Leaving The Land

Leaving The Land

By Paul McCann

There are many stories of people who have left their home such as farmers and their families  who have suffered great difficulties in  times of drought . Some of them  have never returned again . One such family here to appreciate are the Bunion’s whose  love and trust was tested during years of perseverance with drought on their farm in the far southern tablelands of New South Wales .

After the war was over Bill Bunion
returned to Australia to his fiancé Mae . They were to be wed just before the second war began but they were forced to put the wedding off  until the war was over as Bill had been enlisted to go and fight in Borneo .

Fortunately or  Bill and Mae he received his severance pay and was allocated a large property with cattle , sheep and a farmhouse to begg in a new life after serving his country during the war .

They both looked forward to getting ahead and began to work  the land they were given .

Children arrived one after the other like crops that were harvested .
They invested time and money and borrowed more  to build a bigger home for their family  . Before too long they were the proud  owners of a large farmhouse on five hundred acres green . They had three hundred and seventy head of cattle, and twenty thousand sheep .
There were horses stables and sheds with scores of bottle fed yearlings to keep . All the family
worked day in and night out on the family farm  sometimes without getting any sleep.

The kids had all grown and all was well until the drought arrived and slowly but surely it broke them .

Dust lay around the farm where once was green fertile lands and they never bothered to take out any
insurance on the farm . They never thought that a drought would one day take everything they had .
Day by day they had prayed hard for a break in the weather, but everyday it always looked the same, dry and desolate with  no sign of rain . There was nothing to look forward to and the blue sky had no silver lining only more heartache as the sun shone down 

and bush fires raged all around the state . Bill was buying truck after trucking lucern that to feed his livestock and tankers of water to fill his dams . Eventually it was cheaper to buy bullets than feed his animals so he began to shoot and butcher his  livestock .
There was no  mercy, the drought took everything that they could sell.
Then they left their  farm to the flies and the dust and walked away saying goodbye, farewell .
Too tired to work the land, to hurt to understand they made their way to the city where Bill found a job packing shelves in a supermarket .
Though their home had always been  in the country now in the city they had been  bound by streets and factories . Bill found it difficult to settle into  store-mans work and due to stress he had an argument one day with his supervisor and left  the job . After that it was hard to pay the rent so they looked for a
smaller and  a cheaper house,
but everywhere they looked it was just the same . High rent with small rooms every place they went.

Bill and his family ended up moving into a caravan feeling depressed about everything .

The children started school ,Mae got a job -and Bill went from job to job unhappy but still confident of his love for all his family /

Theat together and went everywhere together as a family .

Summer in their caravan was like living inside an oven and winter froze them but they all got used to the freeze , the squeeze and the sweat .

They were able to adapt to their new life in the city .
Bill had a great idea instead of working in factories and warehouses he managed to buy an old lawn mower and a cheap car and decided to go around cutting lawns and  doing gardening work . He had always done work on the land and knew how keep gardens neat and tidy .

Things began to improve immediately for him as he was much happier working with the soil and he was used to working hard .

In short a matter of time he began to sleep easier and think positively about life again . From time to time thoughts of the past did haunt him but he quickly got all those out of the way .He had learnt how to be in control and keep his cool . 

Eventually Bill Mae and their had saved up enough money to move out of the caravan and into a little home  in the suburbs where Bill dug out a area that became a veggie patch where he grew lots of greens and herbs /

For him it was therapy, not hard work , but all the same, it reminded him of working around the farm and all he kept thinking about was the land he left behind ,

Years passed and all the children grew up and were married and started to raise their own children , Bill and Mae wrinkled well and their hair now turned to silvery grey. They were all alone now and got used to their quiet home in the twilight years of life.  With the children gone they got used to each other and looked back and smiled through the tears.

Their old bones began to ache and creek and Bill started writing things down
just in case he started to forget , He couldn’t remember now if there were jobs to be done and he found it hard to see.
Mae couldn’t hear that good either but both of them understood they always had each other and as they went to sleep every night Bill couldn’t stop thinking of the day he and his family left the land . It was too hard to forget where his roots had been set . He remembered how he used to thirst for water in the summer with the sweat rolling s down his face and always he was brought back to the present as Mae gave thanks to God for another day and the hardships that they had endured . Then she would look at Bill and  say

” They say you must give to receive and I've gave my life to you.. We’ve seen the good and the bad but we have a love that is true .So when the day comes for us to leave this world all we’re taking is our soul , the rest can be left in the dust .

End