Sep2013_Mt MEE RAMBLINGS
by Ian Wells
Kalahari Downs is enjoying beautiful weather as I write. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and the quiet little westerly cools a day that would otherwise perhaps be a smidgeon too warm for comfort.
I can almost hear the ticks hatching and the lantana germinating!
Best of all, things have dried out enough to allow paddock travel, and yet there is still plenty of moisture to keep the grass growing.
Such Utopia cannot last!
A reminder that the Savoyard Singers perform in our Hall on Sunday 8th September. Their selection of songs seems especially to my taste this year, and I am looking forward to their most enjoyable concert ever – and of course to the afternoon tea! If there’s time as you read this, book for this pleasant and relaxing Sunday afternoon with:
Kay or Joyce (5498 2104 – 5498 2270).
The Mt Mee Hall will be 80 years old this month!
It was built by our struggling settlers at the height of the Great Depression, and it was a mighty result for a small community enduring hard times.
To commemorate that remarkable feat, Committee has decided to host a luncheon and to invite anyone who feels any sort of connection with the grand old building.
So past and present helpers, anyone who was matched – (or hatched) on the premises, or even former miscreants thrown out of one of the former dances for some trivial misdeed, are invited to be part of the celebration.
The date is Sunday 22nd September and it is a free lunch!
But please book ahead for catering purposes – phone Kay (5498 2104) or Joyce (5498 2270).
This will be an amazing get-together. Don’t miss it!
The news this month is of the Mt Mee Community Church. The Church committee and that of the Mt Mee and District Historical Society have begun a dialogue which just might lead to a new building on some of the unused Church land, donated back in 1922. This could house a museum, a workshop that might also be available to the community as a Mens’ Shed, and badly needed social and storage facilities for the Church.
All agree that it would need to be designed and located very carefully so that it did not intrude on the visual character of the Church building and its gardens. If done successfully though, it could be a conspicuous win/win for both organisations, for the Church desperately needs the facilities and the museum desperately needs to find a site in the Historic precinct.
Discussions continue……..
In further Church news, a monograph has just been published documenting just how the settlers of Mt Mee went about building their community church in 1922 and how the building survived and was eventually rescued and completed. This seemingly boring topic is in fact quite fascinating local history.
Copies are available at the Church, at ‘birches’ restaurant, at the Markets and some other local outlets, and all proceeds go to Church funds.
Hall News: There is news for bums too! As I write, the new stacker chairs ordered to replace the Hall’s ageing fleet are about to be delivered. Come and test drive at the Savoyard concert! Some of the existing chairs have been sold. But we still have supplies on sale at $7.50 for blue and $15.00 for green – phone Neil 5498 2148 or Ian 5498 2104.
Other News: Spring is here and it is wild dog baiting time once more! Council has advised that the first round at Mt Mee is planned for Monday 9th September, with a follow-up on 14th October.
Curiously, the subject of wild dogs came up while I was showing some Kiwi farming visitors some ‘good’ cattle at the Ekka! They found it hard to believe that there is no longer any tuberculosis in Australian cattle, because New Zealand, like Britain, is still struggling with eradication. In both countries the problem lies with an intermediate host or vector animal which can spread the tubercle bacilli. In Britain it is the badger, but in New Zealand it is the Australian possum, which was, for some reason, acclimatised in that country by early settlers. It has proven such a successful immigrant that it is now a major pest – destroying bushland and grassland. It is that terrestrial habit in pasture that has resulted in a high TB carrier rate in New Zealand possums, and the recycling of that infection back into cattle.
And a reason for that successful acclimatisation, and for spending so much time on the ground, is the lack of a predator. There are no wild dogs in Godzone!
So we can be thankful that our dingoes and wild dogs have both kept our possum numbers in check and kept them in the trees
The balance of nature is a wonderful thing – if it is properly maintained!
Further on the subject of tuberculosis in cattle, I was very interested in Ryle Winn’s dam story in the last Grapevine. When I was tuberculin testing dairy herds in the district during the 60s and 70s I came to know many of those hard working people whose properties were later lost to the dam. There were some characters amongst them!
I wish the trio, (some characters amongst them too), every success with their plan to document those unfortunate families who lost their way of life, and to commemorate them appropriately.
