East Whydown Station: Ron visits this gem in the Outback region of South Australia
Some things in the bush are constant like the bond between father and son while out working. It's mustering time at East Whydown Station just off the Barrier Highway near Yunta and Chris MacDonald and his sixteen year old son Morgan are driving a mob of sheep back to the homestead.
The recent drought really knocked their sheep about which was pretty hard for all to take.
"Mothers basically just gave birth and walked away from their lambs," said Joan MacDonald. "It's pretty heart breaking when you see that sort of thing."
But thankfully this mob looks in good nick. When you stay at East Whydown Station this may well be a part of your day - watching a farming family in action.
"This paddock takes roughly about four hours to muster," explained Morgan. "We're use walkie talkies to keep in contact all the time because ninety percent of the time you're out of sight. You need to keep in touch with the homestead as well."
While Morgan and his dad work the sheep, mum Joan takes us for a tour of East Whydown. The Waroonee Range cuts through their sheep grazing country with rocky outcrops and great expenses of salt bush. Down in the valley you can spot the Homestead - a parcel of land first taken up by Joan's great grandfather in 1882. She and her sisters were brought up on the property and they remember well the days spent with their dad, Bob Bailey getting around on horseback. Today we're in the four-wheel drive checking out some spots she and her dad visited all those years ago.
If anything captures the hardship of a remote station property it would have to be a place called Paradise Station. In the 1930s drought forced the station manager, his wife and two kids were forced to leave the property for two years. They eventually returned and worked on but by the early fifties they were gone.
A few years back some of the original family members returned on a sentimental journey to old Paradise Station.
"The sentiment that day was so great that one of the ladies actually wept," said Joan. "She could remember her mother cooking on that old stove and she found a little bit of a vase that she remembered sitting on the mantle piece. She asked if she could she take it home and I said yes."
In the distance was proof that nothing went to waste - an old hut made of pressed kerosene tins was home for the workmen at Paradise Station. They probably had other names for this remote home away from home but these station people were as tough as nails. Ultimately they were forced to leave saddlery and other equipment behind when Joan's dad bought the property as a walk-in walk-off sale.
It was hard work then and it's still hard work at East Whydown where Chris and his two sons Morgan and Stewart are jetting the sheep brought in this morning. The spray prevents fly strike and the procedure allows Chris, who's a former navy man, to keep tabs on this sea of sheep.
Chris has only been farming for nine years when he and Joan returned from Sydney to take up the family property. He's had his fair share of spills and thrills having broken ribs, a collarbone and a few other things. And then there was the day Meg kept two thousand sheep in their pen, after Chris knocked himself out on his motorbike. It's all part of what Chris calls the 'greasy learning curve' for any novice woolgrower.
"I'm still here and I think it's twelve months since I've broken a bone in the body." he laughed.
That's good news because there's more work to be done at East Whydown Station. If you want to experience life on a sheep farm and bunk down in the old shearer's quarters contact Joan MacDonald.
East Whydown Station
Just off the Barrier Highway
Farm entrance 18km from Yunta
Bookings Phone 8650 5010If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au
