“My Family and Other Animals” is the title of a book by Gerard Durrell, which was given to me one Christmas. The title amuses me, and I loved the story so much I saved my pocket money to buy the sequel.
But let’s focus on the four-legged members of my family …
When I was about six, we were visited by a happy Labrador who seemed as pleased to see us as we kids were to meet her. “Can we keep her?” was the question we urgently needed answering. Dad looked at her collar and explained she already had an owner. Somewhat downheartedly we asked what her name was. Dad read off the dog tag – “City of Camberwell” he said with a straight face – and I believed him!
The next year on Christmas morning I woke to find a puppy at the end of my bed – the best present ever. I was only slightly put out to find I had to share him with my siblings. Snoopy, as he was named (after a popular cartoon character of the time), was a beagle x fox terrier. He was quite a character, growing up to be an escape artist who could scale a 6-foot fence with ease. Once, he was caught by the local dog-catcher but then escaped from the pound, much to the council’s embarrassment! We gradually found out some of the places he travelled to – he acquired two best friends: a young golden Labrador, Honey, and a Bassett Hound, Sally. Occasionally they would also visit us; there’d be a rattle at the gate and Mum would let the visitor into the backyard where the dogs would have fun until another rattle at the gate revealed it was time to go home.
Some of our holidays were spent at “farm stays”, a novelty for a suburban family. We went to a Gippsland farm during lambing season and delighted in bottle feeding lambs. Somehow, we managed to convince our parents to let us take two home who we named Sally and David. Such a fun novelty, but of course over the next few weeks Mum ended up doing most of the work, cleaning up after them and waking for the early morning feeds, while us kids took them for walks to the amusement &/or amazement of the neighbours. When Sally and David were a little bigger we surrendered them to a friend’s farm where they created havoc by not being intimidated by sheep dogs.
Around this time Mum took up spinning, which led to her deciding to buy a coloured sheep and grow fleeces to spin. There was a succession of sheep but one in particular I remember was a black ram named Tuddawali. Tuddy’s favourite trick was to come galloping down the path, usually when I was preoccupied carrying the washing out, lower his head and bowl me over! The only way I could escape was to grab onto his horns, hang on tightly despite his wrestling to get free, and yell loudly for Mum. I was so glad when Tuddy eventually left!
Mum went back to school to train as a wool classer, then she and Dad bought a sheep farm on King Island and bred Border Collies. When I married, we visited at Christmas, and after the second visit we moved to King Island ourselves. We had orphan lambs, an angora goat, a couple of guinea pigs and several dogs in the five years we were there before we reluctantly moved back to Melbourne’s suburbia.
Phiona Rhodes
July 2023
But let’s focus on the four-legged members of my family …
When I was about six, we were visited by a happy Labrador who seemed as pleased to see us as we kids were to meet her. “Can we keep her?” was the question we urgently needed answering. Dad looked at her collar and explained she already had an owner. Somewhat downheartedly we asked what her name was. Dad read off the dog tag – “City of Camberwell” he said with a straight face – and I believed him!
The next year on Christmas morning I woke to find a puppy at the end of my bed – the best present ever. I was only slightly put out to find I had to share him with my siblings. Snoopy, as he was named (after a popular cartoon character of the time), was a beagle x fox terrier. He was quite a character, growing up to be an escape artist who could scale a 6-foot fence with ease. Once, he was caught by the local dog-catcher but then escaped from the pound, much to the council’s embarrassment! We gradually found out some of the places he travelled to – he acquired two best friends: a young golden Labrador, Honey, and a Bassett Hound, Sally. Occasionally they would also visit us; there’d be a rattle at the gate and Mum would let the visitor into the backyard where the dogs would have fun until another rattle at the gate revealed it was time to go home.
Some of our holidays were spent at “farm stays”, a novelty for a suburban family. We went to a Gippsland farm during lambing season and delighted in bottle feeding lambs. Somehow, we managed to convince our parents to let us take two home who we named Sally and David. Such a fun novelty, but of course over the next few weeks Mum ended up doing most of the work, cleaning up after them and waking for the early morning feeds, while us kids took them for walks to the amusement &/or amazement of the neighbours. When Sally and David were a little bigger we surrendered them to a friend’s farm where they created havoc by not being intimidated by sheep dogs.
Around this time Mum took up spinning, which led to her deciding to buy a coloured sheep and grow fleeces to spin. There was a succession of sheep but one in particular I remember was a black ram named Tuddawali. Tuddy’s favourite trick was to come galloping down the path, usually when I was preoccupied carrying the washing out, lower his head and bowl me over! The only way I could escape was to grab onto his horns, hang on tightly despite his wrestling to get free, and yell loudly for Mum. I was so glad when Tuddy eventually left!
Mum went back to school to train as a wool classer, then she and Dad bought a sheep farm on King Island and bred Border Collies. When I married, we visited at Christmas, and after the second visit we moved to King Island ourselves. We had orphan lambs, an angora goat, a couple of guinea pigs and several dogs in the five years we were there before we reluctantly moved back to Melbourne’s suburbia.
Phiona Rhodes
July 2023