also kept us well supplied with work horses. All mustering was done on horse back as most of the country was too rough for motor bikes.
This suited us well as it gave us the opportunity  to work our young breakers.

It is funny how events stick in your mind, you can go through a particularly bad time where lots of awful things happen but years later when you think back usually one thing stands out.

The thing that stands out for me was to do with our horses. The drought just kept on keeping on and there didn't seem to be an end to it. As with all droughts there are decisions to be made and they are usually heart wrenching.

We were forced to make a decision regarding our horses. We couldn't afford to feed them all to keep them alive. There were a few mares that were heavy in foal so we brought them into the house and feed them until they foaled. Any foals not big enough to fend for them self were shoot to save the mother. These are the decisions that are made daily by the custodians of the land and livestock in times of drought.

One of the mares brought back to feed was a beautiful grey mare who had had 2 previous foals, both very good horses, people reading this who knew our horses  will remember " Bungie", he was her last foal.

She managed to have her foal a few days after being brought home, but she was very weak and I could see that she was giving up. The foal was sucking but her milk supply wasn't great.

 At the time I was 8 months pregnant with our first child. Every morning I would go over to the stable to check on the mare. This particular morning she was lying down this is always a bad sign with horses or cattle for that matter. When an animal is weak they will try very hard to stay up right as they know that if they lay down they usually will not have the strength to stand. If you see a sick animal lying down it's a bad sign and you have to try and get it up as quickly as possible.

I put a halter on her so that I could at least help her when she tryed to stand. I managed to get her sitting up with her front legs out in front of her. She gave one enormous effort and caught me by surprise and I wasn't quick enough to help by pulling on the halter lead, being so pregnant probably had something to do with it.

That effort was all she had left and she just lay right down with her head on the ground and try as I might to encourage her to try again, she wouldn't. She had had enough.

She died late that afternoon with her little foal standing over her.

This drought broke the night our son was born. The 18th March 1983. Just as a matter of interest this son of mine will be 30 in a few days time.

Our enormous amount of rain that we have been having all along the coast of Queensland  has not spread inland. There are part in the west that are in the gripes of awful drought where here on the coast in places like Bundaberg whole towns have been washed away.

Drought Baby Bill with his son Charlie on the road with cattle

Going back to that drought baby of mine, he has been droving his cattle on the stock routes round Roma and Surat as they have had a really dry spell at " Stratton" the cattle property where he lives with his wife Kellie and their little son Charlie. They sold these cattle at the Roma sale a couple of weeks ago, but still haven't received enough good rain to see them through the winter.

In this dry old land of ours all you can do is

Hope...

Until next time.

To view my paintings and drawings click on this link http://www.theoutbackartist.com.au

A little bit a about me

I welcome you to view my paintings and drawings of Outback Australian bushmen, Outback Australian Aboriginals, Outback Australian Horseman and many other Outback Australian inspired work. Some pieces are hanging at the Eagles Nest Bar and Grill in Eagle Street Longreach, if your passing through please have a look. Feel free to contact me if you need any information on the pieces. 

I was born in Longreach in 1957 where my 3 sister’s and myself spent a wonderful childhood riding our ponies and swimming in the local pool. I attended school in Longreach and then later spent 4 years at boarding school in Brisbane. I then jillarooed on property’s in the Blackall district in Western Queensland, until I married and settled on a sheep property south west of Longreach where we had 2 of our 3 children. 

In the early 1990’s our family moved to another property at Augathella, where my last child was born. It was here that I started to paint again something I hadn’t done since leaving school. This time at Augathella was overshadowed by a fall in wool prices and one of the biggest droughts ever to hit that part of Queensland. Surprisingly it took these trying times to make me really use my talents as an artist, I went round the area drawing the impressive homesteads in pen and ink and reproduced them into a calendar. 

They were very successful selling thousands around Australia and overseas. I also donated $1.00 from each calendar to Drought Relief to help other farming families in the same situation. Towards the end of the ‘90’s our family moved again this time to a property in the Bollon district in South Western Queensland. Again my art took a back step to work on the place. After 8 years we moved to a cattle property north of Rockhampton and in the past 2 years I have bitten the bullet and spend about 80% of my time shut away in my art room doing what I love best.