Daily Archives: June 29, 2010

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Google Maps Street View now becomes Google Beaten Track View as I discovered that the Googlemobile has been documenting the Mid-North of South Australia where I grew up. My brother is still on the family farm and it is amazing to be able to virtually drive down the dirt roads out of Wirrabara and head towards the almost ghost town of Appila and drive past it. So, even though others have done a better job of using Google Maps to take a trip down memory lane, here are a few grabs to show where I come from.

stone wall

This stone wall on our family farm is over 120 years old.

3 chain roadThis is the Three Chain Road, aptly named because it is "three chains wide" in very old measurements. I remember minding mobs of sheep for my father taking advantage of the free grazing sitting on my old green bicycle and later on the Honda Ag Bike.

daleysThis is the gate to Daley's, a piece of land that my Dad bought in the mid seventies a few kms from our original farm. I still remember him coming home shaking after taking out the then sizeable loan from the local ANZ bank.

rural schoolHere's the Appila Rural School where I went to school in Year Five. I was the only Year Five in the school and went there after the local Lutheran School closed after dwindling down to six students. I only lasted one year before my mum decided to send me to the larger primary school at Wirrabara which had over fifty students for my final two years in primary school.

pine creek

Finally, heading back towards Wirrabara where the road dips through the Pine Creek that weaves its way through much of the family farm. I recall a flash flood that cut off our farm on three sides when I was about eleven or twelve. The water was up around the half way up the gum tree on the right hand side.


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