ON THE WALLABY- 26th September

DROUGHT- AUSTRALIA’S NEMESIS STRIKES AGAIN

"The success of ones life should not be judged by the levels to which they rose but by the obstacles they overcame in getting there”- Booker T Washington

G’day there,

Living as we do on the driest continent on earth, drought has been part and parcel of the Australian way of life since well before the Europeans settled here.

Since that time however, man has tried to defeat Mother Nature in a battle that has but only one conclusion, and one that blue water sailors or aviators are only too aware of- when she puts her mind to it, you can’t beat her so you simply lower the sails, heave to and hope (and pray) that you can weather the storm.

Whilst that is a relatively easy operation at sea (to lower the sails), to survive the storm is another and it is here that Mother Nature is delivering a particularly telling blow against rural Australia.

“Rural Australia” is not just the men and women and their families on the land but also the people of country towns, large and small. Having grown up in a town of some 2600 souls (Grenfell NSW), I have experienced three droughts in my lifetime and I have seen first hand the catastrophic effects that has, not only on the economics of the district but also the social fabric as well.

Country people are, by their very nature and environment, a resilient and proud lot and saying “it’s all over” certainly does not come easily to them.

Be that as it may, many will have to utter those words and the Federal Government is to be applauded for their scheme announced today that gives some, and hopefully many, a chance to leave the land and rebuild their lives in another vocation and, most probably, another area.

It will not be easy, for many do not have any tertiary qualifications and given the penchant in today’s business world, driven by academia, for that “piece of paper” that supposedly shows you have the skills, some will find it traumatic indeed.

For many, there will be an enormous perceived “loss of face” as they see being reduced to penury as an absolute failure on their part and that they will have let their families, past as well as present, down by selling up.

In fact, in the majority of cases, nothing could be further from the truth for drought respects no man or his family but sadly, many will not see it that way and most probably end up taking their lives.

Thinking about this, and having been down on the deck a couple of times in my lifetime, I tried to picture a man in such a situation:-

THE FARMERS DEMISE

His gaunt face was drawn

He stood there with eyes so sad

He looked out across the parched land

And he knew he’d given it all he had

Here on the land that his grand father toiled

And his father after him

This bloody drought had brought him down

And the future looked awfully grim

He turned back towards the homestead

With tears welling in his eyes

And whilst the news would shock plenty

To him, it was no surprise

For he felt he had let them all down

His wife, kids and all

And whilst he’d battled so hard

Now he had hit the wall

He knew there was no way out

The bills had piled too high

He had “overshot the runway”

So now it was time to die

The years he had spent planting the trees

And fallowing the land with love

Mother Nature had rendered it all for nought

Like a wicked spirit from above

The barrel felt cold against his teeth

His tears misted the view

He muttered some words to the Almighty above

And knew he was about to pay his due

Then a voice cried out

“Dad, Dad, where are you?”

It was his little boy

The one he simply called, “young Blue”

Looking down the hill

He saw Blue running fast

and sprinting up the rise

He arrived, as if on his last gasp

Quickly putting the down the rifle

He asked the question of Blue

“Why were you running son”

and he smiled and answered, “Dad,to be with you”

Young Blue looked up

And with a look that could only disarm

Asked his Dad if he thought that maybe one day

He could be good enough to maybe run the farm?

The father looked down

And up again at the sky

And hugging his son so very close

Muttered “this ain’t the time to die” >br>

So down they walked,

Towards the homestead once again

And the father now knew that he’d still fight on

Until there came the rain.

For some, the “coming of the rain” will come too late and I pray that those in that situation can have the clarity of though to see a positive option and, displaying that “mongrel” so common in country folk, stand up and rise again.

Carpe diem

Tony

Tony Fountain (Principal and Founder) 0418 238341

(Author: The Complete Guide to selling Real Estate by Auction and the e-book The Vendors Guide to selling Real Estate by Auction)

tony@fountainandco.com

Fountain Auction Academy

Bowral NSW Australia

If you would like to subscribe a friend or colleague to these free “On the Wallaby” email bulletins, click here and place their email address in the subscription box .