Broome Hill to Ongerup

Broome Hill to Ongerup

BROOME HILL TO ONGERUP.
A FAIR YIELD.
INTERESTING FEATURES.

West Australian
10 November, 1914

(By W. Catton Grasby.)

In a pastoral sense, the country between Broome Hill and Ongerup is among the oldest settled in the State, but, as an agricultural area in the modern sense, it is only a few years old. In the early days of the State various settlers bought picked portions of the country under the then land laws, and sheep were shepherded over the whole extent of the country.

At the Gnowangerup show I met Mr. Timms, who owns an excellent property not far from Gnowangerup, and shears his sheep in the shed in which it is stated 10,000 shepherded sheep were shorn over 50 years ago. In those early days the value of pasture in the district was recognised.

To-day, owing largely to the influx of experienced merino men from the Nor’-West, Broome Hill claims to be the headquarters of high class merinos in the State, and it is stated that between Broome Hill and Ongerup adjacent to the railway line there are approximately 80,000 sheep. The exhibits at the Katanning and Gnowangerup shows indicate not only the trouble which breeders are taking in establishing high-class studs, but also that the conditions are exceedingly favourable for the production of large frames, heavy fleeces, and high-class wool.

The Mixed Farming Era.

The country is now known to be equally adapted for the growth of wheat, oats, barley, rape, peas, and other farm crops, so that, with the fortunate possessions of high-type settlers, the district is only now in the beginning of a long, prosperous era.

I had the pleasure of attending the opening of the railway line as far as Gnowangerup, of again visiting it when the Government instituted rolling scrub by steam traction engine, and again in November of 1913, when here and there, from one end of the district to the other, the eye was delighted with waving crops, which be spoke the excellence of the land and the favourable character of the season.

There was one fly in the ointment of general success, and that was the development shortly before harvest of the fungus disease, known as red rust, which is so happily almost a stranger in Western Australia.

It just happened that the climatic conditions when the wheat was developing were favourable to this disease, and it was responsible for the average yield being less than it would otherwise have been. Last week I again had the pleasure of visiting the district to attend the Gnowangerup show, where the exhibits, especially of the sheep, were of a character not to be beaten in the State. Owing to the kindness of the Agricultural Society and Mr. J. E. Rowe, I was able to take a run through portions of the district as far out as Ongerup railway station, and form a general idea of the character of the crops, my own observations being supplemented by inquiries from many settlers from various parts.

At Ongerup.

The Ongerup crops were not as good as I expected, simply because I had formed the idea that they would be better there than in the districts farther north. This is not the case. Mr. Cecil Connel showed me his rainfall-record, which gives the total of 1,148 points. This should be more than sufficient to grow bumper crops.

It is not, however, the rainfall, but the distribution which is responsible for the character of the crop. Looking into details I find that there was no rain in January, 170 points in February, 61 in March, 91 in April, 70 in May, 20 in June, and 210 in July. Up to this time the season was in every way favourable, and farmers expected finer crops than last year. Unfortunately, August was dry in Ongerup, as elsewhere, and only 44 points were recorded. This would not have mattered if September had been favourable, but in this month only 18 points fell, and the weather remained dry until towards the end of October, when points were recorded. Owing to the dry August, September, and early part of October, the crops could not make ordinary growth, and in many cases fears, were expressed that there would be a failure.

The district, however, is late, and the crops were green, so that the late rains have made a great change for the better.

They are still short, but they are healthy with fair sized ears, which are full of grain, which promises to be plump and of excellent quality. One of the best crops in Ongerup is said to be that of Mr. Donald Munro, which I inspected. He has cut portion for hay, but that which is remaining should give a yield of from 12 to 15 bushels. I hear that there are other crops which are as good, or possibly a little better, but as a rule from 4 to 10 bushels would be a fair estimate of the varying fields.

Gnowangerup.

Around Gnowangerup and towards Broomehill the crops are better. One of the best farms in the district is that of Mr. A. H. Allardyce, from four to five miles out of the town. Here the soil is exceptionally good, and the appearance of the crops and homestead shows the owner to be a first-class farmer. He has stables, chaff-houses and grain bins which might be taken as a model by many intending builders. Here, as in all other work, Mr. Allardyce shows the thoroughness of his work. He also illustrates what can be done with inexpensive materials such as clay bats or sand-dried bricks. Another point of interest in this farm is the selection of a suitable piece of alluvial land alongside the Gnowangerup brook for his home garden, including both vegetables and fruit trees. I was told that Mr. Allardyce has 400 acres of wheat, which should yield from 10 to 15 bushels. This is my own estimate, for, unfortunately, Mr. Allardyce was not home at the time we called.

Mr. A. Gunther, who has an adjoining farm, has a good crop of Federation, which although short, should give a yield of 12 bushels. I saw a portion of Messrs. Formby Bros.’ crop, Mr. McDonald’s, Mr. Butterworth’s, Tallarup, Martinup, and many others, which vary from 6 bushels up to probably 15. There are bad crops also, but taken altogether there should be an average of 6 bushels, which will mean a very considerable quantity of wheat produced in the district, the chief varieties being Federation, Lot’s, Rerraf, Walker’s, and Baroota Wonder. It was a rather remarkable thing that I was not shown any exceptionally fine crops, although I heard of several. This was a pleasant feature of my trip, because, while it is pleasing to see show crops, what one desires is to form a correct estimate of the general average.

Mr. E. H. Richardson has 50 acres of crop sown on fallow in April, from which he is cutting fully 35cwt. of hay per acre.

Fodder Crops.

Chatting with Mr. Olive Richardson. I asked him what success they had had with their rape and oat crops grown for feeding sheep. He stated: “Perhaps you can form the beat idea when I tell you that we have sold some 2,500 fat sheep off our place during the season.” This was largely due to the crops of rape and oats sown for feeding purposes and fed off by the sheep.

Among the sheep sold were six wethers, for which they obtained £3 per head at Gnowangerup. These sheep were taken to Fremantle by the purchaser and sold by auction, where they realised 58s. 3d. That, I believe, is the record sale-yard price, beating the previous record of 55s., which was obtained for Ferndale sheep in March.

Unfortunately, I was not able to visit the farm of Messrs. Davis Bros., about which I have heard a great deal from time to time. I had a chat with Mr. Norman Davis at the show, when he told me that on their property of 10,000 acres, they have 800 under wheat, 150 acres under oats, 150 acres sown to spring rape. 855 acres under fallow, and that they had 250 acres of autumn rape. I unfortunately did not make a note of the number of sheep they had fattened, as well as other points of interest, because I expected to visit the farm and obtain fuller particulars, although Mr. Davis is rather averse to any publicity which may look like advertising.

Of course, the object of giving details is not the benefit of the individual, but to show the progress of the district, and, as Messrs. Davis Bros., like Mr. Allardyce and others, are showing what can be done on the land and how to utilise it for other purposes than merely growing green crops, one has to ask them to overlook the publicity which is given to their names and places.

Home Gardens.

I made a brief call at Martinup, one of the old properties of the district. The people who selected it must have known good land when they saw it, although the selection of the homestead block was determined by the water supply rather than by the soil. It is not necessary to speak at present of Mr. Vincent Murray’s merinos for every sheep man knows of them and of their excellent character. I cannot, however, avoid a special note about the beautiful flower garden in which one finds a perfect wealth of sweet peas, pelargoniums, roses, petunias, and other beautiful flowers.

Mr. Murray says that Mrs. Murray is responsible for this, but he pleads guilty to the crime of devoting some time from his farm and his sheep in order to dig the garden and do other hard work necessary for the success which is achieved by the joint work of himself and his wife.

At the Gnowangerup show Mrs. Murray exhibited 28 varieties of sweet peas, each bloom being of high-class, in fact it was the finest exhibit of sweet peas I have seen outside of Perth. Vegetables are not neglected, and this reminds me that mention should be made of the splendid display of vegetables at the Gnowangerup show exhibited by Mrs. Frank Murray, of Beejinup. One would not suspect from the great variety and excellent quality of these exhibits that the district had passed through an unusually dry season. Here, again, we have an example of how much the husband can do to make the home life pleasant by taking a little trouble in providing and caring for flower and vegetable garden. The garden is comparatively small, but Mr. Murray has water laid on from an overhead tank supplied by a windmill, and the result is a succession of vegetables all through the year, while the surroundings of the house are made beautiful by flowers, creepers, roses, shrubs, and so forth.

Field Peas and a New Wheat.

At the show, Mr. Monty House had on view a nice bundle of field peas from a field of 40 or 50 acres. They were short and showed the effects of the dry season, but they are worthy of notice because they were so well podded and because the pods were full of well-developed peas. I look forward to the time when peas will be one of the important crops of the district.

At the show also Mr. J. Garnett exhibited two bushels of a striking wheat called Holdings, which I was informed was raised by Mr. Holding from a stray plant which he found in his crop some years ago. Mr. Vincent House had a plant of this variety growing in a pot from which judged it to be a variety which is worthy of being fully tested for its suitability for the district.

Another point worthy of notice was the fact that Messrs. A. E. and Alex. Aylmore are utilising the forest of the country for the production of honey. One brother, I am told, had 100 hives of bees and sold 11 tons of honey last season. The other brother has 120 hives and did equally well. It is when settlers have the industry and capacity to look after side lines like these that they generally make special headway. Mr. Aylmore also pays special attention to his dairy cattle, for which he won several first prizes at the show.

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