In February 1922, my father, Jack O'Shannessy, purchased from Mr & Mrs W Hawks, allotments 34, 34A and 35, Parish of Ultima, County of Tatchera. He was the eldest son of five boys and two girls, the children of Edmond and Margaret O'Shannessy, Australian born of Irish parents. They lived in Kingower district where their mother died when my Dad was 15, and his eldest sister was 17. With the help of relatives, she was able to care for the younger children until she married at the age of 21.

We'd gather round the flagpole
On every Monday morn,
And sing with childish fervour
Of King and Country and Call.

We knitted socks for soldiers
And put our names in the toes
And prayed "our boys" would return
After stalling the foreign foes.

The bus trip into High school
Was always full of events
Like when the jolly wheel flew off
Or we were blinded by the dust.

The concerts and the tennis
The football and pie-nights
Kept people in high spirits
Even some in fights.

I have seen a plague of locusts
And I've seen a plague of grubs,
I've heard of flies and rabbit plagues
Men speak of, in pubs -
But none can beat the plague of mice
Back in nineteen-thirty-two,
They ate up everything in sight
Till there was nothing left to chew.

They came in countless millions,
None knew from whence they came,
They swept the mallee bare of food
Like grass before a flame.

I'II tell you a tale of the Mallee,
A tale going back forty years,
Of the hopes, and the sad disappointments,
The life of the old pioneers.

It's a story of grim perserverance,
Of settlers who first took up land,
They cleared up the scrub and the Mallee,
And tried to grow wheat in the sand.

Their first home was often a shanty,
With a broom-bush veranda attached,
Some had a wife, and a family,
And those who were single, just batched.

John O'Brien was born at Pannoobamawm (about 40 miles north of Bendigo) in 1874, on a farm selected by his father, Michael, in 1873. He went to school at Tennyson, and as his father was then blind, the boys took it in turn to go to school. At the age of 14, he became a contractor employing men, constructing outlet channels from the Waranga Basin; he did some contracting in the Minyip area, and later in the southern Mallee. About this time - about 1890 - the dog fence was opened and settlement of the northern Mallee was opened up.

STREET LIGHTING: Dillon Street was lit by Gas Lamps using carbide and water.

PICTURE SHOWS: Travelling picture operators came on occasions. There was always a rush by the boys to get the job of ringing the bell which meant free tickets. Ringers had to walk the streets calling out the picture to be shown. A popular call was also "Roll up, tumble up, bring your old woman up."

FOOTBALL MATCHES: Spectators generally became very heated especially when playing Meatian. Some of the ladies got carried away and beat others with their umbrellas.

Sadly in the book, "The Way it Was, A History of the Mallee 1910-1949" by Doris Torpy, are details of enormous difficulties faced by all who sought to make a reasonable living in the Mallee. Their faith and determination should be an inspiration to all for during that period, "Nothing was easy".

I have not lived in Ultima since 1933, but I remember many things clearly.

One morning towards the end of September 1920, when I was 10 years old, my mother woke me a bit earlier than usual and said two of our team horses were missing. My father told me when I went to breakfast that it was Prince and Kitty, and said their tracks went west along the Sea Lake Road from our farm.

In 1918 my father entered my horse, Elsie, and I into a riding event at the Sea Lake show. It was reported in the Guardian as, "Our Day of Glory":

Ken Brydon's performance as an eight year old at the 1928 Sea Lake Show caused spectators to rise to their feet and cheer lustily while Show stewards dug into their pockets to award him a special cash prize.

In the spring of 1923, Joe Battersby bought two blocks of land with crop on in the Chillingollah East district. They drove up from Tatura, with two horses in a double-seater buggy, and Ossie, the eldest son, driving a horse in a spring cart. They called at our farm at Waitchie South on the way up as they were old neighbours of ours at Tatura and stayed the night, then went on the last 20-miles the next day.