The Life and Times of Pony Hills Station

By Shirley Brumby

The book is about the Australian way of life in the olden days in the bush and the lives of the characters and the bush heroes and villains, like the flying doctors and the bushrangers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Nov 19, 2015
• ISBN: 9781514441138

Shirley Brumby

I am mildly disabled with cerebral palsy and epilepsy. I am a slow writer because of this, but I love to write and wasn’t expected to be contacted by a publisher, and who she or he is must understand my disabilities and not push me beyond my limits. I will always try hard, but my hard may not be want they want. I am only a pensioner, and I have to look after my sick husband, Peter, who is very proud of me for trying to do this.

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Copyright © 2015 by Shirley Brumby.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-5144-4114-5

                eBook         978-1-5144-4113-8

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.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 10/30/2015

Xlibris

1-800-455-039

www.Xlibris.com.au

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The Pony Hills Station

On the veranda sitting in his rocking chair was an old man watching his grandchildren playing on the grass after celebrating his 102 birthday. Mark asked his grandad What did he do when he was young?

Grandad said "Well son, as you know I was born on Pony Hills Station.

Mark was remembering Jo his beautiful bride and when they got married and they had two children and another one on the way and they are expecting Miss Colleen Keenness and her mother Jean who are coming out from Ireland by boat so it took weeks to get to Australia.

Colleen got so seasick that she was so glad when they finally disembarked at Sydney Cove.

The boat’s doctor radioed ahead for medical attention to be there when the boat docked. Colleen’s mother Jean sent a telegram to the station to inform them at Pony Hills Station to let them know that they had arrived safety, however unfortunately they will be delayed because her daughter was ill with seasickness and cannot travel for a few days.

Colleen and Jean got aboard a Cobb and Co Coach, to go to Queensland and the ride shook Colleen up a lot. On the way, she felt very sick in the stomach by the time they got to Pony Hills Station, it had been a very tiring trip by the time they settled into their bedroom and Colleen went straight to bed because she was still very ill and tired from their journey which had an extra week to get out there, and then after a rest she will be able take up her position as governess to the children of Pony Hills Station.

The children’s names were Patsy aged nine and Tim aged seven. Colleen takes over from Jo in teaching and looking after them because Jo is expecting her third child and she must get as rest as possible as Jo is twelve weeks into her pregnancy.

The station has a Chinese cook called Miss Lee who is tall and has long black hair, she always wears it in a ponytail, and her bedroom is close to the kitchen as she works long hours as she cooks for two hundred people.

Miss Lee has her food on the stove all this time. The station hands have to kill fresh meat daily when it required every few days so Miss Lee could salt it and put it in the shed and a hashish bag over it to keep the flies off it.

Miss Lee loved a garden, she had a vegetable garden, and she had two daughters Cherry and Pie Lee

She was able to grow most of the vegetables for the table and they had fresh milk, they got about four gallons daily. Miss Lee had to work on a roster system so she would know who was in for meals and who is not. Jo has let Miss Lee know that in three days’ time, they will be having drinks and snacks out on the veranda of the main house that they are going to have a few friends over and there is a young man coming who is a poet and writer, so it will be an interesting night indeed.

The boss drover is a young Matthew Burn and he is a jackeroo and a jack-of-all-trades and sometimes a petty thief, but he is a very good equestrian.

He had his own favourite horse Smokey. Mark and Matthew had to put all of the stockmen on standby, just in case they have to help in the search for the explorers Bourke and Wills. Matthew would come across in his travels, a swagman called Harry who would fill Matthew in with any gossip that he might gather in his travels and Harry tells Matthew That they had found Bourke and Wills in a shallow grave and Matthew said, "Yes, that’s tragic news, I will tell the boss when I get back from riding and checking fences.

With the hot weather, I like to take my time because Smokey gets very hot; we need rain badly because we are in the middle of a drought as there is not much water in the dam and the land looks barren and bare. Whenever the cattle, horses and sheep walk or run their hooves kicks up the dust everywhere. Smokey and Matthew go checking the boundary fences as there had been reports of stock wandering onto the road. Mark had sent him to repair any broken down fences and they will be up in the top Paddock for most of the day. Miss Lee had made him some lunch full of sandwiches and a flask of coffee to do him all day and he was very grateful to Miss Lee for his lunch, as he does get hungry during the day

As Matthew worked in the top paddock, Mark was in his study doing his accounting, and the wages as Jo had the day in bed as the doctor tells Mark "That Jo’s blood pressure is far too high and she must have plenty of rest.

Mark was making a deal with a friend and fellow station manager to try to make sure that he would get his wool to market and Colleen had the children Doing their homework inside. The children had their lunch and while Colleen goes upstairs to see if Jo would like some lunch. Jo said, She would like a cup of tea and a few biscuits. She would have a rest while Colleen took the children outside in the afternoon. Jo could have her rest; the children asked Colleen if they could turn on the sprinkler to get cool as it was a very hot day. Colleen said, Yes they could" as the children of the outback have to make their own kind of fun.

In addition, Colleen might join them after she marks their schoolwork. In a couple of weeks’ time, the station will be a hive of activity as it is nearly time for the shearing season to start up again.

The children are outside having fun under the sprinkler to keep them cool and Colleen is with them trying to keep them out of the house to keep it quiet for Jo who is resting because of the doctor’s orders because she could lose the baby if she was not careful.

She is resting comfortable in bed when Colleen checks in on Jo regularly throughout the day.

Matthew is still up in the top paddock fixing fences so the cattle and sheep will not stray onto the road and it is a very hot day as he decides that it was time for them to go back to the station for the rest of the day, as it was too hot to do anymore. They will go back in the first thing in the morning.

As soon as Matthew and Smokey got back to the station, Matthew dismounts and unsaddles Smokey and he led him into a paddock, took off his bridle, and lets him go free for the rest of the afternoon and there was water in the trough for Smokey.

As soon as Matthew comes into the house, Mark wants to see him about helping him to do the roster for the shearing season to start again. Matthew had to notify all of the shearers in the area because it was shearing time again.

Mark had written down of the men’s names to be notified. He said, "Yes I can ride into town this afternoon and put their names on the board outside the pub and then they will come out to the station when it is shearing time.

However there will be one person missing boss and that will be old Tommy who died from cancer last year, said Matthew.

That’s right Matthew, he did too, he was a very good shearer in his time and he could shear a hundred sheep, said Mark.

"Matthew, I want you to have something to eat and drink and then you and Mick go up to the shearing shed and sees what condition they are in, and if they need to be swept out, will you both do it for me so they are ready for the shearing season.

Okay boss, I will do that for you, however I will have to go back to the top paddock in the morning to finish the job that I have started today because it got too hot for me and Smokey and that is why we came back to the station. Said Matthew.

That is all right Matthew, you can do that said Mark.

Is that all boss? asked Matthew.

Yes Matthew, I will have to look at the dams to make sure that there is enough clean water and make sure that they are full when we bring the sheep in to be shorn said Mark.

Yes okay Mark said Matthew.

Matthew goes into the kitchen to get something to eat and drink. He goes outside to find Mick and tells him what the boss wants them to do to see what condition the shearing sheds are in and sweep them out if necessary and Matthew hops into Mick’s four-wheel drive, it is an old bomb; however, it does the job on a busy station.

Matthew and Mick drove up to see what condition the shearing sheds were in and the dogs go with them, they are a kelpie cross and a border collie.

The sheep will have to be mustered and bought up down to the pens. Meanwhile Mark drives up to look at the dams to make sure that there is enough water for the sheep to drink and to make sure that the water is clean to drink because if the water is foul, it will kill a hundred sheep so it is better to check the dams.

Mark gets out of the dams and finds that the water in dam No 1 is foul and he said to himself that this will not do and he goes to check on dam No 2 and he finds this one filled with clean water. He at least has one good dam for the sheep that means they have to put a hundred sheep through at a time to be shorn.

Matthew and Mick rode into town. When they got there to put the list of the shearer’s names up on the bulletin board outside the pub where they notices another poster. Matthew reads it, it was a wanted poster calling for the capture of the bushranger Captain Starlight who is in this area and people are being warned to be careful because he is known for stealing sheep and cattle.

They go into the pub to have a few beers before the long ride home and Matthew discuss with the bar attendant about this Captain Starlight and what he is really like. The bar attendant said, "That he is nothing but a common thief and should be caught and brought to justice.

However how are we going to capture him? Asked Mick. Well we could set a trap for him, however we are very busy for the next few months we won’t have the time to chase Captain Starlight because we have the shearing season upon us, said Matthew.

Yes Matthew, we sure have the shearing season and it is going to be awfully hot again this year, we haven’t had much rain at the station, have we? asked Mick.

"No we haven’t and the boss is praying for a bit of rain to help fill No 1 with clean water again. We have only dam No 2 to water the sheep, horse’s dogs and ourselves so we have to be careful with the water until it rains and fills No 1 dam up with clean water. I think that the boss is up there at Dam No 1 emptying it out hoping that it will rain soon.

"And he will be up there until the early hours of the tomorrow so I think we had better