I was born in Port Lincoln and grew up at Brimpton Lake and went to the school there. I have one sister, 3 years older than me. We rode our push bikes 3 and ½ miles through sand in the summer and mud in the winter. A heap of kids would come from several families into Cummins and complete secondary school and board in town during the week. Which I bloody hated! I was with some fussy old couple and if I was caught with mud inside with my boots I was in trouble. There were no footpaths, no bitumen roads or air-conditioning. It was colder in winter and hotter in summer than Brimpton Lake. The day I left school I said to myself, “I will never live in this horrible place again’ but I was forced to come back here, but the town had improved a hell of a lot by then.

My dad was a pioneer of the Brimpton Lake district: he and his father came here when he was 18 and they got a scrub block. They came from up north of Cowell and were sick of the droughts there. At the age of 51, my grandfather got allocated a block. There was 124 applicants and he was fortunate to get it. You had to pay for it in instalments. Dad cleared it and worked so hard. Dad did it with horse teams for a start: they would have four horses, each end of a log, 2 here and 2 in front, and dad would ride one with reins up the front, he would always ride in the scrub, going round and round. He said once he had been wiped off by an overhanging branch, landed on the chains behind him, could have been killed. As I reflect on this I feel so thankful for all the work he did to give me a chance to be a farmer. We worked together every day for 25 years, and if we had some problem on the farm, we would talk about it. We would throw it around, and between us come up with the answer. When he was gone, there was no one to talk to.

When I was a kid, I must have been strange because everyone looked up to the footballers and cricketers, but I looked up to the wheat lumper- the blokes with the bag on their back just throwing it around wherever he wanted it. The shearers and the wheat lumpers were my heroes, the big tough blokes. I thought I can't wait till I can do that too. I just wanted to stay home and work and make a success of the farm.

We did buy another bit of land eventually, I have still got this; 99. It is 200 acres and I planted trees all around the salt lagoon, around the edge. We bought that in 1986, it’s 20 odd mile out of town, and 7 miles from home. It’s only through Dad and Mum’s generosity that I got that. I reckon my parents, the best thing they did for me, was to teach me how to work.

Dad and I tried all sorts of experiments with this water repellent sand- we knew it needed clay but there were no things to do it with then. Then the big tractors came along and suddenly you can do it. I just wish he had been here to see the start of that. I also planted a lot of trees on the salt, to reclaim the salt. I enjoyed doing that. I got great satisfaction out of doing improvements to the farm.

After Mum died on the farm, I used to check on Dad three times a day. He said one day “look, you’ve got two girls. They’re not going to be farmers. So as soon as they’re old enough sell this place and get the bloody hell out of it” I admired him for that. He knew me that well, I would have stayed there until now until I'd had it. Still I felt bad selling it and was feeling pretty sorry for myself.

Dad survived 3 years after mum. He was going downhill, lung infections and stuff. My sister Janis was coming over for Easter. I said, ‘look you’ve got to talk him into going to Miroma.’ He was only in Miroma for 6 weeks before he died. He should have been there before, but I didn’t want to be the one to tell him.

‘On a Jeune’ was born at my place. Graham Moroney had a mare (Chandada Rose) on his place and nowhere to run it. We had horses and perennial veldt grass which is good cattle and sheep tucker on deep sand. To get her over I thought bugger leading her so I rode her! I caught her in the paddock and stuck a big stock saddle on her – I remember it coming in the mail when I was 3 or 4 & my grandfather ordered it. He was nearly blind when he opened it and I can remember seeing him feel the shape of the knee pads to get an idea of it in his head. I stuck that on her and trotted off. Graham said I was riding a $13000 racehorse! I rode along in Phelp’s paddock checking on water lines when Graham said “give her a go”- So, I stood up in the stirrups and away we went. He reckoned we were doing between about 50-60kms an hour. Eventually she was mated and we knew she was going to foal this one night. Graham camped in his swag in front of the shed and I went to bed. He knocked on my window and said “Its being born!”. Ive pulled a lot of calves but never foals!

We got Lyal Phelps over to help it drink and we had the foal & mare there for 2 years. I was hoping he would be named Gum Hill after our place! I said if it runs in the Melbourne Cup we better go over and have a look. He was 6 when he ran and we caught the train and away we went. We got dressed up and that was an experience going over there. If he won, the Melbourne Cup, I wanted a slab of Calca pink granite with a brass plate saying “Gum Hill birthplace of On a Jeune” but he only came second! He’s up at Brimpton Lake retired now.

We sold to Chris Watson- lovely people. That was bloody sad when he passed away. Everyone was ramming down my throat ‘you might as well rip your trees and troughs and fences out now, there will never be another sheep once you go, nothing is surer than that’ . When Chris had a look at it, he said to the stock agent he was amazed that he found somewhere so well set up to run stock on just how he wanted it. So, I thought for once in my life I did the right thing.

I try not to think about farming days as they get a bit morbid and wonder if I should have done this or done that better. Gave it my best shot when I was there, and I was buggered when I left. Lot of blokes would have loved to have a chance like me, there was stone, salt patches, sand but I loved every inch of it. I appreciated it.

Come to Cummins in early 08. The day I finally left there was one of the saddest days of my life. Hear a lot of blokes say, “when you sell a farm, don't go back”. I remember one day Dad & I were fencing, and I looked back at what we’d done, and Dad said “DONT look back! You’ll find they're not quite straight and you'll be worrying about it. Look at your sight sticks and keep looking ahead” Never forgot that. It would have been 40 years ago. I dunno as time went on, I was wondering whether he was telling me about fencing or about life.

About time the family moved to Cummins, a lot of farmers were going broke and having a really tough time. I was pissed off to move into Cummins and knew it was the end of my farming career- it was getting tough anyway. I got 2 little pictures of the girls and stuck on the dash on Toyota Hilux in front of steering wheel and if I got depressed, I just got to keep going for these two. It was a big help to keep me going. I had a good mate turn up a few times just to check in with me when I was there on my own. Graham Moroney was a good mate when I needed him.

A couple weeks after the clearing sale Ivan Phelps rang asking if I would be around seeding time to do some stone rolling and throw out some hay to the livestock. After that I thought it wouldn’t be so bad in Cummins if I had something to do seeding time and I picked up a bit. I was really appreciative of that. It’s been great working for Jarrod & Jacqui Phelps.

The last year on the farm, I thought I might need something to do when I moved into town, so when I got into Cummins, I helped out with the steers at school. I would go to the Adelaide Show with Daryll Holley and Lisa Richo, with the kids. I did it for quite a few years. I couldn’t see how, being a teacher, you get any job satisfaction out of that. After the first year I got over to the show with the kids, they did everything you asked them, they were well behaved, they could do the dirty jobs like shovelling the shit, and everything, and I thought, ‘shit, I’m proud of these kids, I bloody taught them’. There were some good kids amongst them, but some things they would say, I would just pretend I never heard that!

When I was doing the led steer thing with Lisa Richardson, I see half her backyard, nothing was happening on it. I asked if I could grow some vegetables on it. I keep it tidy; I mow it and now her partner Micky has a bit of stuff that he is starting to grow too. We grow a few fruit trees so that has been good. We share the fruit half and half. I’ve got some raised beds with a real rotation going – its more complicated than my crop rotation on the farm! That keeps my mind active.

I didn’t think I would ever get married and have kids. I was a hell of an age when I had them, I was 40 when Lisa was born and 43 with Nola. Lisa is down at Charlton Gully now, Nick Ridgeway is her partner he works at Ramsay Bros. They bought 25 acres there and are in the process of getting a shed built and make it into a house. Nola is in Adelaide; she is working in a soil testing lab. She got married last November, he’s a Lincoln boy; Jason Dodd and he is a computer programmer. My mother’s name was Dodd too, no relation, so if someone does a family tree in 100 year's time it is going to confuse them a bit! I have only got 1 grandchild so far, Jasper. He has just turned 3.

What I like doing is going out to 99 in the wintertime, lighting a fire, boiling a billy and have a bit of a BBQ. Greg Hurrell & I made a saw bench and keep it out there to saw firewood. It's so peaceful out there. No one to bother you. No cars go past you. I'd go mad if I didn't have that.

I spend time at the men’s shed. I just help them do stuff. There’s a heap of old blokes that come there and play cards every afternoon. Then there are a couple of blokes who just come and have a cup of tea with us and then go, and that’s good. A lot of people have got the wrong impression. They think it’s about doing stuff, but it's about meeting other people, and talking, so that you’re not feeling isolated.

A lot of blokes when they retire think, well what do I do now? That’s sort of why I joined Lions because I could see my days on the farm were numbered. Lions, it’s all positive, we are doing something to help people. It is great. When you give something to someone, it’s one of the best things. We took a load of wood out to Janice Wait after her husband got killed in a header accident and that was one of the best things I have ever done in Lions. Another time we gave a lady money to get over to Adelaide for her son to have antihistamines, she couldn’t afford it. I said ‘what about the PATS’, but she had to have the money upfront, so the Lions club put a bit in, and a couple of other blokes who shall remain nameless threw a bit in and gave it to her. Well, that’s good stuff doing that. You’re helping someone less fortunate, and that is what I like about Lions. They’re a good bunch of blokes. We do a wood cut, we sell the wood, and then we have a counter lunch in the pub, and then go home and have a sleep. We’ve about had it by then!

In 2011 we had the 100th Cummins Show. I'd put a book together on grain handling. My second Cousin Jim Cronin had written it and died before he could get it printed. Helping to go through his personal papers and stuff, we found this manuscript and later found tapes and roughly typed information. I sorted it out, put it into chapters and sentences and found photos. It was launched at the show. We ordered 300 copies and only had 40 pre ordered. We sold the lot in 25 minutes. Never seen anything like it. Now we’ve probably sold 2000 copies of ‘Grain handling the way it was’. If I'd still been on the farm I wouldn't have had the time. So lucky to be able to do this for him.

I’m looking forward to more grandchildren and I’d like to do a few more trips. Stan Mackenzie said to me once ‘the things that give me great satisfaction is things I've done for people no one else knows anything about’. Care for other people and look out for other people and don't be so self centered. I find achieving things like that and if you can help someone is great satisfaction. Thats what kept me going on the farm and my garden. You think wow I've done something useful.