A Land Fit for Heroines: Stories of Pioneering Women on Soldier Settler Blocks

By Barbara Pillans

This book documents the lives of twenty-one women on soldier settler blocks in New South Wales after World War II. Their stories relate how they came to live on virtually virgin land and lived in tents and sheds with no electricity and no running water. They established their homes and worked side by side with their husbands on the farms. At the same time, they brought up their children far from family support and with medical help difficult to access on sometimes impassable roads. They survived floods, drought, and bushfires. Their stories show it was the women who brought the communities on the soldier settlements together. A number of the women reveal personal tragedies that set even greater challenges for them to face. Through it all though, these women have shown amazing strength, resilience, and selflessness. Their contribution to their families, their farms, their communities, and the state of New South Wales is significant.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Nov 4, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524518530

Barbara Pillans

Barbara Pillans is the daughter of a soldier settler. She grew up on a farm cut out of Wantabadgery Station, near Wagga Wagga, after World War II. Her mother’s experiences on this farm are what inspired this book. She, therefore, has a deep understanding of the sacrifices and resilience of the pioneering women whose stories are related in this book. She has a degree in Australian history and women’s history from Macquarie University. She has been a teacher all her working life, most recently teaching ESL to migrants in Sydney high schools.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Barbara Pillans.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-5245-1854-7

                eBook           978-1-5245-1853-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Scripture quotations taken from the 21st Century King James Version®, copyright © 1994. Used by permission of Deuel Enterprises, Inc., Gary, SD 57237. All rights reserved.

Rev. date: 03/15/2017

Xlibris

1-800-455-039

www.Xlibris.com.au

749856

Contents

I.   Dedication

II.   Acknowledgements

III.   Preface

IV.   History of Soldier Settlement Post-World War II

V.   Berida Station History

i.   Mrs Joyce Wise

VI.   Edgeroi Station History

i.   Mrs Gwen Dellar

VII.   Kangaroo Flat Station History

i.   Mrs Carmen Blomfield

VIII.   Goolhi Station History

i.   Mrs Rita Keech

IX.   Kooba Station History

i.   Mrs Dot McCleary

ii.   Mrs Jessie Morrell

iii.   Mrs Marj Evans

iv.   Mrs Nell Keely

X.   Nullawa Station History

i.   Mrs Joan Tourle

ii.   Mrs Phil Barwick

XI.   Tooma and Maragle Stations History

i.   Mrs Gwen Bell

ii.   Mrs Audrey Lyons

iii.   Mrs Elsie Baker

XII.   Walteela Station History

i.   Mrs Phyl Webb

XIII.   Wantabadgery Station History

i.   Mrs Honor Kells

ii.   Mrs Daphne Howard

iii.   Mrs Marj Andrews

iv.   Mrs Joan Alston

v.   Mrs Maisy Hartwig

XIV.   Willigobung Station History

i.   Mrs Frankie Langbourne

ii.   Mrs Val Kinstler

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the memory of my mother, Sheila Hazelwood (nee Walters), my father, Sam (Frederick) Hazelwood, and all the post-World War II soldier settlers and their wives who worked so hard and selflessly to establish their homes, farms and communities.

Sam%20and%20Sheila%20Hazelwood.tif

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all the women who gave their time so generously to provide me with memories of their life on the soldier settlements. Sadly, most of them have since died. There are three surviving women at the time of publication. Joyce Wise, now 99 but still active in Gilgandra, provided photos and checked the original interview for errors. Marj Evans has only just left her farm and moved into Griffith. She has been a wonderful help, not only providing me with photos but also contact details for family members of other women I interviewed on Kooba Station. She also provided historical information on Kooba Station. Jessie Morrell is living in a nursing home in Griffith but has been able to check her original interview. Sadly, Daphne Howard, the last surviving woman from those I interviewed at Wantabadgery, died this year. However, she did read through and check her story before she died. Similarly, Rita Keech read through and checked her story with her daughter, Robyn, before she died this year.

I would also like to thank the many family members who have checked the text of the interviews and provided photos. In particular, I would like to thank Robyn Keech, Tess Fletcher (nee Blomfield), Skye Cliff (nee Blomfield), Richard, Jason and Thor Blomfield, Ross and Kay Morrell, Dale McCleary, Margaret Sutton (nee Keely), Scott Tourle, Colleen Mawbey (nee Barwick) and Samantha Borham (Phyl Barwick’s granddaughter), Rosanne, Richard and Kat Baker, David Lyons, Ian Bell, Paul Kinstler and Alison Bateman (nee Kinstler), Brian and Phil Alston, Judy Meacham (nee Andrews), Rob and Lisa Kells, Robyn Hibbard (nee Howard), Tim Hartwig, my cousins, Gill Hook (nee Webb) and John Webb.

A number of historical museums and societies helped in gathering background information. First, I would like to thank Michelle Maddison, curator of the Museum of Riverina at Wagga Wagga. She provided photos and information which she had collated for a wonderful exhibition documenting the lives of soldier settlers at Tarcutta after World War I and at Wantabadgery after World War II. I would also like to thank Leanne Diessel, researcher for the Wagga Wagga & District Historical Society, who generously provided historical background information for Wantabadgery Station. Pam Harvey, of Dubbo and District Historical Society, assisted in making contact with Scott Tourle. Joy Pickette, at the Coonabarabran Historical Society, alerted me to the very helpful book Going Bush to Goolhi, by Elva Shumack. Shirley Marks, curator and archivist of the Gilgandra Museum & Historical Society Inc, provided information on the history of Berida Station in Marion Dormer’s book Settlers on the Castlereagh. The State Library of NSW staff and those at the State Records Authority of NSW were helpful with my soldier settlement history research. Also, thank you to George Hartin for information on Tumbarumba local history, and John Webb for helping me connect with George.

I would also like to thank James Walters, of Vivid Recollection in Canberra ACT, and Simon Baker of Australia in Focus, at Brookvale NSW, for their expert help in scanning old photos and restoring them ready for publication. Thank you also to Sue Norrie, who helped with processing photos of my aunt, Phyl Webb.

Finally, but most importantly, I would like to thank my family for their forbearance in this labour of love that has lasted 26 years. Thank you to my children, Heather, Shona and Claire, who travelled with my husband, Tom, and I all over the state in the 1990s, often waiting in the car on isolated properties as I interviewed my women, or experiencing icy mornings on the northern tablelands at Coonabarabran and Armidale. A special thank-you to Claire, who has used her expertise to help collate the stories for the book. A thank-you to my sister, Helen, and brother, Fred who have encouraged and supported me all the way. Last but not least, a very special thank-you to Tom, who has not only supported and encouraged me but also enhanced family photos, designed the book cover and edited all the women’s stories, transforming them from interview format to a more written register without losing the innate voice of each woman.

Sheila%20Hazelwood.tif

Sheila Hazelwood

Preface

This oral history records the lives of women who lived on soldier settlement farms after World War II in NSW. I have recorded their stories because of my deep admiration for the women who worked so hard alongside their husbands on these farms in pioneering conditions and have contributed much to the agricultural industry and the farming communities at the same time as raising children and running a home. I interviewed these women in the 1990s; sadly many have since died, but I hope this book remains as a testament to their indomitable spirit and the sacrifices they made for their families, their farms and their communities.

My interest in the wives of soldier settlers has come from experience. My mother, Sheila Hazelwood, was the wife of a soldier settler. My father, Frederick (Sam) Hazelwood, had served in the 6th Division of the Second AIF in the Middle East and crossed the Kokoda Track in New Guinea twice. In 1947, he drew a block on Wantabadgery Station, under the soldier settlement ballot process. Wantabadgery East Station was huge, 18,000 acres, or 7248 hectares, stretching along the Murrumbidgee River between Wagga and Gundagai, in southern NSW. My father was happy with his block of 1070 acres, not too hilly or rocky and with access to water on the pipeline between the Murrumbidgee and Junee (his memories of carting water to his farm near Hillston in western NSW before the war had not faded). It was to this virtually virgin land that my mother, father and their one-year-old son Fred, came in 1947, with all their worldly possessions on the back of an elderly grey truck with an Oldsmobile chassis and a Chevrolet engine. They called the property Karrawarra, an Aboriginal word for golden eagle.

First_Karrawarra_Site_1947.tif

First photo of Karrawarra site, 1947

They set up home, two road tents — one for sleeping and one for cooking — under an enormous kurrajong tree over a mile from the road. There was a bathtub and a toilet outside.

Fred%20Hazelwood_in_front_of_tents.tif

Fred Hazelwood in front of the two tents which were Sheila and Sam Hazelwood’s first home at Karrawarra

Both my parents were optimistic and positive about their future. An article about soldier settlers in The Australian Women’s Weekly wrote about them: "Country-born Fred Hazelwood, ex-Sixth Division, has been on his place for four months. He is starting with 700 breeding ewes. ‘I consider myself lucky to get a place like this at the third try,’ he said. ‘I’m very well satisfied with everything. My plans are to use the place for grazing and grow some crops too.’

Mrs Hazelwood, a Sydney girl, is getting her first real taste of country life. The hardships of starting from the beginning don’t frighten her. She has a sewing machine in one of the two tents pitched as temporary shelter beneath a tree on her husband’s 1070-acre block.¹

What a contrast to my mother’s life in the middle-class suburb of Epping, on the north shore of Sydney, where she had attended MLC Burwood and Sydney High School, then worked as a secretary and managed businesses during the war while involving herself in the city’s intellectual and cultural life.

Sheila_and_Fred_on_swing.tif

Sheila Hazelwood and son Fred on a swing under a huge kurrajong tree

However, she was a romantic and loved the country so she loved Karrawarra and her life on it despite the challenging conditions and the isolation. She cooked on a Primus stove. The story goes that on their first Christmas it poured rain and they sat on their camp bed and ate their chicken dinner as the water rushed under their feet. My Aunty Gwen, my mother’s younger sister, came to visit and told the story of taking a bath outside in the tub when Sir Keith Murdoch, the owner of the remaining Wantabadgery Station, rode over the hill to see how they were getting on. She had to make a very hasty retreat. Another story my mother told was of pikelets disappearing off the table as the turkeys they kept for eggs discovered a new source of food. It was always the humorous stories they retold, never the hardships. They lived in the tents for nearly a year because after the war building materials were hard to find. Eventually, by September 1948, in time for the birth of their second child, myself, they were able to move into a fibro and corrugated iron-roofed house with a kitchen, a living room, a bedroom, bathroom/ laundry and a back porch but the toilet was still a short walk up the back, complete with redback spiders. My mother’s life must have improved dramatically once in the house. However, there was still no electricity: that arrived about 1957. Lighting was in the form of kerosene lamps or Tilley lamps, although the dim light didn’t stop my parents’ avid reading habits. My mother cooked with a wood-fired stove, which turned the kitchen into a sauna in summer but made it cosy in winter. How she was able to bake such glorious cakes and puddings, along with the ubiquitous lamb roasts, lamb stews, lamb chops, varied with the odd rabbit mornay, is still a marvel to me. My father milked the cow every morning so there was fresh milk and cream.

One of our jobs as children was to bring in the calf in the evening and lock it up so there was plenty of milk in the morning. Turning the separator so it whizzed fast enough to separate the cream from the milk was always a source of fun.

The lack of a refrigerator meant the milk had to be kept cool by wetting hessian bags on the sides of the old Coolgardie safe, which sat on the verandah out of the heat of the western sun. Despite this, most of the meat had to be salted to preserve it. My father grew prolific harvests of peaches, plums, apricots, lemons, oranges and mulberries; my mother bottled a lot of this fruit in Fowlers Vacola preserving jars. Home-grown vegetables supplemented our simple diet. A chicken was a birthday or Christmas treat. My mother kept chickens and sold eggs to the Egg Board in Junee to get extra pocket money. I remember well cleaning and packing the eggs in wooden boxes.

Sam_Hazelwood_milking_Blondie.tif

Sam Hazelwood milking Blondie, with Fred in the foreground

Milk-separator.tif

The milk separator used on Karrawarra

Coolgardiesafe.tif

Coolgardie safe

A trip to Wagga Wagga or Junee was a day-long journey on unsealed roads. Fresh bread was delivered via the mailman twice a week to our front gate a mile away from the house. The lack of electricity also impacted on washing day. With three small children (my sister Helen arrived in 1950), washing must have been arduous.

Nappies were boiled in the old copper, then a hand-driven mangle was used to wring out the water perfunctorily before they were finally pegged out on a wire stretched between two poles, with another in the middle to prop the washing up to catch the breeze.

Copper_and_lid.tif

Copper and lid used for washing and cooking at Karrawarra

My mother made curtains and clothes for us on her trusty pedal-powered Singer sewing machine, saving money in the process.

She helped my father develop the farm which had to be fenced, cleared of rabbits and pastures had to be improved. In particular her passion for horse riding came to the fore as she helped to muster sheep. My mother took a keen interest in the farm and supported my father in decision-making. Her office skills enabled her to keep the books for the farm all her life.

Fred_and_clothes_line.tif

Fred Hazelwood with nappies drying on the clothesline

As with so many soldier settler women, my mother involved herself in the community, largely through the activities of the tiny two-teacher school at nearby Eurongilly, which we attended, and the Country Women’s Association.

My mother must have been lonely at times; her family and friends were a day’s drive away in Sydney. She must have missed the cultural activities of the city, concerts, plays and lectures, the intellectual stimulation of a job and the company of other like-minded women. However she never complained, in fact she relished her life as a pioneering woman and looked on it as an adventure.

My father’s words are a good way to finish this tribute to my mother, the inspiration for this book:

It was my good fortune in my experience of new settlement to be in close association of two very courageous women, my mother and my wife … in my own settlement on the block on Wantabadgery East, my wife Sheila was always there to help and encourage, always willing to do without and live in hardship. Her love of the country was always outstanding.²

Karrawarra_homestead_today.tif

Karrawarra homestead as it is today

History of Soldier Settlement Post-World War II

In 1945, the War Service Land Settlement Act was passed by the Commonwealth Government with the support of all the state governments as part of a broad federal plan for the Re-establishment of Ex-servicemen.

This Act provided returning ex-servicemen with an opportunity to work and run their own farm and by 1949 7½ million acres were acquired by the Commonwealth Government for this purpose.

This was not a new idea. Post-World War I had seen a similar scheme evolved by the states but this was largely unsuccessful. Losses under the post-1914-1918 schemes by 1945 had reached £45 million. In 1929, Royal Commissioner Mr Justice Pike found this failure due to:

• Insufficient capital available for ex-soldiers

• Farms were too small to provide a living

• Many ex-servicemen were temperamentally unsuited to farming

• Many ex-servicemen lacked practical experience in farming

• Collapse of world markets

In 1943, the government began planning for the end of the war and set up the Rural Reconstruction Commission to formulate the Commonwealth War Service Land Settlement Scheme. It found similar problems to those Justice Pike had identified but also found that land was often used for the wrong purpose, for example, settlers tried to grow wheat on land only suitable for grazing and there was a lack of competent technical advice.

Determined to avoid similar problems to post-World War I soldier settlement schemes, the Commonwealth Government determined to have fewer men settled but more successfully. The overriding principle applied to the new War Service Land Settlement Scheme was the number of people to be settled will be determined by settlement opportunities rather than by the number of applicants.³

To avoid a repeat of the financial losses after World War I, the Commonwealth Government wanted some control even though land settlement is a state function. In NSW, Victoria and Queensland, the state provided from loan funds the money required for purchase, development and improvement of the land, the sinking fund for these loans being subsidised by the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth provided a living allowance for the new settler during his first 12 months and bore half the cost of remission of the settler’s rent and interest during that period. It also bore half the cost of any writing–down of values of properties and shared with the state any losses made in connection with advances to settlers.⁴ South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania had similar schemes but were financed and supported more heavily.

Areas of land considered suitable on either private properties or Crown land were selected by state authorities and plans for redevelopment were submitted to the Commonwealth War Service Land Settlement Division. Officers from this division considered the present condition of the land, its past use and production history of the area, soil type, climatic conditions, the situation of the area in relation to transport and communications, markets, social services and amenities. They also assessed the size of the farm, crops and livestock it would carry and suitable farming methods.

This is evident in the Minister of Lands publication ascribing a Home Maintenance Area.

Home maintenance standards

The Department of Lands and the Closer Settlement Advisory Boards assessed Home Maintenance Areas. The figures relate to the eastern and central division of the state and can only be termed average figures.

1. Wheat farm: An area that will produce on a basis of a mean average yield of at least 15 bushels of wheat for grain; or 6000 bushels together with a carrying capacity of 550 ewes; or 6500 bushels together with a carrying capacity of 500 ewes.

2. Flock sheep: An area which will carry 1900 Merino sheep, including sufficient breeding ewes to maintain flock numbers, together with up to 35 head of cattle. These figures should be increased in respect of lands approaching the western division boundary.

3. Fat lambs: An area which will carry 1200 Merino ewes to be mated with long-wool rams or 1000 crossbred ewes to be mated with Downs-bred rams; together with 12-15 head of cattle in each case.

4. Wool production: An area that is sufficient to carry 2600 Merino wethers. This should be increased in respect of lands towards the western division.

5. Beef cattle: An area which will carry 350 head, including 250 breeders. This standard is designed for cattle breeding but not fattening country.⁵

The whole survey would then be evaluated against the five basic principles of the War Services Land Act 1945.

• Settlement was to be carried out only where the economic prospects for the production concerned were reasonably sound and the number of people to be settled would be determined by settlement opportunities rather than by the number of applicants.

• The settler had to be personally suitable for life on the land, and possess sufficient knowledge and experience of the form of production in which he wished to engage to make a success reasonably certain under average conditions

• The land had to be proved suitable for the purpose for which it was proposed to be used, and the area adequate to maintain the settler and his wife and family at a proper standard of living and to meet all operating and overhead charges.

• While lack of capital would not exclude from settlement an ex-member of the services who was otherwise suitable, settlers would be expected to invest any resources of their own which they might have available in reduction of their liabilities under the scheme

• Adequate guidance and technical advice would be available to settlers through agricultural experts of the extension services.⁶

Once approval for a proposed settlement was given by the Commonwealth, the state authorities purchased the private land or set aside the Crown land. Where possible, there was an emphasis on voluntary subdivision by the owners of suitable estates. The Closer Settlement Agency was established within the Rural Bank of NSW to work with local agriculturalists to identify suitable land. Two hundred and fifty landholders were approached regarding division of their lands and a further 100 owners approached the government. (The properties offered by owners were usually less appropriate for closer settlement and few of them were taken up).⁷ The state then subdivided, developed and improved the land to a stage where it could be farmed by the soldier settler. Some ex-servicemen received short intensive training in principles of farming. The farmers were then provided with a living allowance for a year. This ranged from £3 15s a week with no dependants to £5 15s a week for settlers with more than one dependant. Credit was available for settlers to provide working capital to make improvements and purchase stock, plant and equipment. Low interest rates and repayment were over a number of years. All ex-servicemen who had been honourably discharged after six months’ or more service and those discharged after less than six months’ service who had been materially prejudiced by war service were eligible for the War Service Land Settlement Scheme.

Two methods were used for allocation of the land to the soldiers (a) the acquisition or ballot method in which the Crown acquired properties, advertised them and allotted them to qualified soldiers by means of a ballot conducted by the local land board; and (b) the promotion method in which one or more soldiers could, with the consent of the owner, approach the minister to acquire the land. If the acquisition proceeded, the land was allocated to the soldiers who had negotiated with the owner. Irrespective of the method of allocation, the tenure was described as a Closer Settlement Lease, which was a lease in perpetuity. The terms of the lease included an annual rental of 2½% of the capital value; structural improvements were paid for separately at an interest of 2½%; residence was for a term of five years.⁸

By September 1949, 2,872 men had been placed on the land as War Service Land Settlers, 4,705 settlers received free rural training and close to £½ million in living allowances.⁹

The Commonwealth Government was obviously aware of the failures of the World War I soldier settlement schemes. A pamphlet entitled Pitfalls of Land Settlement identified the importance of personal factors to the success of farming. Not only did the farmer have to have practical knowledge but the ability to cope with long hours of work in all conditions, facing forces such as weather, insects and pests, which might determine his success more than hard work and economic management. It asked the question of the potential settler: Am I willing to exchange the comforts and amenities of city or town life for a life in which work is exacting and hours irregular, probably without electricity or power or light and possibly without an assured water supply? Am I prepared to give up most entertainments, perhaps my weekend sport and much of the social intercourse with friends and neighbours to which I have been accustomed?¹⁰

Most relevant to this treatise is a final question asked of the settler in this pamphlet: How will my wife react to the realities of farm life?¹¹ The pamphlet warned the settler that isolation, lack of daily contact with friends and neighbours, difficulty in securing prompt medical attention, the need to ‘make do’ meant more to a woman than a man. Moreover, the farmer’s wife must be adaptable and a capable manager and organiser. Especially, she will need to be willing to take a chance on the success of the farm and sufficiently interested in it to become a real help in the planning, and perhaps in the actual work on the farm.¹²

The stories of the wives of the soldier settlers in this book clearly show that alongside their husbands they did indeed cope with all the challenges listed above and a lot more personal challenges as well in a positive and determined manner. I would argue that the overriding success of the scheme was in many ways due not just to their husbands but also to the tenacity, hard work and selflessness of these women.

NSWfinalmapTIF.tif

Map of NSW showing the location of the stations from which the soldier settler blocks mentioned in this book were created

Berida Station History

Berida Station is on the gently undulating land surrounding the Castlereagh River just south of Gilgandra in north-western NSW.

The original inhabitants of the district were the Wiradjuri people. They are part of the largest Aboriginal group in NSW. Some 12,000 Aborigines spoke the Wiradjuri language at the time of European settlement and are called the people of the three rivers, the Wambool (the Macquarie), of which the Castlereagh River is a tributary, the Calare (the Lachlan) and the Murrumbidgee. They moved in family groups of 30 or so, hunting, fishing and gathering roots and vegetables. They travelled for trade, religious and cultural reasons. All this was to change when Europeans arrived in the area in the 1830s.

Appropriately for this book, there is a strong woman at the core of the history of Berida Station. Robert and Barbara Lowe had come to Australia in 1812. Barbara died in 1818 and Robert later married Sarah Hazard (nee Ward), who had been born in Parramatta in 1794. This remarkable woman began the Lowe pasture empire. Her husband died in 1832 and the following year Sarah took their 11 children west by bullock wagon, travelling deep into unsettled districts, taking up land in the Cudgegong, Castlereagh and Macquarie River regions. The 1839 census shows she was the first woman to hold land in the Gilgandra district. Robert and William Lowe, the two sons of Robert and Barbara, were among the first to travel the Marthaguy track and built a hut by the Berida waterhole. This was to become the headquarters of the Marthaguy Run, which they took up in 1839.¹³

Berida_Station_original_timber_house.tif

Berida Station original timber house

In 1862, Edward Flood Snr bought the Berida Pastoral Holding No 71, named for the homestead block of the Marthaguy Run, on which he settled his son, Edward. Edward was a notable, self-made man who had risen to become Lord Mayor of Sydney and a Member of the Legislative Council. He became prominent in the fight for constitutional rights for the colony and owned a number of businesses.¹⁴

Berida totalled over 160,000 acres in its heyday and was an amalgamation of nine squatting runs. The Berida homestead, built in 1862, included servants, a gardener, a groom blacksmith, storekeeper and bookkeeper, while the outside staff included an overseer who controlled station hands, boundary rider, fencer, shepherds on outstations, teamsters, rabbiters and seasonal workers at shearing time. Berida was a village with its own tennis courts, cricket ground, polo field and golf course.¹⁵

A section of the station was subdivided in 1914 for wheat and mixed farming. The Land newspaper described the property for sale, giving an indication of its quality. Every acre to be sold is arable, highly improved and beautifully watered, which, together with the station’s widely known reputation for grain production and fattening, cannot fail to appeal to a man wanting to go on the land.¹⁶

Shearing_at_Berida_Station.tif

Shearing at Berida Station (1936). Frank Hurley, National Library of Australia

As part of the post-World War II soldier settlement scheme, the government purchased Berida Station for £4 10s an acre from the Berida Pastoral Co Pty Ltd, managed by Mr and Mrs A. O. McCutcheon. They retained the homestead block but the rest was subdivided in 1949, with 41,257 acres set aside for soldier settlers. There were 13 servicemen’s blocks and over 1000 applications.¹⁷

Block K, which Allan Wise drew on 4th November, 1949, was 1665½ acres; 873 acres were regarded as first-class fully improved and 318 acres required further clearing, with the balance being improved for grazing. There was some fencing and a water supply.¹⁸

The soldier settlers who moved on to Berida Station on 15th May 1950 made major improvements through more intensive farming. As Joyce Wise explains, Allan and she ignored the Lands Department suggestion to farm fat lambs and instead began farming wheat, as well as grazing sheep for wool. This proved very successful. Roads and bridges improved in the district to cater for the influx of settlers. Buses were finally provided, bringing many more children into the district schools. Gilgandra businesses benefitted from the increased demand for their services. Moreover, the settlers contributed greatly to the community life of the district through school, farming and community organisations, as demonstrated by Joyce