Recently, our neighbours, Robert and Irene, ‘misplaced’ a steer. After a few phone calls, everyone knew to be on the lookout for a Hereford steer.
He eventually ‘surfaced’ at Darren and Catherine’s farm, Mirima. It seems he’d been for a stroll through the bush, but, cattle being social animals, he sought company.
Darren and Catherine were due to muster their cattle for preg testing. Robert, Janette and I popped up to help. After preg testing, the herd, along with the wayward steer, were left in the paddock next to the road in the knowledge they would eventually make their way up to the loading yards.
There was some discussion about the best way to get him home once in those yards. We considered bringing his mates down the road, letting him out with them and then taking them all home. This method seemed fraught with risks, not the least of which was more of them going bush.
I remembered that neighbours, Kevin and Sharryn, have a cattle trailer. I suggested I would ask to borrow it. I phoned Kevin and his answer was simply, “it’s in the shed, just come and get it when you need it”. We now just had to wait.
Two or three days later, the call came that he was in the yards, ready and waiting. Robert picked me up and we collected the trailer. Up to the yards and we loaded the steer. As we approached the paddock he saw his mates and started calling out to them. I swear he was saying, “G’day lads, guess where I’ve been”.
He stepped out of the trailer into the paddock and swaggered up to his mates to tell of his adventures. A real community effort all round.
While in the paddock, I noticed the nearby power pole. This line was installed originally to take power down to Janette’s uncle, Lex Devitt. Lex bought his block, Tiger Hill Park, in about 1952. It was when Janette and I decided to move to Molyullah, he set about getting the power on. That was the late 1980s.
Lex asked Robert and Irene if he could ‘hook onto’ their line. They had no problem with that. It needed eight poles, two of them on Robert and Irene’s farm, to get the power to Lex’s cottage. This meant we only needed one pole to get power across to our house site.
The two poles on Robert and Irene’s meant that Brian and Leanne could each power up their houses now. But wait, there’s more. Fred and Rene at the piggery in Watchbox asked if they could ‘hook onto’ our line. Of course they could! So the line goes from O’Dea Rd, across Mirima, across Schultz Rd and down into Watchbox. Others over there have also ‘hooked on’.
There would be at least six houses have power from that original line. I mentioned to Robert that we are still grateful for the line going through.
His reply? “We are grateful to Wayne and Carol for the power coming to us”.
That’s community!
John Knapper.
He eventually ‘surfaced’ at Darren and Catherine’s farm, Mirima. It seems he’d been for a stroll through the bush, but, cattle being social animals, he sought company.
Darren and Catherine were due to muster their cattle for preg testing. Robert, Janette and I popped up to help. After preg testing, the herd, along with the wayward steer, were left in the paddock next to the road in the knowledge they would eventually make their way up to the loading yards.
There was some discussion about the best way to get him home once in those yards. We considered bringing his mates down the road, letting him out with them and then taking them all home. This method seemed fraught with risks, not the least of which was more of them going bush.
I remembered that neighbours, Kevin and Sharryn, have a cattle trailer. I suggested I would ask to borrow it. I phoned Kevin and his answer was simply, “it’s in the shed, just come and get it when you need it”. We now just had to wait.
Two or three days later, the call came that he was in the yards, ready and waiting. Robert picked me up and we collected the trailer. Up to the yards and we loaded the steer. As we approached the paddock he saw his mates and started calling out to them. I swear he was saying, “G’day lads, guess where I’ve been”.
He stepped out of the trailer into the paddock and swaggered up to his mates to tell of his adventures. A real community effort all round.
While in the paddock, I noticed the nearby power pole. This line was installed originally to take power down to Janette’s uncle, Lex Devitt. Lex bought his block, Tiger Hill Park, in about 1952. It was when Janette and I decided to move to Molyullah, he set about getting the power on. That was the late 1980s.
Lex asked Robert and Irene if he could ‘hook onto’ their line. They had no problem with that. It needed eight poles, two of them on Robert and Irene’s farm, to get the power to Lex’s cottage. This meant we only needed one pole to get power across to our house site.
The two poles on Robert and Irene’s meant that Brian and Leanne could each power up their houses now. But wait, there’s more. Fred and Rene at the piggery in Watchbox asked if they could ‘hook onto’ our line. Of course they could! So the line goes from O’Dea Rd, across Mirima, across Schultz Rd and down into Watchbox. Others over there have also ‘hooked on’.
There would be at least six houses have power from that original line. I mentioned to Robert that we are still grateful for the line going through.
His reply? “We are grateful to Wayne and Carol for the power coming to us”.
That’s community!
John Knapper.
This story, which originally appeared in The Tatong Tattler (December 2021, p 9), inspired this month's topic 'Community'.