CORRECIÓN DE LA SECCIÓN ENTRE LAS CAJAS DE

My husband was a Tasmanian originally. He was one of the [name deleted]s and his uncle died and left him some money and he wanted to go on the land so we came down here and bought this place; never regretted it.

Mmm, that was what I was going to ask you. Do you regret it? It‟s a hard life isn‟t it?

Not really. Oh well it is because of being financially difficult and with three boys, putting them on the land, it was financially difficult but uh I‟ve never regretted it, not once.

So are the three boys on the land?

Two of them are. One is here. One is up at [name of town deleted]. He‟s got a property up there. But the youngest, his wife died and he gave up farming. [He] lives in Hobart now.

Mmm, so you‟re lucky to have had sons aren‟t you?

Yes, mmm. Yes. Mmm; though three makes it difficult. You‟ve got to split up farms, don‟t you pet.

So you split up some of this farm?

No, no, no, no, no, no. We haven‟t but it, it‟s you know becomes financially difficult. The eldest son is here. We‟ve got this place but you know we have to, financially help the others.

So you‟ve helped them to buy other farms?

Yes, yes, mmm.

So how, by going guarantor when they bought it or?

Going what?

Did you go guarantor, on a loan when they?

I suppose so. They took out mortgages and things and, yes.

Mmm.

I‟m not quite certain how that was arranged then really. You take out mortgages and I suppose they had to pay something to start with.

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Yes, we gave a bit, yes, mmm. But they still, we still all owe a fair bit of money. Yes, things ... you don‟t you know, incomes are never enough to pay off mortgages, mmm.

Well they must have liked this life, too.

Yes, well I think that‟s the trouble, you bring them up to it so they like it; although, one of my grandsons is definitely a townie. He‟s not, although brought up in the country, [grandson‟s name deleted]‟s at uni and he never wants to come back but [grandsons‟ name deleted] does.

So how many grandchildren do you have?

Altogether? 16.

Oh that‟s a lot.

Mmm.

And some of those?

The girls of course, the girls have got four and four and two; eight nine ten, the girls.

And what have the boys got?

Two boys, boy and a girl and two boys.

Mmm, so where do the girls live? They don‟t live on the land?

No, no, no. Well one, the younger girl died. She was on the land and her; you know well they‟re still on the land.

Are you talking about your son‟s wife?

No, one of my daughters; you said the daughters. Yes and one married a farmer but he‟s retired now and the other one lives in Melbourne. She married a, businessman. Oh went to England, you know as girls do and met an Englishman and they came out here and he‟s ... They live in Melbourne and they‟ve got the boy and the girl, mmm.

So what do you like about living here?

Tasmania‟s nice and quiet. It‟s friendly you know. Nice climate. You haven‟t got crowds around you.

That‟s exactly what I like about it too.

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Although I was quite happy living in Melbourne. I was brought up in Melbourne.

Yeah, because the other people I‟ve spoken to so far, they were born and grew up in this area

Did they?

Yes, and they‟re very committed to this area.

Yes, oh well I am too, committed to the area. Yes.

You‟ve been here such a long time, mmm.

Yes.

You‟re children have grown up here.

Yes, yes, mmm.

And you know everyone around here?

And they all went to school, you know, primary school around here. We used, at [name of town deleted], we used to have a nice little school, one teacher, up to grade six and uh we had a post office and a railway station, but they‟ve all gone now.

So that was somewhere between here and [name of town deleted]?

It was just across the road there, there was a school. And the railway station of course was there and the train used to stop and we used to go to town, all by train but ...

So by town you mean Hobart?

In Hobart, yes, mmm. And sometimes the children would go back to school you know and all by train but ...

So it‟s a lot harder in rural areas now isn‟t it? It is something to do with, I suppose, the global economic situation ...

Oh yes.

And also the economic rationalisation in this country that means you know the small schools going and the trains.

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Well it‟s, transport you see. They take the children now. They have the school bus and [name of town deleted] children even go into [name of town deleted] and all the [name of town deleted] children go into [name of town deleted]. Yes at the [name of town deleted] school here they had about 20 children at one stage, and uh that‟s when the girls went.

Mmm, and there‟s something pretty nice about going to a small school.

Oh I think it‟s, I don‟t think it does them any harm and then they sort of before the boys finished they were going into [name of town deleted]. Now[name deleted], he‟s the elder boy, he didn‟t go into Oatlands at all. He went straight from [name of town deleted] to Hobart boarding school whereas the other two they closed [name of town deleted] and then the other two went into [name of town deleted] by bus for a few years.

And then they went to boarding school?

And then they went to boarding school when they were eleven or so.

Mmm which seems to be what happens a lot …

Well ...

When you live in an area like this.

Well, in [name of town deleted] you can‟t go right through to you know, matric, finish. So you‟re better to send them younger because if they don‟t go until they‟re about 13 or f14 they find it a lot harder, you know.

Mmm.

To, get away from home; get away from the environment.

Yeah and establish themselves with their peer group I suppose.

Yes. It seems to suit them better when they are younger. Well I never had any trouble. Once or twice, but nothing really. They weren‟t really unhappy.

Mmm, so they when they were ...

They accepted it. It was the thing and they did it. There were no arguments. There was no questioning.

When they get to 13 or 14 suddenly they argue and answer back.