THIS BLOG

Not so long back a nice young couple came & spent a couple of hours in the garden ooohing & ahhhing & “Did you see that!?!” (usually an Eastern Spinebill). After going around the garden several times the young man approached T(Tina) & threw his hands in the air, asking enthusiastically “What’s the story?” A long & animated discussion ensued about plants, birds, colour, weather, climate, the importance of Nature to a happy life & a philosophy of gardens & life. It is intended that this Blog takes on the role of that conversation.

After some chatter & laughter the young couple got down to some purchasing & finally left….This is what I hope this Blog can provide…a bit of entertainment…some information…& something to mull over  that may even change  the way you think about things in the future!

The Blog will be separated into a number of sections.

History…the history of the area….the history of the property….& the history of the garden…& us, G&T.

Diary…Events …What’s flowering in the garden…Seasonal chores….Climate & weather…our blessed wildlife &  their seasonal effects on the garden, etc.

Philosophy…our thoughts about gardening, life, Nature & stuff.

Elements of design…colour…shape…mass versus space…light versus shade…& other elements which effect the psychological effects of the most complex & satisfying of all Art Forms…The Garden.

This Blog, like our garden, will not be completed in one day…it will be about the journey, not the destination…. a project of successive approximations….As one part is completed we will move on to the next area, always returning to maintain & review…It will be apt to wander…There will always be something not yet done…It will seem never-ending…There will always be something to look forward to.


HISTORY

The region around Mt. Pilot, Domma Mungee, originally belonged to the Duduroa clan. With permission of the Duduroa it was also used by for 5 or 6 other clans as a “stopping off” point on the annual migration. The Duduroa themselves returned to Domma Mungee after the second heavy rains of Autumn ‘Weeitt’,  when the creeks would be flowing. They used the caves & rock shelters of the area throughout the winter, returning to their hunting & foraging grounds on the plains to the west when the warm dry whether of Spring ‘Gna-lleu’, came on. They would set fire to the forest area as they left to prepare the ground for regrowth for the following year & send the wildlife out on to the plains where they could be hunted throughout the summer, ‘Cotchi’.

In Autumn they would set fire to the grasses of the plains, before returning to Mt Pilot, so completing the annual cycle.

Yeddonba is a nearby cave art spot (10 mins drive from Humming Garden) where the Thylacine or Tasmanian Tiger is depicted. The Thylacine died out on the mainland some 3,000 years ago. There is now no-one to redraught the drawings every year as once would have occurred, so the art is now fairly faint.


THE GIDLEYS

Around 1860 Thomas & Winifred Gidley became squatters on the El Dorado west station, a land-holding stretching from Chiltern to the creek at El Dorado. Winifred ran a hotel on the current site of Humming Garden, on the stage coach run between Chiltern & Beechworth. Thomas ran cattle & later sheep.

Thomas became notorious for cattle rustling, sheep duffing and other shenanigans. He was also very litigious, frequently employing the best QCs to pursue his aims. He was fond of  accusing his neighbours of stealing his sheep. One modus operandi was to brand his own sheep with his neighbour’s brand & then declare that all the sheep on his neighbour’s land rightly belonged to him. So fearful were his neighbours of facing the protracted legal battles that he was fond of that they created a “fighting fund” to protect themselves.

In the end he lost a major case in the Supreme Court. The trial was avidly followed colony-wide. Without the money to cover legal fees & fines the  Gidleys lost the property to the Bank of Australasia. Thomas Gidley was found guilty of perjury & gaoled for 2 years.

There is much more to this colourful history…..More will be added as time allows.


THE 1920s & “THE SPANISH”

In the late 1990s ancient Spanish lady was brought to the property by her ageing “children”. Although she had spent the major part of her life in Australia she could now hardly remember a word of English. Her “children”, who spoke very little Spanish, translated for her as best they could. The story was that she & her husband had bought the property in the 20s & began building a home for themselves! Some of the foundations & stonework still exist…in the “orchard”.

It seems that her husband…following Spanish tradition had put the family history on a piece of paper inside a bottle & buried it  under the right hand corner of foundations.

In the end the block proved to be too far from school for the kids & the family was forced to move to Chiltern…They continued to spend every weekend  here and to farm the block until after WW2.

About Us

US

We, Gavin & Tina, (G&T) both grew up in Melbourne. Tina had an aunt with a dairy farm in near Wonthaggi. Her Dad was a country boy who always had a huge vegetable garden that kept the neighbourhood in veg. The yard always contained a number of malodorous drums of liquid manure at various stages of readiness (ie. fetid & bubbling, or not bubbling yet!).

I had no real family background in gardening, though we did have a huge garden in Rosanna & from the moment I was tall enough I was responsible for mowing the grass with a temperamental old Victa. My father (an Engineer) hated anything that grew! As a shrub put on growth just prior to flowering he would announce that it was “getting out of hand” & needed cutting back. He taught me how to prune using an axe. For many years I thought the definition of “shrub” was “woody  plant that does not flower”.

T &I shared a rented house in West Heidelberg, (pre-gentrification) where we indulged our love of gardening & flowers. After a knife-wielding rapist was chased through our yard by a dozen police & a police dog…(without waking us)…it seemed inevitable that we should move to the country.

Moving in 1980

Renovations begin 1982

By the end of 1980 we had purchased the “picturesque farmlet” advertised in the Real Estate section of the local paper…only to be told by locals that we had every weed growing except for blackberries, (which need good soil). We had the worst soil in the district …nothing but gravel…& our paddock dried off before anywhere else in the North East!…Obviously nothing would ever grow here!

The ”house” was a relocated army/migrant hut. No power, no water, no insulation, no plumbing etc. The interior was divided into 4 separate “dwellings” & there were holes kicked through the dividing walls. No-one had ever lived here. The exterior walls were corrugated iron & the roof corrugated asbestos. It needed a little work. I’m not saying we did it hard but I am saying
that as naive city kids we learned a few lessons we weren’t anticipating having to learn! As an example, Tina learned to iron the outfit for her job as a legal secretary with a flat-iron heated on a combustion stove!…& learned how to take her toilette al fresco in all weathers…She swore she would never be an “indoor girl” again.

Unbeknown to us 1980 was an exceptionally wet year. There was running water in the “creek” (never seen that again)! We could dig a hole a foot deep anywhere in “the garden“ & get enough water to fill a bucket. Sweet Corn in raised beds grew 9 feet tall with only a couple of buckets of water.

By January the weather had warmed up. 25 days in a row above 35c…6 days above 40…The locals said…Oh no…the hot weather doesn’t start till February.

That Autumn, come the rains,  we started planting fruit trees in the “orchard” above the house…the idea being to be as self-sufficient as possible. We started with citrus & in winter planted apples, pears, plums, apricots, almonds, chestnuts, hazelnuts, mulberries, etc, etc, etc. The next summer was very hot & much drier…We were still watering by bucket.

The following year there were a record number of frosts in a row & Lime trees & Lemon trees we had planted the previous year succumbed…you live & learn

Fire….flood…frost…drought…tornados…rabbits…wallabies…possums…grasshoppers…livestock…What can I say? We delight in Nature & it delights at our expense…It’s called Irony!

30 years on

DIARY

We have come to the end of a difficult winter. (Sprinter is definitely here!) The black birds are making the most of the concert hours at the beginning & the end of the day; King Parrots are pristine green; Mr Satin Bower Bird (we have 2 & their retinues)is impossibly gleaming metallic blue & full of a multiplicity of trills & squeaks & grunts & croaks. A great imitator of turkeys, foxes, kookaburras etc.

Buds are swelling; magnolias opening; maples & ash beginning to entertain large numbers of bees;  crocus have burst & the violets are everywhere!

Every season there is something to learn…& a difficult season…(like this winter)…is the best teacher of all. This winter started wet…(things rotted)…then it became extremely cold…(lots of snow in Stanley)…& then more frosts & sharper frosts than we’ve had in years. There is much to be learned by studying which plants have been frosted (or rotted) & where one clump of a plant has been chewed up & spat out by the conditions & another clump of the same plant has sailed through unscathed.