My Brother Dave And I

MY BROTHER DAVE AND I
This document was sent to me by Loma Adams in July of 2022. The original typed foolscap
sheets were contained in a file fastener folder. The document was typed by Joseph George
(Joe) Adams on Jul 1, 1969.
At the time of writing Joe was 83 years of age. At the time Joe and Dave were set up in the
tent by their father James Adams just prior to Christmas 1901, Joe was aged 15 years and 7
months. David, a year younger, was aged just 14 years and 4 months.
Wondering where the grazing property was located at Salty Water Holes Creek, I searched
some maps and found it near Anduramba, North East of Crows Nest. A Brothers Road is
also shown on the map in this area. The distance from Geham where the family lived is
around 38 kilometres by road and would tie in with Joe’s distance of 25 miles from the home
property.
Michael Carter

MY BROTHER DAVE AND I
By J. G. ADAMS

CHAPTER I.
This is a true story about two teenage boys. They were members of a family of
eleven and being born in about the middle of the family had to do their share in helping to
provide for the others The product of the land in those days had a low value and therefore
we never had much money and we had to off our own production as near as possible
I (Joe) was born in the year 1886 and my brother Dave was eighteen months
younger than I. Our education in the nineties was of a very skimpy nature because at about
that time cur father started a dairy. At first we produced cheese but later changed to cream
production and as this required our services we went to school day about. Of course in
those days education was not compulsory and in a way not considered as important as being
able to ride a horse and cope with farm work.
Our father, besides having grazing and farming property, had an interest in timber
hauling. This provided employment for the elder brothers of which I had three. They drove
the horse teams and were away from home good deal. This timber work brought in fair
revenue which helped to sustain the upkeep of such a large family. This along with our
own beef, pork, eggs, milk butter and so on enabled us to make do and although we never
had much money, we were able to keep out of debt and able to keep up with the Jones’.
Around our little district there were many farmers with small holdings and the
Government made available a block of grazing land for their surplus stock. This land was
called a Common and was as the Geham Common. It was controlled by the Shire Council
who appointed a caretaker known as the Common Ranger. His duty was to keep a record
of stock agisted on this land and to keep out straying stock. The common was good grazing

country with some brush on the hills which provided good shelter in the bad weather. It
was 1100 acres in all, well watered by running creeks at one end and with clay holes at the
other end some two miles away.
A man named Mr. Bonner was first appointed Common Ranger and upon his
resignation my elder brother Robert was appointed as his replacement. The position
necessitated riding the boundaries and checking the number of cattle and horses once each
week. Robert’s time was very limited because he was also one of my father’s horse drivers
so my brother Dave and I had to assist him with these Ranger duties.
Dave and I learned to ride at a very early age and my father used to say we were a
lot safer riding bare back than with a saddle because in the advent of a spill we wouldn’t
get caught up in the stirrup, so we learned to ride very tight. At the time we owned only
one saddle so the one with the horse with the round back took the bag. As this Common
was three or four miles from our home property it gave us three or four hours hard riding
and at times was very tiring. After a time, with the small allowance we received for this
work, we were able to buy good saddles and having good ponies we became real Common
Rangers and there wasn't a brand within a fair radius that we didn’t know.
At about this time my father took up grazing land called Salty Water Holes Creek
some twenty five miles from the home property. We did not have the creek on our
property instead we had clay holes with a soakage that held water very well. The land was
good for grazing and carried around a hundred head of cattle and somewhere about forty
horses. Working this property from the home farm, shifting stock to and from meant
camping out and it was necessary to haye a pack horse. This task was of course one for the
older brothers although Dave or I would accompany them as pack horse leader. We enjoyed
this to the full because it took us away from school of which we were not very fond.

CHAPTER II.
The Great Nineteen Hundred And Two Drought
It, was the year Eighteen Hundred and Ninety – Eight, the month was September
and at about dark on a Sunday night if I remember correctly that an old neighbour came to
our house to enquire with great excitement if we had seen the comet? We hadn’t so he took
us to the back door and pointed to the west and there sure enough was this bright star with
a tail attached to it. There was no disputing it was a comet for sure (Biela’s Comet). As
this was something we had never seen before we had a very uncanny feeling about it. We
had learnt at Sunday School as kids about stars being placed in the sky by the Almighty to
guide people like the Star of Bethlehem that guided the shepherds to the manger where the
baby Jesus lay. Our mother felt sure it was some kind of warning to the people and could
mean a world war or famine throughout the land. How true her predictions turned out to
be for the Boer War was already in progress and in a little over twelve months we were to
have the worst drought on record to that time.
The year Nineteen hundred and One was just settling in and the drought had already
begun. We were really feeling the pinch for when the natural grasses were consumed there
would be nothing left for the stock to live on. This being the first drought of real concern,
we had no concoction of fodder and there was nothing left but to watch the animals die.
Thousands of head horses, cattle and sheep perished tor want of feed. It was a shocking
experience.
After the war broke out, two of my brothers, Robert and Tom joined the Light Horse
Brigade and volunteered with the Bushmens’ Contingent for active service in South Africa.
They were to be away for about three years. After they left my father luckily had sold the
horse teams or they too would have perished in the Great Drought.

A few of the best draft mares and some of the cows were kept on the farm and hand
fed with imported fodder for which we paid an exorbitant price. It consisted of three bags
of oaten chaff dumped and tied with iron bands and also small hard corn imported from
overseas. The remainder of the dairy herd were turned out on the Common to take their
chances. For a time we felled swamp oak in the creek and some apple trees and the cattle
would gather round to eat the leaves. This seemed to help for a while but by the end of
Nineteen Hundred and Two most had died. A lot of them were in calf and this weakened
their resistance and they went down. However a few dry heifers did manage to survive.
As the dry continued creeks stopped running, water holes dried up and only the
springs stood the strain. On the grazing property at Salty the water holes I have mentioned
gave out and it was a matter of watering the stock every day at Salty Water Holes Creek. I
don’t know how it earned the name ‘salty’ because that it was not. It was a little brackish
and was very good water for domestic purposes especially in drought time when there was
no other. Although the creek hadn’t had running water in it for many months, it consisted
of several large holes. Some holes were almost large enough to put a small boat on and
being on the Reserve and Stock route, it was free to all.
The Reserve consisted of some hundreds of acres of creek flats and hills. It was
good grazing country but was mostly overstocked with stray cattle. Adjoining this Reserve
were hundreds of acres of unfenced Freehold and Crown land including ‘The Three
Brothers” so named because of their shape. It consisted of a range of hills thus making
miles of open country covered with vine scrub and undergrowth with beautiful tall hoop
pine trees and bunyas. On the other side was more water.

When the water gave out on the grazing property the cattle had to be watered on the
Reserve and to do this daily meant living on the job. Our father erected a tent on a suitable
spot on the Reserve and explained that Dave and I would have to camp there and water the
cattle each day as it would be impossible for him to be away from the farm for any length
of time. He turned the horses loose on the Reserve and open country to fend for themselves.
After the eight feet by ten feet tent had been erected, we made ourselves a bed of
grass and rushes from the creek bank on the ground in one corner. Our new home was
bordered by four saplings spaced like a square which we covered with hessian. The fixtures
were very temporary because as always we were expecting the rain to come any time as we
were approaching Christmas 1901. Little did we know at the time we would be there for
twelve months.
Our father, after showing us how to make a damper and cook it in the coals, gave
us four saddle horses and a pack horse. He gave us very strict instructions not to knock the
horses about and advised us to ride them day about. He left for home telling us he would
not see us again for some time and that we were to take the pack horse to the township to
pick up our rations which consisted mainly of flour and other ingredients for damper
making, a large tin of syrup, tea and sugar. This meant a trip every two weeks or sometimes
it might be three.
We had two dogs, a blue and white cattle dog called Brange and a greyhound called
Fly which we held in very high esteem. We also had a twenty-two winchester rifle and
some boxes of cartridges. These were to fortify our camp and make us feel safe. We felt
very lonely at first after our father left us especially at night because we were at least three
or four miles away from any house. The weird noises one hears in the bush at night were

especially frightening now that we were alone. The water course was lined with beautiful
big blue gum trees and in almost every second one you would see a koala bear better known
to us as the native bear. As usual with animals and insects they took their colours from the
surroundings in which they were born and bred. These bears were of the white and blue
variety and almost looked like part of the tree. This of course was before the onslaught on
koala bears for their pelts. At night they used to call one another by making a weird sound
something like “Ye Haw” repeated about half a dozen times. You would hear their cries
on and off throughout the night. The Mopoke and the whistling duck also made frightening
sounds in the moon light. The biggest menace of all was the dingo and great packs of them
would come down to the creek at night and I’m sure their mournful howl would scare the
very Devil himself. However they were very seldom seen during the daytime and at
daybreak they would scamper back to the shelter of their lairs in the scrub on the hills.
The job of watering the cattle was not a very difficult one for after a few weeks of
always mustering at the same time the cattle began to come themselves and would gather
at the gate. We had to be sure we had all the cattle for if any were to miss that one drink
they would weaken.
It was now early in the new year of Nineteen Hundred and Two and each day
brought sunny, cloudless skies and terrifically high temperatures well into the nineties or
possibly the hundreds. As we usually watered in the forenoon we had most of the afternoon
free. This time we devoted to attending to the working horses, hobbling them out to the best
feed we could find and of course the baking of the damper. Time passed and didn’t really
mean anything to us.
We seldom saw anyone apart from the drovers who passed along with their plants
and occasionally an owner of some of the stray cattle who would come to see how the water

was holding out. As our camp was on the main stock route from the Burnett and the western
districts we saw many mobs of cattle passing by. There were many mobs of up to a thousand
full grown store Bullocks all the colours of the short horn breed that went by and wasn’t it
a sight to see. They were a sea of animals moving slowly on their way probably headed
towards somewhere along the Brisbane River.
They were a sight we were sure to
remember. No matter how impressive they looked to us the mobs had a very detrimental
effect on our water supply and we could see it deteriorating. Every day the water line would
be a little lower and in some places where the ground was soft it became very boggy and
became necessary for us to direct the animals away from these dangerous patches. This is
where our services became of value to the drovers because being well acquainted with the
bad spots we could caution them. We spent many hours with these men mostly for the
company and we were fascinated at seeing them moving along with their herds of cattle and
we watched them make camp at night. Back at our camp at night Dave wished that one day
he and I could take a plant out west and bring in a big mob too. This really was to happen
later in our lives and although we never drove together, we both had many trips with
different droving plants.
A friend of our father’s, a man called Mr.Garvey had a selection somewhere behind
the Brother Mountains and as he was in a similar position to us with regards to water for
his stock he came to see how we were making out. He expressed a desire to sample our
damper so we boiled the billy and made him a pot of tea. He was very impressed and
showed us how to roll out some of the dough and fry it in the pan with some fat to make
puff-to-lunas commonly called buck-jumpers. He felt it would be a change from dampers
and he inquired about what we did for meat. We told him we didn’t bother too much but
that when we went for rations we brought a little beef back but we had no way of storing

any. Occasionally we took the rifle stalked the scrub and shot a pigeon or two or perhaps a
wild duck. He left for his own camp after offering his advice and we were very pleased to
have seen him and learn that he was not too far away doing the same job as we were
watering the stock. This visit from the old gentleman gave us a good deal of moral support.
Our camp and cooking utensils were very primitive and consisted of what could be carried
on a pack horse. We had a treacle tin for boiling water and beef and a frying pan. We had
no camp oven so we baked our damper in the coals. We nixed the dough on a sheet of bark.
This of course was the least one could manage with but you see we were expecting the
drought to break at any time.
The weeks and months passed by and winter was approaching. We were growing
very tired of the continued dry weather and our job was becoming very monotonous when
our father arrived. This was the first we had seen of him since he’d set us up on the job of
watering his cattle. He seemed very pleased with the job were doing as we had only lost
two head of cattle and they were old cows. Things were not going as well at home on the
farm. They had lost quite a few head of cattle and expected to lose more. He camped the
night with us and left for the home property next morning assuring us we would get rain in
June or July as it very rarely fails to rain then. He instructed us to kill all new-born calves
in order to save the mother, however we rarely had to do this because the dingoes beat us
to it.
The dingoes seemed to be increasing in number and whereas once you rarely saw
one during the day, now it was quite common to see two or three following the weaker
cattle around. At night they would come right up to our camp. At first our dogs used to
bark at them and challenge them to come closer but now it was pointless engaging in
conflict because they would be outnumbered and would soon be killed. At times at night

we would have to fetch our dogs inside the tent with us and use the rifle to scare the dingoes
away.
As the water holes dried up the weak cattle would get bogged in the mud and
sometimes they were there all night before we noticed them. They were mainly stray cattle
that came late to drink after the other cattle had gone and once caught in the mud were at
the mercy of the dingoes. Some mornings I have seen them with their tongues torn out and
their back passage all torn away so as to get to the kidneys. In many cases the beasts were
still alive. We got to know their piteous howl only too well as did we the bellow of a
trapped beast in distress. Needless to say this is when we despised the dingoes the most
and we vowed never to show them any mercy. The crows would come in their hundreds to
pick out the cow’s eyes and like the dingoes had a wonderful time. On another occasion a
cow was missing when we mustered and knowing that she was in calf and that it is common
for a cow in that state to look for a secluded place, I went to search for her. After riding for
an hour or so I found her at the head of a gully. She had her calf with her but not for long
as there were half a dozen dingoes around her and as she chased one the others would dive
in and attack. However upon seeing me they scampered off and to relieve the situation I
killed the calf and drove the cow away to save it from being torn to pieces. Another tactic
of the dingoes was to wait for the mother to go for a drink which they knew she would have
to do sooner or later. She had to leave the calf unattended as it was too young to walk and
the dingoes would slaughter it. Even though there were plenty of dead carcases about, the
dingoes seemed to enjoy killing their own or else preferred their meat fresh.
As I have mentioned this drought was the worst on record at that time and as proof

of this as some of the larger water holes dried up one could see hundreds of dead jew fish
and eels up to three feet long that must have been hundreds of years old. The timber on the
hard ridges some eighteen inches to two feet through died out and this in itself makes it
obvious that it was the worst drought otherwise they never would have grown to this size
and it proves that the water holes had never been this dry before.

CHAPTER III.
Some Adversity
As the winter months approached the number of travelling mobs of cattle decreased
but quite a few flocks of sheep came through. Although they were not as hard on the water
as the cattle, they cleaned up what dry feed was left on the stock route and this I feel
accounted for the drop in the number of mobs as they had no feed to travel one.
By now the water was becoming a real problem. We had to fence off the boggy
patches but despite this cattle still got bogged and the necessary task of removing them
called for more power than we two alone could provide. One night at the fire side Dave
suggested that when the horses come in for a drink we catch one, a draught mare that had
done work in the horse team. However, we still had a problem - the matter of a harness.
The next day we caught the draught mare and went to see a man called Mr. Emmerson who
knew turned out a horse team at the beginning of the drought. We explained to him how
we intended to keep the water way clear of dead cattle and save the water from becoming
contaminated and he set us up with a full harnessing outfit.
Now with our horse power we were able to pull the beasts out and get them on their
feet again if they were strong enough - if not we had to take them away and destroy them.
Some of the owners of the cattle we saw were very pleased about this and to compensate
us said we could have the hide off the beast if we wished. We hadn't thought of this and
were thankful for the idea of making something for our trouble. Although the hides weren’t
worth much it seemed the correct thing to do. As it was the carcases disappeared very
quickly being devoured by eagle hawks, iguanas, crows and of course dingoes. To market
the hides meant a trip to the township once a week instead of once a fortnight as before but
we had no trouble selling them to the storekeeper who was also a butcher.

This extra work on our horses had a disastrous effect. By now they were very poor
and getting very weak regardless of our consideration in walking and leading them up hills.
We made the trips to the township turn about and would take a spare horse besides the pack
horse which we would leave about half way with hobbles on so that he wouldn't wander
away and we would change horses on the return trip. It was ten miles to the township thus
making a twenty mile trip and travelling at a slow pace because it was hilly country and we
had to give the horses every consideration, it took a full day. The strain was becoming too
much and it soon became apparent that we would have to do something about more feed
for the poor brutes.
In a paddock joining our county was a good coat of grass. This paddock belonged
to the cattle station and as it was reserved for topping off the fat cattle before they were
taken to the Brisbane Market, it had been only lightly stocked. Although the grass was over
twelve months old being wild oats and blue grass which this country is noted for, it carried
a good head of seed and no doubt would make good horse feed. Our problem was how to
get it. We did try cutting it with our butcher’s knife and carrying it out in bags but this was
far too big a job. The fence between the two properties was an old two rail fence and the
temptation was so great that we decided to do a little sojourn. By going along the fence
some distance we found rails we could slip out then we put our horses in at dark and had
them out by daylight the following morning. Before long we could see a vast improvement
in the horses' condition. However, it set us another problem for after a few times taking
four horses in and out every day, we could see tracks that would be very noticeable. We
were afraid the boundary rider would discover our little scheme although we had been
camped there for six months by the time and we had only seen him on a couple of occasions
otherwise we would have asked his permission.

We had very guilty consciences about this business of cutting a fence, for to sojourn grass
even if only in an adjoining paddock is serious and we could be severely punished for doing
it. We expected to get caught at any time for after a week or so we had made a very distinct
track through the fence that couldn’t be covered up. Relief came one day while we were
with our cattle on the creek, the manager of the cattle station came along his fence and I
don't really know if we were pleased to see him or not. We knew it was better to meet him
and tell him of our plight because we knew he could not miss seeing what we were up to.
He was a man named Tom Lavell, we knew that and as he greeted us with a "Good day
boys !" and "How are you getting along?" and "are you losing many?" - his friendly nature
gave us courage. We told him about our trouble with our working horses of how they were
knocking up on us and how we had to do something for them. We explained how we were
hoping to see him to ask permission and of our guilt for what we could find no alternative
but to do. The kind old gentleman assured us that he had known about it all the time and
that he didn't mind because he could see we had no grass and working horses had to be fed.
I can assure you we were very grateful for his kindness and we had an easy mind after that
and it solved our horse problem.
As the Winter months were now setting in our hopes of winter rain brightened up
as some cloud formation passed over the sky but although it looked good it came to nothing.
With the cooler weather the cattle didn’t want as much water and would not gather at the
gate like they had done in the heat. This of course meant we had to do more riding over the
paddock to muster them for we realized that the water meant so much to them with the dry
feed that we couldn’t allow them to miss a day. The extra riding meant a lot more work
for our horses.
The June rains that had been spoken of appeared to have arrived and a very light

drizzle would come over now and again. This filled us with great hopes but alas it really
never amounted to anything much. What we wanted most was a good run off to fill up the
water holes and it looked now as if we would have to wait for early storm rain in the spring.
It also looked as though we would lose more cattle. The male cattle although poor were all
right but the females especially those forward in calf were very weak and we were losing a
few. This was making our job very distressing and we were getting heartily sick of it.
We seldom heard from home. Once in a while we would get a letter from our
mother at the Post Office in the township when we went for our supplies. There were only
a few telephones in the country those times and only a few business places had them.
Therefore letters were the only means of contact. Our mother would tell us in her letters
about how they were getting along with the drought and sometimes she would be very
distressed at the loss of so many cattle and not knowing when it might end. Also she would
receive letters from our two brothers at the war and would forward them on to us. One
bright letter we did get from her was when she wrote telling us that according to the
newspaper the war would soon be over and with a bit of good luck we would have Robert
and Tom home again. Sometimes too we would meet some of the lads from the district and
would learn the news from them. I can remember one telling me about a stout old lady who
died very suddenly and he couldn’t understand why she died because she was “rolling in
fat”. He had the idea you had to get skinny like the cattle before you could die. I think he
could be forgiven for his misconceptions those times because that’s just how things seemed.
You would be expecting the weak ones to go first.
With the winter months behind us and the hot days coming back, it looked as though
the water was still going to be our greatest problem. Although the travelling mobs of cattle

were very few now, there were still a lot of stock coming off the open country to use the
water. However it got to the Stage where it was holding its own and it became quite evident
that there was spring water coming in from somewhere. One hole in particular that had
rocky banks and was not accessible to the cattle became a Godsend for the people around
and we would see someone there with a small tank almost every day. One was a woman
who drove a pair of grey horses and a covered van. I think her name was Mrs. Kelly. She
had three daughters with her and would do her washing and take cans of water home with
her two or three times a week. She told us they had come from the west along with the
King and Ryan families. They had bullock teams and had been carting wool and they
thought they would like to try timber logging for a change but their big heavy bullocks
being used to the flat country were useless on these hills. They were also unlucky in striking
the drought and they were hand feeding the animals to try and save them and perhaps get a
little work out of them as well.

CHAPTER IV.
Run Foul Of The Law
Although we had permission from most of the cattle owners to skin their cattle
if they could not be saved, there were a few owners we hadn’t met. Once for instance this
old chap came riding down to the creek from the top of the range. He searched the creek
for some time then came to our camp and inquired if we had seen a beast of his that was
missing. When he described the brand we explained to him that approximately a week
before a beast answering the description and brand had got bogged and when we pulled her
out she was too weak to stand and unable to get away. After a day of trying to get her to
her feet we put her out of her misery and removed the hide.
Thanks to our early training we had learned always to check the brands and make a
note of them. In this way we could inform the owners when they came in search of their
animals. Therefore we were able to show this man where his beast was. Of course it was
unrecognisable without the hide and he would never have known it but we had chosen from
the beginning to do the right thing and inform him of all we knew. The old gentleman got
very hostile and threatened to take us to law for interfering with other peoples’ property.
Although we tried hard to explain to him that we had arranged to do this with the other
owners and that we were keeping dead cattle from rotting in the water, he would pay no
heed and left us whilst in a very angry mood. How far he intended to go with this threat we
did not know but it was enough to cause us some worry. We realized we may be in serious
trouble and that we could probably be sent to jail over it and bring disgrace on our parents
who had no idea of what we had done.
We had many bad thoughts and at the fireside that night decided not to skin any
more cattle. Two days later a constable came to our camp inquiring if we were the Adams’

boys which we admitted we were. He said there had been a complaint made to the Head
Office that we were killing cattle for their hides and selling them in the township. If this
was true he would have to take action against us and if we were caught doing it we would
be arrested. He then asked what we had to say about it.
As we were about to try and explain all about it, a miracle happened for out of the
blue came one of the Gleeson Brothers, the owners of most of the cattle on the loose and
one who had arranged for us to remove the dead cattle from the water channel. On inquiring
about the trouble and knowing the policeman, he took charge of the situation. He invited
the constable to look for himself and of course we all went along. Just as if it had been
arranged sure enough there right in front of our eyes in one of the big water holes was a
beast hopelessly bogged and half dead. This and other evidence that he saw seemed to
soften him up a bit. Then Gleeson pointed out how necessary it was to have the beasts
removed to keep the water which was so precious at that time free of contamination and
that we were the only ones on the job that could be there all the time to remove them and
end their misery. Gleeson said he felt that allowing us to take the hides was little enough
compensation for the job we were doing and he advised the constable to return to his station
and forget all about the incident. Turning to us he encouraged us to continue the good work.
Thus having been assured we were once again back in business and slept much sounder that
night.

Now we were getting into the summer of Nineteen Hundred and Two and still no rain of
any consequence. On some occasions night clouds would pass over and look really good
and one would expect it to rain by morning. It didn’t however. How disappointing it can
be for after very hot days and nights storm clouds would gather and then pass away with
only a bit of thunder and wind.
It now looked as though we would be spending another Christmas on this job of
watering cattle and caring for the weak ones and living on damper and bullockies joy of
which we had grown very tired. The water for stock too was getting very bad and it was
beginning to look as if we would have to find some other watering place.
Then something happened that I will never forget for I think it was actually the
breaking of that terrible drought. About four o’clock on a Friday afternoon after a terribly
hot night and day, the sky grew red and as the sun blacked out it began to thunder and one
of the most horrifying dust storms I have ever experienced came over. The wind blew
boughs of trees all over the place. We had a miraculous escape as a limb came down right
over our tent smashing the rig pole and although it wasn’t a very large one it was big enough
to kill one or both of us if we had been hit by it. We were very scared and were pleased
when it abated for we had very little protection after our tent had been damaged. We didn’t
get much rain, I suppose about forty points. The next morning it was a sight to see all the
damage the storm had done to the big gums. Their limbs were strewn all over the place.
There was a little bit of water about in the small pot holes and this in itself was something
to see. It was enough for the stock for a day or two.
Although our camp got saturated and we had to sit around our camp fire most of the
night, there wasn’t a lot of damage done. The next day we were free to look around and
see how the stock weathered the storm.

We only had one casualty, a mare who had a four month old foal at foot had been killed when
hit by the limb of a tree. The foal managed to escape unhurt. A great deal of damage had
been done to the fences and many trees had been hit by lightning. We concluded we had got
out of it very well but had no desire to go through the same experience for a while.

CHAPTER V.
Then The Rain Came.
It was the week before Christmas and after some humid weather a north easterly
wind blew over some cloud. As the day went on it got very squally and the cloud got thicker.
By night the rain began to fall, very lightly at first but into the night it got quite heavy and
continued for two or three days. Some four or five inches fell and it was the best rain we
had seen for two or three years. The gullies began to run strong and the water holes became
full once more.
Thus our job of watering the cattle had finished for the time being at any rate and
we got our dearest Wish - to be home for Christmas. Needless to say as soon as the weather
took up we pulled down our tent and packed up for home. After twelve months of the same
monotonous job day after day of the same routine, we felt happy and free and although we
had lived hard, it hadn't done us any harm. Of course we always kept our home remedies
well known in those days such as Hallaway’s Pills and ointment and Perry Davises’ Pain
Killers. The latter was claimed to cure all from tummy ache to snake bite. Internally and
externally it was all the same.
We arrived home two days before Christmas. What a home coming we had, our
two brothers Tom and Robert were home from the war. With their stories and the breaking
of the long drought we soon forgot all our worries. What a Christmas it was for us all to be
together again and to get our legs under that old kitchen table and partake of our mother’s
home cooking once more.
Although our losses had been considerable, especially our dairy herd, the future
now looked much brighter. It was a matter of forgetting the past and looking to the future.
The rain returned and the January and February of Nineteen Hundred and Three received
rain almost in flood proportions.

The vegetation after it’s couple of years spell seemed to grow with extra vigour and before
long we had an abundance of feed. However we were very lightly stocked and the thing
was to get back into production.
Our brothers Tom and Robert were anxious to return to business. Tom who seemed
to like the uniform joined the Police Force. Robert went back to his old calling that of horse
team work. This was all he had done since leaving school and he was certainly an artist at
the trade. He was really a great hand at breaking in young horses and could ride a pretty
rough horse too. He was now anxious to put a team together.
We still had those horses running out on the Brothers’ Mountains. My father made
a pact with Robert that if he would help muster and break the horses in, he could have three
or four to help make up his new team. Once this was arranged we were again on the move.
Robert, Dave and I along with our pack horse we off on this exciting adventure for we
hadn't seen the horses for some considerable time and knew it would be hard riding.
Upon arriving at the grazing property, we could hardly believe our eyes in the great
change that had come about after all the rain. There was water and grass everywhere and
the poor cattle we had become so accustomed to looked quite different.
Our new headquarters consisted of a hut with a galley outside for a fire place, a
horse paddock and twin yards for working the stock. The first task as we saw it was to get
in more of our stock horses for we knew we would require a change once or twice a day.
The first day out was only on observation and to find out where the horses were we only
saw about half of them and there were a lot of other horses running there also. They
occupied a vast stretch of open country with water and grass everywhere and we realized
that rounding them up was going to be no easy task.

We left the following morning with a couple of couchers, that is quiet horses that we could
let go with the mob to lead them back. About Midday we found the small mob we had
observed the previous day. After having a good look around we decided to take them back
with Robert riding out in front leading the crouchers and Dave and I on each wing. We
very soon discovered that they were where they were and had no intention of leaving.
However with hard riding and a lot of persuasion we brought them back with us. It took
about three days in all to get the lot home to the paddock.
After about two years of running loose in that quiet country where they seldom saw
a human, the young ones had become very touchy. There were some of them up to five
years old and still unbroken. In those days it was one of the greatest pleasures for a young
chap to go chasing wild bush horses and the spills and thrills were all part of the game.
As far as breaking in the horses went, we could only tackle two at a time because
that was all the gear we had. Robert decided to do the saddle horses first because they
needed a lot of handling. The draught horses only required light handling because they
were for chain work only. Amongst the saddle horses were three by a blood stallion called
Norman on Jerico Station and they were noted to be able to buck. Also there was one
particular roan horse from a roan mare that had a fierce reputation for bucking. This horse
was five years old and I can tell you he was no easy job but our brother Robert with his
horse experience was soon master. Robert had been breaking in horses since he left school
and during his time in the Bushmen’s' Contingent in the war, he and a chap named Smith
from Beaudesert who had enlisted about the same time were in the horse barracks in
Brisbane before going overseas and were mainly in the horse lines looking after their
requirements. The types of horses purchased for the remounts to go overseas had to be a
particular age, very sound and up to a required standard but apart from that they could be

anything from show hackers to buck jumpers and in many cases had been outlawed. This
is where Robert and Smith came in, and along with three years chasing the Boars in South
Africa, they kept in good form.
It required two days handling of each horse before they were ridden and as they had
to be thought broken we had to give them some hard riding. This meant riding then on the
stock routes for days and when Robert had ridden them once or twice it became our job to
take them over. I can assure you that what we didn’t know about the game we very soon
learned for Robert was very particular and he wouldn't have it any other way and what he
said went.
The roan horse I have mentioned was giving Robert some bother and it had to be
ridden every day and would buck every time. Robert suggested we ride a young horse each
into the township some ten miles away. The whole trip would be twenty miles and he felt
such a journey would help to quieten the roan. Well it quietened the roan alright but we
discovered we had a very wild brother. Whilst. in town Robert met some of his old friends
and indulged in quite a few drinks. He gave his friends an exhibition on the roan and
proceeded to get into two or three brawls after which Dave suggested we get him out of
town before the police chased us. We had a merry ride back to the hut but had no more
trouble with the roan.
After about three weeks our job of breaking in was completed. Our father arrived
and chose the horses to take back home to be prepared for sale. He also gave Robert his
share as promised for the job of breaking in. The remainder went through the horse sale
yards at Toowoomba.
The yards at that time were owned and conducted by T. G. Robertson in Margaret
Street. The auctioneer was Billy Robertson a member of the firm and what a good

auctioneer he was too. To get to the sale yards in those days you had to go up Ruthven
Street to the club corner and then into Margaret Street through the front entrance but you
had to be very early before the traffic got busy. The horses sold well especially the half
draughts. They were bought as gunners for the Indian Market as were the good types of
saddle horses. The cheque for the sales was a very handsome one and a very welcome one
because it was the first income our father had received for some considerable time.
Now that the carrying business that is the timber hauling was a thing of the past as
far as our father was concerned, it was a matter of building up the dairy herd once more. In
the development of a new herd, more consideration would have to be given to the storing
of fodder for we had learnt through the big drought the importance of growing more feed
to conserve more fodder for bad times.
Now was the time we were rewarded for our painstaking task of looking after the
cattle on the grazing property during the drought for in that lot there was a good number of
cows and heiffers that had been mated and were now coming forward. However we were
also presented with a very real problem for when the rains came the cattle tick put in an
appearance and was discovered on a herd in the Brisbane valley not a great many miles
from our Salty Water Holes property. As a result of the discovery quite a radius of the
country was quarantined.
The quarantine cut us off from the home property being
considered in clean country. This meant no cattle could be moved out until dipping
regulations could be arranged which was going to take considerable time.
As we were desperately in need of these cattle and knowing that we had no cattle
tick and that our cattle were clean and that there was no risk of carrying or spreading the

tick, we reverted to other means such as moonlighting them through the boundary. This of
course was a job for Dave and I and after a warning from our father that we were on a secret
mission and not to disclose to anyone our intentions because it was against the stock
regulations and if caught we could be in for a very heavy fine.
After choosing a full moon night we started on our mission. It took the first day to
get to Salty as it was some twenty five miles between the two properties. The following
day we put our little mob together, about forty head in all and we got moving because we
knew it wasn't wise to be seen hanging about and besides to get the trip over. The distance
was too far to travel entirely during the night and that meant some daylight travel on one
end so we started them off in the evening so as to have some daylight to accustom them to
travelling together. Of course this meant travel ling through the bush as much as possible.
It was our intention to cross the tick line at the dead of night. It was a beautiful moonlight
night but we could see a black bank of cloud slowly building up to the west. The cattle had
settled down and were travelling very well. We approached the township about midnight
and following the stock route we went through unobserved as far as we knew. Of course
we took special precautions not to crack a whip or make a noise that might draw attention
to us. The storm cloud had gathered over head by now and it was quite evident we were in
for a midnight storm.

CHAPTER VI.
Disaster Ahead
We tried to push the mob along and were within about one mile of the tick boundary
when it became very dark and the thunder and lightning grew in severity. The cattle got
very nervous and in the mob were some that had never travelled before and had never been
off the property except to be driven to water. With one mighty crack of thunder the
inexperienced cattle rushed for the bush, the road being fenced on one side only, and the
others all followed. There was nothing we could do about it because we could only see
then during the lightning flashes and then it would grow so dark that you couldn’t see your
horse's head in front of you. Then the rain came down in torrents and we had lost our cattle.
Having no rain coats we were soon drenched to the skin.
During the rush in an endeavour to halt the stampeding cattle Dave’s horse went
into a hole and fell but luckily Dave wasn't hurt seriously. The horse being a quiet one was
not hard to catch and the thing now was to seek some shelter and wait for daylight. There
was nothing else we could do. We knew that about a mile further along there was a railway
house and this of course was the tick line boundary too so we made for it. Getting there we
tied our horses up in the yard and went quietly onto the verandah for it was still pouring
rain. Our intentions were to wait for the break of dawn then muster the cattle before they
scattered too far and cross the tick line before sun up.
This is where we were unlucky for had we got over the tick line before the mob
broke up it would not have mattered a great deal but we knew now our secret mission would
be exposed. Although we thought we had arrived at the railway house very quietly, the
man of the house who had also been disturbed by the ferocity of the storm discovered us

there and after asking us a lot of questions offered to take us inside and make a fire to help
dry our clothes. We declined the offer telling him we intended to go on as soon as the rain
stopped. In answer to his questions we had to tell him who we were but we did not disclose
our mission. We merely said that we were travelling by night and had got caught in the
storm.
By the first sign of daylight the storm clouds had disappeared and we were on the
job again. We got onto the mob before they had gone very far but we were two bullocks
short. We had a quick look around for them but came to the conclusion that they were on
their way back to where they had come from and we got moving again. It was now broad
daylight and by the time we reached the railway crossing the sun was coming up. By the
time we pushed the mob over the crossing the railway ganger and his men were standing
watching us including the man who befriended us during the night and our secret was out.
Ten miles to go and we were home by lunch time and what anxious parents we met
for they had the storm there too and knowing that we were in the full blast of it had a very
restless night. However they were very pleased to learn that everything had gone to plan
except for the storm and the fact that we had been seen crossing the tick line. All we could
do now was wait for the outcome and hope for the best.
Nothing ever came of it. The people in those days knew how to mind their own
business. We had our cows and heifers to build up the dairy herd and a bullock or two for
meat because back then we always killed our own. Before long we were dairy farming once
again.

This has been the story of two teenage boys, founded on fact. The incidents depicted were
common those days and being of a young age have left an everlasting memory on me. Now
in my declining years I think of those days, those carefree years and of how I would once
more like to live with nature. I would like to ride again down those valleys and along the
edge of those rain forests and tall pines; hear the call of the wonga in the early morning or
the still of the evening; watch the flight of the bronze wing when disturbed; hear the
screeching of the plover on the flats and that mournful cry of the curlew at night especially
at full moon. The tall pines – they have been cut since to make homes. Those water holes
are now almost silted up. It has now all changed. The land had to be brought into more
production, hence the claiming of all the forests and the coming of the plough.
This is as it had to be.