Through a combination of prior planning and neglect I’ve discovered that I have fish in my dam. Not just fish but many, sizable Silver Perch. It must have been about 4 years ago I bought a bag of 100 fingerlings at the Epsom Field Days. I released them into the...
“I feel very rich.” So wrote my sister Beth when relating the story of her “new” second-hand fridge. Beth is a writer and poet. I’m sure that I don’t need to tell you that in Australia that is a euphemism for being poor. Beth could have been anything. She was Dux of...
I’ve spent a week following the footsteps of Major Thomas Mitchell when he explored Victoria in 1836. The Major Mitchell trail was a Bi-Centennial project. I’ve seen the signs to it for over 30 years, but the signs always seem to point at right angles to the way I’m...
I’ve been reflecting a lot on weeds for the past couple of weeks as I’ve been out on my morning walk. I stay on the backtracks so the roadsides have been left pretty much to themselves for many years. I’ve been struck by the wide variety of weeds that survive and...
I am the youngest of four brothers and grew up on a dairy farm at Yarra Glen. There were six children in our family, but the two girls were spared from farm work. As the youngest brother, I was assigned the most menial tasks. My older brothers on the other hand took...
