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Tribute to Don and Joan Morrison by Robert Morrison

Yandoit Hall filled with locals in mid-July to pay tribute to Don and Joan Morrison at a thanksgiving afternoon tea. A number of tributes were shared acknowledging the many contributions both Don and Joan made to our community. Son, Robert who took over the family farm, gave a powerful tribute. Here’s the full version. An extract is is published in the September 2024 Chronicle.

I was asked to say a few words about mum and dad today, unfortunately I am recovering from the flu and regrettably haven’t been able to make it today. My two sisters Kay and Jeanette are still coming to terms with the loss of Mum and Dad and have respectfully declined to be present today. As for my brother Graeme has returned to New Zealand.
I believe Great marriages are no accident. The love and devotion Mum and Dad had for each other certainly stood the test of time .The fusion of these two souls over a life time I’m sure will last far beyond this world.
So how were this two people.
My father Don was borne to Dorothy and Edgar Morrison in 1931. He was a younger brother to Geoff and grew up here in Yandoit on the family farm as the 4th generation.
Leaving school dad not only worked on the farm but at times sort work picking grapes and working for a cropping farmer in the Mallee.
Dad used to say my Grandfather must have been a supreme optimist to think the fractured and undeveloped farm could ever support three families, so being the youngest he prepared to move away and start his life farming in the Mally. It was then his brother Geoff said he had decided to leave instead and sort a new life for himself and his wife Leslie else ware.
From then on Dad and my Grandfather set about clearing the land, repairing damage left behind by miners and installing an irrigation system that is still operating today.
My Mother Joan began her life west of Mt Tarrengower as her parents struggled to establish a farm prior to the building of the Cairn Curran Reservoir which consumed much of their property and is now known as Treloars bay. She was one of eight kids. Mum lost an older sister named Ester aged almost 5 to a snake bite and some years later her younger brother Joie under tragic circumstances.
As the eldest daughter of a second marriage she was given the job of helping raise her younger siblings as well as taking care of many of the house hold duties. Mum did not have an easy up bringing to say the least, it was in fact more like a real life Cinderella story. When Dad started going out with Mum he said to her “ I can’t offer you much, but I’ll promise you a better life than the one you’ve got “.
Like Dad, Mum held steadfast to her faith and for a while she also taught Sunday school.
After leaving school Mum’s artistic talent saw her gain work as a pattern maker for Thompson’s foundry in Castlemaine until she was married. It wasn’t uncommon for her ride her push bike from Maldon to Castlemaine and back for work.
Some of her drawings are still on display at the Maldon vintage Machinery museum.
The day they married was one of the happiest days of their life. Dad always said Mum was the most beautiful girl he had ever met and he couldn’t believe how lucky he was. He still carried a photo of her in his wallet up until the day he died.

Mum and Dads happily ever after began in Yandoit. Paying down debit and piecing the original farm back together.
Although life might have been challenging for them, it’s true to say they adored each other and loved their life together. Starting their own family brought them great joy with the arrival of twin girls followed by my brother and I.
The early 70’s saw the tragic loss of my little sister Judith who died shortly after birth, this lose never left mum and dad for the rest of their lives.
My parents embraced their young family. Some of my childhood memories include, a trip to the Royal Melbourne show, BBQ’s up the bush and the promise, if we were lucky might even get see a kangaroo! Then there were Bonfires for Guy fox night where the whole town would come around for cracker night. The occasional day trip to the beach and then there was the Maldon Easter procession. Mum loved to make costumes of Rabbits, mushrooms, and an emu using things like Chicken wire and paper Mashe. Mum would delight in dressing us up and sending us around in the parade.

The mid 70’s proved to be hard work milking around 60 cows and running up to 100 pigs. Mum was busy Raising four kids and Dad ran the farm with very little machinery and only basic infrastructure. Times were tough but about to get a lot worse when drought coincided with the Dairy industry collapse. Dad had no choice but to find work off farm to make ends meet. This was when he became a gardener in at what’s known now as the Castlemaine hospital.
Every week day he would get up, milk the cows, drive into Castlemaine to start work by 8:00 o’clock and work till 5:00. He would often spend his days walking up and down steep slopes mowing lawns and shifting sprinklers then return home to milk again. Sometimes he work into the night catching up on jobs or shifting irrigation pipes by torch light, before going to bed and doing it all over again the next day. One of the bosses in there said to him one day, ‘’why don’t you sell the farm and live an easier life’’ ? Dad paused then replied, “ Yes I could do that,…. but then I would think now what,….. I would probably want to buy a nice little farm somewhere with a creek running past it , I already have that !” Dad always knew the true value of what he had.
He eventually went from full time to 3 days a week and did this for 17 years . Not only did dads work load increase during this time but also mums as well. She would clean out pig sty’s, push wheel barrows of grain up hill to the dairy, clear rocks of paddocks, help cart in hay as well as keep house and raise us kids, attend mothers club meeting’s, school canteen, fire brigade ladies and played the organ at church.
It was at this time she also spent one day on the weekends scrubbing floors and doing laundry for her ageing mother and youngest brother while taking my sisters to piano lessons.
Although the days must have been incredibly long for dad, he also made time to be heavily involved in every community organization that was on offer.
His off farm work did however provide him with the opportunity to develop a close long standing working relationship with his work mates and enjoyed their company immensely. He also loved interacting with the elderly patients, bringing them flowers and taking an interest in them.
But for the first time in his life he had money in his hands. One of the first things dad bought was a Hoover floor scrubber and polisher for mum so she didn’t have get down on her hands and knees. Next was the first electric stove so time wasn’t wasted lighting the wood stove to cook his breakfast and thirdly a postie bike to bring the cows up for milking instead of walking around in the dark. We were a family and as kids we also did what we could to help out.
Eventually dad left his job and returned home for good where he could finally spend more time with mum and he and I could work alongside each other every day.
Dad’s job had given them the ability to eventually go on to build their retirement home and create a remarkable garden using the skills dad had acquired from work, coupled with mums passion for gardening.
It was a place they could immerse themselves in, bringing great pleasure to them both and now stands as a tribute to their hard work and self-sacrifice.
As a small child I always admired everything about my farther. I remember him tucking us tightly into bed and telling us stories. I remember him holding me tightly as we sat around the open fire at night. I remember the times he took me on the grey fergie tractor ploughing, raking hay or feeding out. It didn’t seem to matter, he was always doing something exiting and he couldn’t keep me away.
Over the years we spent so much time together and shared so much in common. We could talk about anything and everything and no subject was of limits. We just enjoyed each other’s company and the love of farming. He lifted me up when I was down, he gave me strength and encouragement when I need it, he was everything a farther could be and more, he was indeed the very wind beneath my wings.
All I ever wanted was to try and follow closely in my father’s footsteps – I wanted the life and love that Mum and Dad had lived.

The family they had raised meant they had a one daughter trained as a nurse to watch over them another who could step in as their carer, a son who would look after wood cutting and house maintenance when he could and the youngest son to honor the farming legacy they worked so hard for giving Dad a welcome distraction after mums passing .
He often said his two Great loves in his life were Mum and the farm.
Growing up as kids we had everything we needed, parents who loved us and the space and opportunity to grow into whoever we wanted to be. How grateful we are.
They didn’t live perfect lives, they lived Exemplary lives.
Rest in peace, Mum and Dad.

Married 67 years

Internet in Yandoit and around

I bit the bullet. I forsook Telstra 4G and bought Starlink. I forsook the Telstra mobile account and took a 12-month pre-paid plan with Boost, $230, which includes all AU calls and 160GB data. Boost is the ONLY Telstra reseller that uses the whole Telstra retail network for coverage. In most places, you don’t notice the difference between say Aldi (Telstra wholesale network) and Telstra/Boost. Try travelling to Birdsville! You get Telstra /Boost, not Aldi! (Of course, en route you will not get either).

I was lucky. At the time, Starlink was offering rural customers the hardware for $199. Now it is $599. Service is $139 per month, unlimited data and seriously high speed, e.g. 125Mbps down and 18.9Mbps up. Sometimes it’s faster.

It’s official! What used to be ‘Jim Crow Creek’ is now Larni Barramal Yaluk.

Geographic Names Victoria has gazetted the renaming of Jim Crow Creek to Larni Barramal Yaluk in the Victoria  Government Gazette.

Dja Dja Wurrung Group CEO Rodney Carter reiterated the importance of the name change. “This creek has an identity and has a spirit. We are at last affording it the respect it deserves by giving back its name, to now say its name is speaking to Country in the most beautiful way.”

Hepburn Shire Mayor Brian Hood said: “The term Jim Crow has its origins in racial segregation and anti-black racism and is therefore unacceptable. Larni Barramal Yaluk, which means home or habitat of the Emu Creek, reconnects the landscape with Dja Dja Wurrung culture and language,” Mount Alexander Shire Mayor Rosie Annea said:.“Changing the name is important for many reasons – it recognises and honours the traditional owners of our region, is inclusive, and connects us to our Aboriginal heritage. It also reinstates Dja Dja Wurrung language into the landscape.”

‘Yaluk’ also ‘Yallock’ means a creek, and appears to be widespread in nearby aboriginal languages. One will recognise names like ‘Woori Yallock’, ‘Natte Yallock’ and ‘Mordialloc’. Our first nations people were blessed: not having a written language (at least in the Western sense) they were never burdened by ‘spelling’! Romanisation of Aboriginal languages can only ever be a lame approximation, always a bit arbitrary.

How did the Creek ever have the name ‘Jim Crow’? …

Where did the name ‘Jim Crow’ come from?

Survival day events in Daylesford and Castlemaine

Terra Nullius Breakfast- Daylesford

When:  Tuesday January 26th, 2021, 8am-10am
Where: outside Daylesford Town Hall
Join the fifth Terra Nullius brekky and stand with First Peoples on this sorry day. The Terra Nullius breakfast takes place each year on January 26th. We gather outside Daylesford Town Hall on Dja Dja Wurrung spoken-for country and share breakfast together from 8am to 10am.
The breakfast is a community coming together to acknowledge the legal fiction that the nation state of Australia is founded on. We come together to grieve the suffering first peoples have endured due to ‘terra nullius’ and to praise Aboriginal resilience and renewal in the face of continued colonisation and continued use of the legal fiction ‘terra nullius’.
Always was. Always will be. All are welcome
Due to covid please just bring along your own breakfast, with thermos, cups and everything else you need. We will have tables etc., and of course the Terra Nullius banner will be rolled across the town hall for when you arrive.

Survival day smoking ceremony- Castlemaine

Everyone is invited to join a virtual dawn smoking ceremony to acknowledge Australia Day – Survival Day in Mount Alexander Shire.

Event details
What: Australia Day – Survival Day Dawn Ceremony
When: 6.00am, Tuesday 26 January
Where: Join the live stream via Mount Alexander Shire Council’s YouTube channel.

What: Australia Day – Survival Day Community event
When: 10.00am to 12.00 noon, Tuesday 26 January
Where: Victory Park, Mostyn Street, Castlemaine
Watch online via Mount Alexander Shire Council’s YouTube channel.
Bookings: Registration is essential for a COVIDSafe event. Book your free tickets at bit.ly/MtAlexBoxOffice or at the Visitor Information Centre in Mostyn Street, Castlemaine.

For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, Australia Day is recognised as Survival Day or Invasion Day with mixed feelings. While some consider it a day of mourning, many use the day to mark the survival of their ongoing traditions and cultures.

To acknowledge this pain and the ongoing journey towards reconciliation, activities in the shire will start with a dawn ceremony as a culturally safe and respectful way to mark the day.Mt Alexander Shire invite everyone to join a live-stream of the smoking ceremony, led by Dja Dja Wurrung Elder Uncle Rick Nelson from the peak of Leanganook (Mount Alexander) at 6.00am.

This ceremony is an acknowledgement of our shared history, and an expression of sorrow for the impacts of colonisation on the Dja Dja Wurrung, and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The dawn ceremony is a chance to connect and stand together in solidarity, witness an age old ceremony, and pause in silence to reflect on the strength and resilience of our country’s First Nations people.

For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, Australia Day is recognised as Survival Day or Invasion Day with mixed feelings. While some consider it a day of mourning, many use the day to mark the survival of their ongoing traditions and cultures. To acknowledge this pain and the ongoing journey towards reconciliation, activities in the shire will start with a dawn ceremony as a culturally safe and respectful way to mark the day.

Everyone is invited to join a live-stream of the smoking ceremony, led by Dja Dja Wurrung Elder Uncle Rick Nelson from the peak of Leanganook (Mount Alexander) at 6.00am.

This ceremony is an acknowledgement of our shared history, and an expression of sorrow for the impacts of colonisation on the Dja Dja Wurrung, and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It provides a platform for education and healing, and allows the community to be part of the living culture of the Dja Dja Wurrung people in the region.

The dawn ceremony is a chance to connect and stand together in solidarity, witness an age old ceremony, and pause in silence to reflect on the strength and resilience of our country’s First Nations people.

 

Clever Man: The Life of Paddy Compass Namadbara

Local writer and researcher Ian White is releasing this significant work in early November. Stoneman’s in Castlemaine will be stocking it and are accepting orders. Locals may remember Ian as the banjo player at some of our musical get-togethers with Maurie Gervasoni, myself and others. Well he’s not just a banjo player!

”Forty years since the passing of Paddy Compass Namadbara, his legacy still looms large amongst the people of western Arnhem Land. Ian White has dedicated decades to recording the story of Namadbara’s life and here he presents an extraordinary biography as told by the people of this region of the Northern Territory. The anecdotes about Namadbara’s exceptional powers as a ’clever man’ portray him as a community leader, teacher, sage, mystic, counsellor and healer. These are however more than just marvellous stories that defy explanation and evoke our wonder. The events of Namadbara’s life, described by so many witnesses from both sides of the cultural divide, and collated so respectfully in this book, are an ongoing challenge to how various fields of the social and cognitive sciences should deal with such matters.’ — Dr Murray Garde OAM, ANU”

https://www.newsouthbooks.com.au/books/clever-man/?fbclid=IwAR3pYNIfOOk0tIV_8wPPt1WhjO7n6BVwBDFng29eYXImIE4F_ZZgHD4od6k

August Chronicle

  • Here it is, the August Chronicle:
  • Community Voice: ”The overall objective of Community Voice is to be a conduit between the Hepburn Shire community and its Council”
  • Life in the time of lockdown, needs and deeds
  • Orange Movement in support of our Dja Dja Wurrung traditional owners
  • Hepburn Shire Local Law #2 Community Reference Groups
  • Call for content for the Chronicle
  • Yandoit Hills WhatsApp Group
  • Proposed Yandoit Hills Landcare Group

Download August Chronicle

The dust storm… water quality

I had an ‘issue’ with my tank water quality after that big dust storm. It was very murky. I installed a two-stage water filter from Bunnings. Cost $102. Very successful. The standard unit is a 5 micron sediment filter followed by a 5 micron carbon filter. The standard of the filtration seems to improve after a few days. My water is now clean and bright again. There are a range of filter cartridges available. The finest is 0.5 micron. But the standard cartridge seems to be doing the job. It is a fairly simple installation, particularly if you already have a dishwasher faucet.

This is an under-counter installation with a drinking water tap that can be mounted on the sink or benchtop.
https://www.bunnings.com.au/stefani-double-stage-undercounter-filter_p5090104

Lavandula Festival Sunday 12th January

Lavender Harvest Festival, Sunday 12th January 2020
It’s going to be exciting. We’ve secured many local producers of art, craft and gourmet food.
Click here to see more.
Gates open 10 am. It’s still only $6 per adult / $2 per school child.

Dogs always welcome on a lead.

Proposed Local Law #2 – a community-buster!

The bureaucratic lunatics have taken over the asylum…

“CONCERNS ABOUT HEPBURN SHIRE LOCAL LAWS

More than 120 people attended a special Hepburn Shire council meeting before Christmas to present their concerns to councilors about Local Laws #2. The new local laws prohibit salvaging materials from the local tip to repurpose, the selling of produce from your farm gate, and the picking of wild apples on public land. These are just some of the activities prohibited, or requiring a permit, in Council’s proposed updated version. Permits may be required for community gatherings in local halls, such as our cfa morning tea, if the Shire adopts new definitions of ‘event’ and ‘public place’. Permits are currently required for major events in public places such as festivals, but under the new definitions an event will now also include ‘social gathering,’ and a ‘public place’ is any park, road, licensed venue, community hall, school, church, market or sports ground. Many submissions have been lodged with the shire and Councillors are expected to make a decision by mid-February. If you want more information go to the website: hepburncommunity.org and if you have concerns about these local laws speak or write to your ward councilors.” (Chronicle, January 2020)

Vale, Amelia Delphina (“Millie”) Gervasoni

The community is greatly saddened to hear of the passing of Amelia Delphina (“Millie”) Gervasoni (nee Sartori) on 25th November, at the grand age of 103.

A Graveside Funeral Service to honour Millie’s wonderful life will be held at the Castlemaine Cemetery, Cemetery Road, Campbells Creek on Monday December 2nd, commencing at 2pm.

GERVASONI (Nee; Sartori), Amelia Delphina “Millie”

What’s on November-January

What: COMMUNITY BONFIRE Cancelled
When: from 6.30pm, Saturday November 23rd
Where: Yandoit Recreation Reserve

What: COMMUNITY MEETING HEPBURN SHIRE LOCAL LAWS
When: 6.30pm Tuesday December 3rd
Where: Daylesford Town Hall

What: YANDOIT PRIMARY SCHOOL CONCERT
When: 6pm, Wednesday December 11 th
Where: Yandoit Hall

YANDOIT CHRISTMAS CAROLS
When: 7.30pm, Sunday December 15 th
Where: Yandoit Uniting Church

What: CLASSICAL MUSIC CONCERT IN YANDOIT
When: 10.30, 12.30 & 2.30 Thursday January 16 th 2019
Where: Yandoit Uniting Church

See The November Chronicle for details