Through the Mary Valley in 1911 – Part 1

This Blog post follows on from previous posts featuring articles which were published in the newspapers and which gave a fairly detailed description of farms in different areas around our district.  This series is from 1911 and the first article mentions that the Mary Valley Railway was being built and some of the history of the line is: The Mary Valley railway line was a branch line of the North Coast railway line, which branched west at Monkland (just south of Gympie) and continued to Brooloo in the upper Mary Valley. It was constructed between 1911 and April 1915 to facilitate closer settlement of the Mary River valley. The line reached Kandanga railway station in February 1914 and the terminus of Brooloo in April 1915.   Surnames mentioned in this article are: Robinson, Pearen, Bath, Morris and Richards. 

Gympie Times and Mary River Gazette – 12 August 1911, Page 7

“Through the Mary Valley.
The Farms and Industries.
(By Our Special Representative.)
No district round Gympie will ex-cite the same interest during the next few years as that through which the Mary Valley railway line is now being built. Containing as it does an immense area of agricultural land ready to put under the plough, valu-able grazing and dairying lands, and untold timber wealth in its virgin forests and scrubs, it has all the re-quisites that make for progress and a prosperous settled agricultural community. Accordingly, it was with pleasure that a commission to report on the benefited area of the Mary Valley railway was received. From the outset the true hospitality which is characteristic of Australian rural dwellers was accorded me. To use the word “bush” is in a sense a misnomer, for many communities are embryo townships, possessing almost all the facilities of the towns, and the railway will increase them. The nearest point of the benefited area to the city is that which touches the Bunyarra estate, and a stant was accordingly made from there.

MR. W. S. ROBINSON’S FARM.
The new railway line crosses the Mary river a short distance below the mouth of Six Mile creek, and passes through the Bunyarra estate, part of which is within the proclaimed benefited area of the railway. Mr. W. S. Robin-son has leased about 300 acres of Bunyarra, including the river frontage which run’s to about a mile and a half, and is engaged in dairy farming. He keeps about 15 acres un-der cultivation, but all crops are grown with a view to their utiliza-tion on the farm, none being sold. The principal crops are maize, lucerne, and imphee.

The last men-tioned (imphee) finds especial favor with Mr. Robinson, who classes it as a good all round food for cattle, horses, pigs, or fowls, but as he per-tinently remarked, one requires to see that the cultivation fences are in good order, when growing it, as well as all other fodders of the sor-ghum family, on punishment for neglect may follow in the shape of heavy losses of cattle from sorghum poisoning. Incidentally it may be noted that cattle which have been feeding on young or stunted sorghum do not die from hoven or bloating as when they gorge themselves on lucerne, clovers, or other luscious growths, but from prussic acid poi-soning. It is, however, only in its young or immature state that sor-ghum develops a glucoside which forms prussic acid as when it comes to maturity it is a perfectly safe fodder.

For dairying, Mr. Robinson prefers the Jersey-Shorthorn cross, using a pure, bred Jersey bull with Short-horn cows. On the resultant heifers he would use a pure bred Shorthorn bull, crossing back again to the Jer-sey. Though the cross-bred cows are liked at the pail, he always uses the pure bred sire. All his cows are in calf to a Jersey bull, which claims Mr. R. McCook’s champion Distinc-tion as his sire. Unfortunately Mr. Robinson had the misfortune to lose this bull, and following out his prac-tice he now has a Shorthorn. He anticipates milking about 50 cows this year, and the farm would carry more, but with the present uncertainty in the supply of labour he cannot extend his operations. All the calves are dehorned with caustic potash when about a week old. One noticeable result of this is that the cows are quieter when in the milking yard, and show none of the scars often observed in the horned herds. Pigs are made a feature of the farm, and up to 60 head are kept. A .pure Berkshire boar is mated with rough roomy sows to get the most desirable baconers. A large quantity of the maize grown is fed to pigs, which do well on the grain with the addition of milk. The stores are also allowed to pasture on the grass.

MESSRS. PEAREN’S FARM.
Mr. Edwin Pearen also has about 200 acres of Bunyarra under lease, which he uses principally for grazing for his bullocks. He does not do any farming, devoting his attention to the timber, industry. Adjoining Bunyarra Mr. Jacob Pearen owns a 40-acre homestead on which Mr. John Pearen is living. At the time of my visit the latter was engaged cutting oaten hay into chaff, the motive power employed being an oil engine. This was the first work Mr. John Pearen had done for many months owing to a long period of illness, and he consequently had no ground ploughed. His returns from oats had been poor in recent years owing to the rust and unpropitious seasons, and he intends to put his cultivation paddock into Rhodes grass, which, he thinks, will give good yields of hay. He also, has a small area in lucerne.

DAWN FARM.
Crossing over into Dawn Pocket, signs of the building of the Mary Valley line were abundantly evident. Numerous tents on each side of the route sheltered those engaged in con-struction work. Gangs of men boring into the hills, filling up valleys, building fences, and generally preparing the permanent way for the iron horse which is to bring prosperity to the Mary – Valley district, showed a scene of activity such as had never before been/witnessed in this quiet and somewhat secluded quarter. Directing my steps towards the river, Mr. M. Bath’s Dawn farm was reached. This property comprises 434 acres, and was originally nearly half scrub, but now only 12 acres’ of standing scrub remain. It has a long frontage to the Mary river, with big/flats suitable for cultivation, which also make ideal -grazing country for dairy cows.

Paspalum grass, was sown on some of the river flats but though. it did well, for a couple of years, Mr. Bath said that it then seemed to. choke itself, making a dense mass of roots but no leaf growth. He was of opinion that in such land couch grass was far ahead of paspalum in feeding capabilities. Mr Bath was speaking with a working knowledge of the growth of paspalum in the famous Kin Kin district, where, he said, the grass “behaved quite differently, and there did particularly well. Dairying is the principal branch of farming on this property, and about 70 or 80 head of cattle are ordinarily milked, Dawn Farm being one of the largest suppliers of cream to the Gympie butter factory.

The present winter was considered by Mr. Bath to be one of the worst ever experienced in its effects on milking cows, an opinion which is acquiesced in by all dairymen. His dairy herd is bred on Milking Short horn lines, and Mr. Bath considers them to be the best general -purpose breed. After they had finished their term of usefulness at the pail or if anything went wrong with them, the cows could be fattened – and turned into beef. For butter alone, how-ever, he did not think you could beat the Jerseys. A grandson of the champion Jamberoo, bred at Boonah, at present heads the Dawn Farm herd. With all the pedigree stock and breeding up, Mr. Bath thinks they had better cows thirty years ago. If so they must have been good ones, for in passing through the paddocks the writer saw some fine looking milkers and promising young heifers.

From the homestead a good view of the farm and also the farms on the opposite side of the river is obtained. The appointments for dairying are most complete. A large shelter shed, 70ft. by 20ft, in front of the bails provides ample room for the milking cows, so that in wet weather they may be driven in and by the time they are placed in the bails be dry for milking. The cows after being milked pass out through a door at the head of the bail and into their grazing paddocks. A concrete dip adjacent to the yards enables the cattle to be dipped as required, and so keep the ticks in check. Originally it was a cage dip, but the clipping of a large number of cattle by this means proved a heavy task, and was in some ways so unsatisfactory that it was changed into a plunge dap. A little cultivation is carried on, but only as an adjunct to dairying. The shortage of efficient labour and the high wages asked prevented any -farming operations being carried on beyond what could be managed by Mr. Bath and his family. Some heavy draught horses are bred, and the richness of the pastures was indicated by the fact that it is not necessary to feed the working horses.

DR. MORRIS’S PROPERTY.
Next in order up the river and adjoining Dawn Farm is Dr. Morris’s farm, formerly Mr. Eichmann’s, consisting of 160 acres, and extending from the Mary River back to a high red soil ridge, on which the residence is situated. Part of this high land was being ploughed for summer crops, and the healthy citrus and mango trees on the edge, of the area indicated its quality and depth. Mr. D. 0. Richards has just taken change of the farm for Dr. Morris, and ex-pected to be milking about 30 cows in September. It is intended to put about 16 acres under cultivation to grow fodder for the cows during the winter. Indian cow cane will be tried, but the main crops will be maize, lucerne, and sweet potatoes. The cattle on the farm are a mixed lot, the Shorthorn strain predomin-ating.”

If you would like to read more of these articles from 1911 you will find Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 5 here.

This post was compiled by Kathy Punter

Sources: Trove; Wikipedia; Bing Maps.