An Early Settler's Letter.
My mother who was Jane Martin, came from Scotland when she was 8 years old, and were 6 months coming out. Her people lived at Koroit in Victoria, he was a blacksmith by trade. Father came from England when 18 years old and went to work on a Station as a boundary rider, he met my mother there and when they married, continued on the place was called the PUG HUT Tarpeena 8 miles from Mt Gambier there was more blacks than white people and they were in their wild state used to speer the cattle on the stations. They said white fellow him come along my country and kill kangaroo and bang bang duck all go away. They caught the ducks with a reed with a piece in the end of the reed to resemble a butterfly. They floated on their back and twirled the reed in their mouth and got the ducks by the legs and pulled them under and killed them and let them float until they had enough. They lived in wirlies made of boughs and had mats made of kangaroo skins which they sewed together with sinews out of the kangaroo tails.
Mother had 9 of family at Tarpeena and one of the lubra's used to go for walks with her and carry one of the little one's; one day they were out walking and she dived into some reeds and came up holding a snake close by the head, it was wound around her arm and she patted it and said my word big one tuckout tomorrow. My eldest brother born down there they said him King first white piccanine born our country. Mother was eighteen months there before she saw a white woman and was so please to see someone like herself she went to meet her. The early settlers had a hard life they had shingles and bark to roof their homes and post and rail fences with boughs under the rail to keep the sheep in and the horses and cattle were wild to get a horse to ride they were mustered and drove into yards ten feet high and lassoed and kept tied up until they got quite, then they had a saddle and bridle put on them and left a bit longer. Then the gamest one got on to try them out. There were several men employed on the station, I never heard father say how many acres was on the place. I was quite young when my people took up the land at Leeor and was about 9 years when I started school and we saw lots of bullock wagons on the reserve with loads of groceries going to Victoria from Custon. My father and the other farmers carted their wheat to Custon, everything came from Adelaide by boat to Kingston.
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FOOTNOTE:
The railway line between Kingston and Custon, through Lucindale, Naracoorte, Francis and Bangham was built long before the current one that connects Melbourne to Adelaide. All farmers produce from the western part of Victoria and that part of South Australia covering Wolseley, Bordertown and Mundalla was sent by rail to Kingston where it was loaded onto sailing boats bound for Adelaide or even back to the Mother country. Once the road and rail was established from Wolseley through Bordertown, Keith, Tintinara and over the River Murray and on to Adelaide, then the service to Kingston became expendable. The rail service continued to operate for many years but at a great loss until it finally succumbed to the enevitable closure.
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