Archive for May, 2006

Bagalla O’Connell

O’Connell, or Connie for short was bred by our friend Ian ‘Spud’ O’Connell. She’s a black and tan Kelpie and was presented to us as a tiny wee puppy when we launched The Stockmen in Casterton.

Spud was so thrilled with the novel he donated this little ‘pick of the litter’ to our Treasure family. At just two, Connie is the nicest Kelpie I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with.

She’s got a sense of humour, is obedient, yet strong on her stock and even though she lives to work, she’d still make the perfect lap dog if we asked her to come inside on the couch. We’ll be breeding from her for sure.

Our Beaconsfield Boy …

We’ve got a border collie on trial at the moment. His name’s Max.

He’s a big streak of a dog with one ear up and one ear down, and at four years of age, there’s a whole lot of puppishness in there still.

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Jillaroo — the back cover blurb

After a terrible argument with her father over their family property, “Waters Meeting”, Rebecca Saunders throws her swag in the ute and heads north with her three dogs.

A job as a jillaroo takes her in to the rowdy world of B&S balls, Bundy Rum and boys. When she at last settles down to a bit of study at agricultural college, her life is turned upside down by the very handsome, but very drunken party animal, Charlie Lewis.

Will she choose a life of wheat farming on vast open plains with Charlie? Or will she return to the mountains, to fight for the land and the river that runs through her soul?

It’s only when tragedy shatters her world that Rebecca finds a strength and courage she never knew she had, in this action-packed novel of adventure, dreams and determination.

A special book

My first novel Jillaroo has been a runaway bestseller and is still selling by the truckload since its release in 2002.

It’s a special book, because I began it in 1999 when John and I went to work on a cattle station at Rolleston, Queensland.

I love the strong character in Rebecca Saunders and felt I could put more into her while I actually lived station life – my jobs included stock camp cooking, dunny cleaning, snigging bulls and riding in the chopper on bull catching adventures.

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Tug of war

I was bitten by a dog when I was pregnant with my first child. I remember my brother saying, “Ha! You’re going to give birth to a werewolf.”

It hadn’t been the dog’s fault — I was casting her out around the sheep in the shearing shed yards when, bang, she got caught in a rabbit trap. Some brainless hunter had set it in the bloody yard!

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Excuse me, there’s a stallion in my laundry …

We hadn’t even got to breakfast this morning when our first farming fiasco occured.

Akbar, our stallion, had opened his gate overnight and helped himself to our lawn … (the last time he got out he hung out with his mares all night under the hills hoist — as you do!)

This time he was inspecting the ute in the carport and checking out the tool shed. But when he saw me and the kids through the glass door of the laundry, he decided he’d come and say hello.

Our filly, Marigold had once followed us into the narrow room to inspect the rustling shopping bags, and Akbar is no less curious.  He managed to push the door open and get two hooves up the step before we suggested he leave.

He’s back in his paddock now. I can see him from my office window; back hoof rested, ears back, probably sulking that I didn’t offer him Weetbix for breakfast.

About me

I was born in 1968 — the year that Stephenwolf’s, “Born to be Wild” was a hit.

As soon as the school bell rang I headed for the hills to Jillaroo on a property between Bothwell and Ouse and set about being wild.

In New South Wales, I studied rural business at Orange Agricultural College and gained my professional woolclassing stencil … which I still use every year in our shed.

I worked the shearing sheds in Western New South Wales before returning to university to study Print Journalism in Bathurst, where I became a creative writing addict.

My job as a journalist for a host of rural newspapers and magazines took me to many parts of Australia and it was during my work as a rural reporter for ABC radio that I met my future husband, John, in a pub called ‘Ringers’ in Sale!

John, a fifth generation cattleman from the Treasure family in Gippsland, Victoria now farms with my dad and me in Tasmania. He’s also a part time sports teacher and farrier … and all round gorgeous guy.

My first screenplay, “Albert’s Chook Tractor” was made into a half-hour drama for SBS television and featured one of my Kelpies, a couple of my chooks and John as an extra.

We have two billy-lids, Rosie and Charlie, and we breed and train Kelpies and Collies, Waler horses, prime lambs and merinos and generally have a good time of it — but never seem to sit and watch telly — unless McLeod’s Daughters is on.

My catch phrase is: “It’s farmers who feed our families and it’s writers who feed our minds and our culture.”

Classic Akbar

Nicknamed Johnny, our young black stallion has fitted into our farming family. Still a youngster, Akbar is expecting his first foals in the near future. His genetics come from the best of two wild horses — a stallion from The Garden Station and a mare from Cordillo Station … both properties famous for their closed breeding of pure Waler bloodlines.

Still a baby, Akbar belies his years when John rides him out on our place to do stock work. He’s sure to inject some real toughness and level headedness into our horses.

About the Waler

Waler enthusiasts, Ben and Jackie Kinblad saved our filly Edith and others in her mob because they knew just how incredible the genetics of these horses were. The Waler refers to army horses which were sourced mostly from New South Wales for the Boer, First and Second World War and Edith is a descendant of these sturdy, brave horses.

Edith and her mates have the genes of survival, toughness, stamina and level-headedness … all the genes a good soldier needs.

These horses are the fittest of the fittest because they have survived in the wild in the toughest desert country imaginable. In fact, they haven’t just survived on bare country they have thrived, sometimes living only on seed pods buried in the dust for tucker.

Not only that, in the wild horse herd, the ones that survive aren’t the flighty ones or the ones that are too quiet … they are the ones that have a good balanced temperament.

Some people may believe these foundation Walers to be ‘inbred’ because of the closed bloodlines, but the scientists of horse genetics will tell you that they are less inbred than many of our specialist breeds that exist today.

Natural selection has deemed Edith to be the most genetically sound due to her survival. It’s her hardiness that we intend to inject into our horses.

Edith

Edit arrived about two years ago after being part of a cull from the Newhaven Station on the edge of the Tanamai (spelling?) Desert near Alice Springs.

Not just a brumby, Edith is the purest of Australian war horse bloodline you can find in this country… She’s had no outside genetics in her blood since 1946, which makes her as Aussie and as tough as you can get.

We plan to breed from her soon and her foals will become the foundation of our Treasure Waler breed.

She was one of a handful of horses who were rescued by the Brumby Protection Group after conservation group Birds Australia bought the property and implemented a cull of all feral animals from the former cattle station.