Rustic Wollombi

Take a pleasant drive on a country road. It follows the river where rushing water formed mini rock escarpments long ago,
special remnants of roadside vegetation,
a rustic wooden bridge - strong yet totally dilapidated,
original safety fences made of wire,
signs of a preceeding twisting even narrower track,
idle gatherings of Friesians 
and small roadside creamery in weatherboard (from a dairy of the ?fifties).
Countryside of vivid green folded hills and river valleys.
Cute for the day tripper.
Perhaps a different matter for busy people or the milk truck - refigerated B Double - doing the rounds of the dairies day after day after day....or so.

 Accommodation, Hunter Valley Vineyards.

 A door mat with words.
The building was moved to this location. It was a church property in a country town before . It is named Peppers Convent.

Modern and progressive. Be like every other place. No, the Hunter, could be different. Daring.

Instead of super highways promote good public transport. Take things in hand right now.

End traffic jams on the New England highway with good strategies that turn the daily exodus into an enjoyable sustainable experience by better public transport. 

Unlimited investment in concrete and roads might be turned around, ceased, deceased.  Expanses of land and nature left forever free with abundant natural life, instead of existing efforts that give the green light to suburb after suburb, strung out, dependent on highway as the alpha and the omega .  

It was remiss of me to fail to read a masterplan for the Hunter recently published, perhaps all is in hand! No worries!

 Maitland. Which is the Hunter river and which is the path?

Mr Close found the country a dense bush, covered with scrub and ancient trees, whose arched branches almost concealed the river, and whose leafy boughs were so impervious to light that to walk beneath them, even in broad daylight, was like walking in the dimness of twilight. This dense forest and bush land Mr.Close set to work to clear, ... and the result of his labours now is before us in fertile meads and peaceful habitation.

These lines refer to nearby Morpeth where the alluvial flats have been cleared of trees and scrub. Imagine the cedar trees that once grew along the river valleys. What will future generations think of our land-use here and now?
Maitland  (Newcastle etc) needs to go high rise. Naturally there is demand for new housing and towns spread everywhere, up hill and down dale, from Metford to Aberglassen and beyond, but scope exists for pockets of high density living, well planned rather than an after thought, when suburbs become too hugh to service. High density is sustainable, and while it is not the local tradition, surely state of the art, green, affordable, high rise apartments could be popularised and taken up.


Extract from Morpeth and I by A P Elkin quoting Bishop Tyrrell 1866. Mr Close took up a grant at Green Hills (or Morpeth so to speak) about 1821. The locality (including Morpeth) was known officially as Illalaung.

Hunter River with East Maitland and or Tenambit in the distance.

These figures were published and outline fees for local primary church or private school  (for round five to twelve years of age) with four terms per 'school year'.
Tuition Fees per term: 1 child: $308. 2 children: $539. 3 children: $693. per term.
Resource Fee per term: Kinder: $88. Year 1: $88. Year2: $88. Year 3: $94. Year 4: $94. Year 5: $82. Year 6.$82.
Technology Fee per term: $20 per family.
Diocesan & Family School Building Levy per term: $173 per family.
Further to this,  a big discount is quoted for some of these fees if paid in a single annual amount. The more affulent reap those discounts.
I believe the policy is that a child is not turned away if the total fees are beyond the ability to pay, but I don't know about the latest policy.  And parents are reminded that a fee clearance has been requested by the high schools for children in Year 6.
Private schools are fee paying schools and I imagine the fees are much higher at some other private schools.
Government funding is also provided to private schools which have increased in number. The privatisation of education is the trend but hugh support is also important for State school education.

Now and Then.

A photo of sorts of Maitland Court House and a sketch, of sorts, made in about 1980.

Across the river is a house. A local said it was originally a Cobb & Co stageing post. A shaded side track follows the river.

This is Gresford, with,  I believe, the Paterson River which is providing water for the town and is having the small scale supply infrastructure rebuilt. The Allyn River in not far away either.

Health and weight: My cholesterol is lower and a good combination of fat prevails and statins staved off, but  keeping on track is what it takes and there is hope of that. Someone swore by the eating of beans every day, along with exercise, for overcoming some forms of diabetes. A reasonable endeavour no matter what.
Statins contributed to a dramatic fall in death rates in England and Wales last year says an official report. About 5 millions people in Britain are on statins. Other opinion totally rejects this conclusion, according to the Telegraph UK.

Cross over the river

Maitland Station, on the main northern line, is a kilometer or so from the Hunter river but in the past, flood waters have filled a low lying area nearby and the station went under water with possible loss of life. Since then levee banks are designed to protect certain areas.
Update: levee banks existed prior to 1955 flood and went on to be widely improved. A story around the failure of the levee is that stock had crossed it and cut deep tracks that weaken the wall. Mount Pleasant Street area was largely washed away and water rushed on under the Long Bridge, while the other side of town met with other disasters.   

At the station, a door way is marked and shows the flood water levels. The lowest: 1949, next 1893 and the highest mark is for the hugh 1955 flood. The door way is on a stepped-up area above the railway line.
No really big flood has occured since 1955.

A third crossing, as they say, over the Hunter river is under construction and is shown in the distance if you look carefully it is just visible. From East Maitland and Pitnacree Road, it crosses the flood plains and the farms, which,  post 1950,  have a system of levees to contain the river when it floods.  This area was under water and is what is intended in any future floods. New buildings are banned.
Old maps show a river crossing round this same point but perhaps the river changed course and a structure was washed away.

On the other side of the river the new route by-passes Maitland forLorn. 

The lone store at the junction at Woodville sells fuel and a bit of everything and is an agent for Australia Post. Local kids arrive by bike after school.
The tall pine trees are dying of old age despite various efforts to preserve them.

Amazing news: Logging in old growth forests in Tasmania will end but it will take some time to achieve.
A real environmental activist knows how their work is a life time venture, it means involvement over the long haul.
Self interest motivates some other citizens. Do nothing about environmental issues until some threat looms which, for example, could marginally devalue certain property and ventures, then take to the streets in protest.
All the same, I do little for the environment except for drawing attention or supporting topics and efforts for a lighter 'footprint' wherever possible, like, questioning energy consumption. Take a look at the energy used by giant HD Televisions. LED LCD televisions use less power.

Turf growing and harvesting just out of Maitland.  White ibis-type birds follow the workings. A pallet is ready for transporting. 'Buchanan Turf. Home of Australia's Sir Walter. Always greener. Premium lawn turf' - one of the growers.

To a casual observer like myself, the river plains along the lower Hunter River grow grain crops on a smallish scale, lucerne crops are a given and potatoes were grown, probably along with some other food crops. Overall, this does not look like really intensive food growing - we havn't even begun. There must be a lot of potential for local  'food security'.

I can recall only one large 'hot house' farm - under cover - and it is closer to the central coast. From where does this region get most of its fresh food?
At this stage, instead of food, we can afford to grow turf and build roads and housing on what seems like  land more suitable for food growing - provided enough water is left in the Hunter and the other rivers.   

Oak Milk Bar Restaurant at Freeman's Waterholes just out of town had a very popular past.

Several Oak Milk bars operated in the region possibly before the advent of other fast foods and Oak rivalled them in every way.

Perhaps the trade routes change. Passing trade changes. An outdoor picnic area, under the trees is overgown and the miner's memorial has been relocated. 



Oak Flavoured Milk originated in the Hunter. Companys change. The brand is now owned by Parmalat - a mulitnational Italian dairy and food corporation. UHT milk is a specialization of theirs as well as the production of all dairy products in all the continents.  The company survived a colourful period of financial goings-on involving fraud and hugh losses (surrounding the CEOs in Italy). Sponsorship of Formular One was another hughly appropriate interest of theirs. Well, milk is wonderful value for money and is full of protein, calcium and....and fat (as well as other vital stuff).

A name like Freeman's Waterholes  must date back to the days of early settlement.

Along side the cafe - 'milk bar'

Juliet, Clydesdale Mare, head down..... work work work....day-trippers....Morpeth.

The Hunter Valley Co-operative Dairy Company Limited, Hexham, (just outside Newcastle), 1953. Known for Oak brand products. The milk bar or cafe, famous for real milk shakes, was a busy mecca for 'Sunday drivers' and others.
The factory is disused and believe is changing hands with cheese makers moving in.
Now, two bridges span the Hunter river at that point and along with an interchage have completely changed the setting. 
Beginning in 1903, more recently, this company went on to merged with Dairy Farmers company from around Sydney. The company had other factories in our valley, including Morpeth and Muswellbrook and a network of centres and developed pure-breed herds and pasture improvement and studied all aspects of milk production as well as state of the art milk processing but all that has changed now.

While stravaiging down Pitnacree Road towards the Hunter River the corn was a high as an elephant's eye.
Pitnacree road from East Maitland came to a dead end  before construction of a bridge over the Hunter was commenced.
Pitnacree must have origins in Scotland and is the name of a neolithic barrow unearthed in Perthshire.

 

Hotel in the town of Muswellbrook, Hunter Valley. November time of the year.

A house and garden built in the boom years around 1900 not far from Newcastle in East Maitland. The artist Margaret Olley is said to have owned it at one time when she acquired a number of properties in Newcastle and district.
As a generous patron of the arts, we often hear of the acquisition of works made possible by Margaret Olley who enriches our enjoyment of art.
This work is signed by Val Anderson who sketched historical buildings far and wide in the Hunter Valley.

The Goulburn Valley is splendid at this time of year. The Goulburn river is a major tributary of the Hunter river and they join up near Denman.