The Whroo Dam is situated about 10kms west of Ultima, and is (or was) a very big dam, perhaps two or three times the size of other Shire dams. Very thick scrub surrounds the dam, and signs of Aboriginal activity had been discovered. These had been carbon-dated by the Aboriginal Education Officer, Doug Nicholls, at the Pioneer Settlement as being at least 40,000 years old!!

Before we begin, a few words to calm the Greenies and the Animal Welfare Brigade - foxes are not Australian native animals - they are classed as vermin and, in fact, the Government has a hefty price on fox scalps!

Foxes were imported from England soon after the arrival of the First Fleet so the well-to-do folk could pursue their pleasures of riding to hounds ie fox hunting.

Foxes are a great concern to sheep farmers as they can do so much damage to stock and cause devasting losses.

THE BOY & THE PLANE

Stories of one’s childhood are often told amongst family members and not publicly, Great Australian stories in itself is a story of many people and places but it just so happens that one of those places and the people features more than most in Great Australian Stories, that place being the small Mallee town of Ultima. Situated twenty miles South West of Swan Hill on the Sea Lake road, it is where I spent four years of my childhood between the years of 1962-1966, and I have fond memories of that time.

Part 1 - Becoming a Country Teacher

I was born in 1901 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and I emigrated to Australia in 1911 with my mother, brother and sister. My father had preceded us some time before, and we settled in Melbourne.

Mrs Aggie Stewart was one of the most respected women to have carried the name of the Aboriginal race into our history books. She was the daughter of Jim & Sarah Crow of the Watti Watti tribe. Aggie was an only child, and she had very few playmates due to the rapid decline in the population in the area.

Aggie led a traditional life-style, which was only slightly affected by European settlement in her later years.

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.