As you can see, we have a little less space than in the past — but that’s okay.
I simply have to write efficiently and not like something that is plugged in and turned on.
Which is exactly what I did recently, when writing a story that was making me angrier with every sentence.
Hopefully, this is an efficient version.
Fingers crossed!
The story was about a brochure that the Victorian Government sent to Britain and the United States in 1910.
They had bought up 100,000 acres in the ‘Goulburn Region’ and wanted 30,000 immigrants to come and occupy.
Irrigation was available where, in the past, dry land farming was the norm.
The first thing that raised my hackles was, on the front page, a photo of a beautiful home, which had nothing at all to do with the other 19 pages of the brochure.
It was merely a tease!
The second thing to upset me was two references to a ‘winterless climate’.
I imagine that some of these good people would have given their warm coats to the Red Cross before leaving England.
But there was worse to come (if there is anything worse than failing to keep your children warm).
The government offered to lend them the money they would need for the family’s passage to Australia, the purchase of the land, the building of a home, whatever implements they would need and an additional farm building if required.
A dairy farmer, they had written, could have all this ready, when he arrived, and he could receive his first cheque in a fortnight.
Now, where are the cattle?
How much will they cost, and where does he get them?
There will be no cheque until he has milk to sell.
And he has to buy food and warm clothes for his kids — and probably a horse.
There were figures provided from two successful dairy farmers; one of whom bought his cattle at a cattle sale, but there was no information about where the other farmer bought his cattle.
It told us that he had 36 cattle on the property, but no indication of how he obtained them.
Experienced farm labourers were welcome to apply.
In England in 1910, farm labourers earned 15 shillings per week, and it cost 23s to apply.
Come off the grass!
The immigrants were to pay off their land over 31 and a half years; this, on 4.5 per cent interest, would see them paying almost twice the price of the land.
They were to pay off the house over 15 years at five per cent interest.
The other borrowings were for a shorter length of time.
The houses were also an issue — one room, or two rooms with a tap.
There was one design that we would consider adequate, but it was eight times the price of the one room.
I am told that there were several of these small ‘homes’ in our region and that two remain today.
Unless a family arrived with a minimum of 800 pounds, I can’t see the first five years as being anything but miserable.
I would love to know how many people responded to this advertising — and how many stayed and made a success of it.
I know all this happened a long time before any of us were born — but, if there’s a story in your family, please give me a call.
May it be easy, my friends — certainly easier than it was for our British friends.
Is it possible this was the birth of ‘the whingeing Pom’?
Marnie
Email: towntalk@sheppnews.com.au
Letter: Town Talk. The News. P.O. Box 204. Shepparton 3631.
Phone: Text or call 0409 317187
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