“I came here with my parents in 1959. We lived in Melbourne for a long time. I ended up becoming a full time Musician. I did other things but music was my love. I played Guitar and Banjo back in the day but now I play Guitar, Banjo, Mandolin, Bass, Drums, anything I get my hands on. Music was my profession for many years but since I moved to Currawinya which is the name of the property, it became less so. It was 1966 and I was in New Zealand playing in Hair. I got a call from a friend saying ..You should buy into this property. I bought into it sight unseen. Currawinya is north west of Tabulam. The property is at a place called Paddy’s Flat. Six and a half thousand acres we bought with vendor finance over 10 years for $110,000. It’s situated at the junction of two rivers, the Clarence and the Cataract. There is 7.5 miles of river on the property. We didn’t really know how to set up but in 1980 we formed a company with general meetings and all the rules that go with that.
I didn’t actually move there till 1990 as I was still gigging but I made sure I came up every year to the meetings. There was 24 share holders at that time. It was difficult to get it all working with such different personalities but we did. Just before the fires we bought a tractor, a dozer and a machinery shed and a meeting house so sadly we are broke now.
When I first moved in I lived in what they called an old Ticky hut. The ticky’s used to ride the fences out there to stop the ticks, securing the fences so the animals couldn’t transfer the Blue Cattle ticks to the cattle. They were amazing. All week they would just sit on their horses and look at the fences then they would go home on the weekend. It was quite extraordinary.
I lived there with my lady, my son and her daughter by the river. Eventually I moved up the property to where my share was. My site was high on the ridge. I still played music, played jazz with Pietro Fine. We went to Woodford and we were quite a successful band but I had a hand injury which I got when I was 11 that flared up. I was getting cramps and my hand would claw up through the gig and I’d have to put the Banjo down. I’m now selling my Banjo and my Mandolin which is a shame because I’ve had that Banjo since I was 17. I had a rest from music and didn’t do much playing till I went to NZ recently.
The fires a couple of months ago started in the Bangala Creek. It was a dry storm. On my property every tree that I had planted, fruit trees, bananas, bush tucker, the lot died prior to the fire because of the drought which is because of climate change. We had 2 1/2 years with no summer rain, no rain at all. Even the native figs were looking bad. I’ve never seen them look like that. It was a fire waiting to happen. The Clarence River had not flowed for a year and a half at that point and the Cataract was bone dry, just smelly little puddles. We’ve had a lot of rain since that’s heaped sludge down into the river so all the fish died. There were times that I would be flooded in for 5 weeks in the past. It is a great place for isolation. There is no mobile phone service. I have a modem and I only turn it on for short time and turn off when I’m not using.
Ten houses burnt in the last fire. They thought they had it under control but 2 days later we had a very strong wind and an ember started the Bangala Creek fire which burnt right up to the Currawinya Mountain. It was outside our property but I knew it would come out at our property. I’ve lived there for 30 years and I told everybody and that’s exactly what happened. I was just 3 hours out. That’s where the house I built from rammed earth survived and so did my house. My day living area didn’t. It was a caravan with a roof over it which had benches, a washing machine, fridge, my fire stove. I lost all my cooking utensils, food, all my electrical appliances, my bass amp went, my recording mics, CD’s and all my books. Every recording I had ever made all went, my Brett Whitely mirror. I had a beautiful Red Indian drum, a snare drum, all the lenses to my telescope. I lost a beautiful bed, my phone, bottles of wine, everything. I had just bought a $30 jar of honey which I never do but I knew the bees were going to have a hard time. As soon as I bought that the fire came. The fire also took my chicken house and the beautiful shade house I’d built with all the plants in it. Some of the trees remained including the trees right next to the house. 40 feet away were Pine Nut trees 40 foot tall and they didn’t burn. I saved my Mango and my Lime tree.
I spent months preparing that place. I knew fire and I’ve fought a few over the years but this was a fire that couldn’t be stopped. I called the emergency number at 6pm, no-one came. I called back at 10pm and they had no record of my call. They said… we’ll send someone out straight away. At 11pm 2 fire units came. By then it was 38 degrees, the fire was raging up and coming straight for my place. They weren’t prepared to stay and I can understand why. My house didn’t burn, my car didn’t burn. I’d cleared and prepared around my place. My big plastic water tank which was first in the line of the fire didn’t burn because of all the preparation I’d done.”