Clark & Tait properties all sold.

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Originally Posted by Saitch

What a good quest, Bob. I hope my info is relevant.

There is a 'Dunrobin' on the Narbethong Rd. which runs East, off the Landsborough Highway, about 25 klms South of Barcaldine.

There is a 'Summer Hill', roughly in the centre of an imaginary triangle using Longreach, Aramac and Muttaburra as points.

There is a 'Comongin' just North of Quilpie, on the Adavale Rd.

There is a' Valera Vale' just off the Mitchell Highway, about half way between Charleville and Augathella.

I can't help with 'Somerset Downs', sorry.

Good luck.

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Many thanks mate. That all equates with our research so far. Or close. I hope to take my brother on a trip back to find our roots, he is not in good health. The Flying Doctor saved his and Mum's life when we were around Hughenden. That would have been 1954. I still have a bottle of some of Dad's ashes to spread , Summer Hill would be the place for that. Mum & Dad liked that place. For some reason difficult to explain, I have a burning desire to go back to where it all began.

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Originally Posted by Saitch

There is a 'Summer Hill', roughly in the centre of an imaginary triangle using Longreach, Aramac and Muttaburra as points.



Good luck.

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Was just looking thru some paperwork sent to me by the AWM, on my Grand Father. When he joined the AIF in 1916, his occupation was listed as Stockman, and the town listed was Aramac. Funny how these things turn out. EDIT. the paperwork reads ' near the town of Aramac.' Going to get onto the Stockman's Hall of Fame to see if they have a nominal list of stockmen from that era. Funny if he was working in the vicinity of Summer hill.

Reading thru the certificate of medical examination that every volunteer had prior to selection into the AIF, it reads;

I have examined the above named person, and find that he does not present with any of the following conditions, viz ;

Scrofula ; phthisis ; syphilis ; impaired constitution ; defective intelligence ; defects of vision, voice or hearing ; hernia ; haemorrhoids ; varicose veins, beyond a limited extent ; marked varicocele with unusual pendant testicle ; inveterate cutaneous disease ; chronic ulcers ; traces of corporal punishment, or evidence of having been marked with the letters D or B.C. ; contracted or deformed chest ; abnormal curvature of spine ; or any other disease or physical defect calculated to unfit him for the duties of a soldier.

I consider him fit for active service.
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Traces of corporal punishment?
The letters D or B.C. ? [ any idea what that means]

Bit different to what Dad said about enlistment in WW2. Two good legs, two good arms, two good eyes, half a brain, you are in Son!.[ I'm sure it was tongue in cheek.]

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Originally Posted by bob10

Reading thru the certificate of medical examination that every volunteer had prior to selection into the AIF, it reads;

I have examined the above named person, and find that he does not present with any of the following conditions, viz ;

Scrofula ; phthisis ; syphilis ; impaired constitution ; defective intelligence ; defects of vision, voice or hearing ; hernia ; haemorrhoids ; varicose veins, beyond a limited extent ; marked varicocele with unusual pendant testicle ; inveterate cutaneous disease ; chronic ulcers ; traces of corporal punishment, or evidence of having been marked with the letters D or B.C. ; contracted or deformed chest ; abnormal curvature of spine ; or any other disease or physical defect calculated to unfit him for the duties of a soldier.

I consider him fit for active service.
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Traces of corporal punishment?
The letters D or B.C. ? [ any idea what that means]

Bit different to what Dad said about enlistment in WW2. Two good legs, two good arms, two good eyes, half a brain, you are in Son!.[ I'm sure it was tongue in cheek.]

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D = Deserter; B.C. = Bad Character. Tattoos were used for such markings in 'The good ol' Days'!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bob10

Reading thru the certificate of medical examination that every volunteer had prior to selection into the AIF, it reads;

I have examined the above named person, and find that he does not present with any of the following conditions, viz ;

Scrofula ; phthisis ; syphilis ; impaired constitution ; defective intelligence ; defects of vision, voice or hearing ; hernia ; haemorrhoids ; varicose veins, beyond a limited extent ; marked varicocele with unusual pendant testicle ; inveterate cutaneous disease ; chronic ulcers ; traces of corporal punishment, or evidence of having been marked with the letters D or B.C. ; contracted or deformed chest ; abnormal curvature of spine ; or any other disease or physical defect calculated to unfit him for the duties of a soldier.

I consider him fit for active service.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Traces of corporal punishment?
The letters D or B.C. ? [ any idea what that means]

Bit different to what Dad said about enlistment in WW2. Two good legs, two good arms, two good eyes, half a brain, you are in Son!.[ I'm sure it was tongue in cheek.]

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And if the volunteer suffered from any or all of those conditions he was sent for officer training.[bigwhistle]

Two of my relatives in the 1st. AIF were hospitalised with a venereal disease according to their on-line records. One showed it as being acquired at a "native brothel, Port Said". In his later years this one was a toffee nosed old bible banger. VD apparently was quite common amongst the troops overseas.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Saitch

D = Deserter; B.C. = Bad Character. Tattoos were used for such markings in 'The good ol' Days'!

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Thanks, I guess corporal punishment is a good whipping, A La the cat. The good old days. It's amazing that the First AIF was a completely volunteer Army. Even after two referendums on the matter. And what is even more so is that the soldiers in France voted against conscription, in any form .

I note that they didn't mention the Trigger Finger being in good nick.



But they probably thought one couldn't die with that. Not 'arf.

quote..on many of them you could drive for 100 miles (160 km) and not get off the property!...unquote

just 2 weeks ago I drove 80km across Anna Ck in South Australia to meet the manager again and see his new yards he is building.

He is building 19 new yards as it is cheaper to do that and healthier on the cattle to do "short" musters.

Funny that the Kidman Cattle company who owned Anna Ck a few years ago didnt believe in this , nor the water management that the new owners , The Williams Cattle Company empl0y. The previous owners also said they wouldn't find any more water.....they did....Plenty.

btw the 80kn drive was just to get to the new yards , not the property boundaries.

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Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

quote..on many of them you could drive for 100 miles (160 km) and not get off the property!...unquote

just 2 weeks ago I drove 80km across Anna Ck in South Australia to meet the manager again and see his new yards he is building.

He is building 19 new yards as it is cheaper to do that and healthier on the cattle to do "short" musters.

Funny that the Kidman Cattle company who owned Anna Ck a few years ago didnt believe in this , nor the water management that the new owners , The Williams Cattle Company empl0y. The previous owners also said they wouldn't find any more water.....they did....Plenty.

btw the 80kn drive was just to get to the new yards , not the property boundaries.

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Reading a great yarn about Nat Buchanan, and his Wife Katherine , written by their son Gordon. Just a nondescript little book consisting of individual chapters on the heroic band of Australia's founders who suffered hardships and faced dangers with fortitude and courage , across the never never with packhorse or camel, blazing the track and making straight the path for others to settle in comfort and safety. In 1894, having put his all into Wave Hill, and having explored every avenue in search of a market for the stock ,Buchanan was forced to give up the onerous and thankless task.

He went out of it without benefiting in any way from the prosperity which, owing to the rise in the price of cattle began two years later when Connor, Doherty and Durack inaugurated the cattle shipping service from Wyndham to Fremantle . Like many other pioneers of the interior he paved the way and made the track easy for others to prosper in.

N. Buchanan worked on the Bradley mine on the Kimberley goldfields then 12 months 0n the Ord River station [ where he was the only manager who had never been sacked] filling in time until he made his last and most hazardous exploring trip. While on the Ord he had a severe fall from a horse and being well over 60 at the time took a long time to recover.

Cattle prices had recovered very little in Qld but with the rise of the Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie goldfields in WA, 'Fats ' were in demand there. If a stock route could be found from the Barkley Tableland straight across to Sturt Creek, in WA , it would be an outlet for NT and Qld cattle , unexplored and looked upon as desert, Buchanan achieved what many thought was impossible.

Unable to find a willing white man , Buchanan was forced to employ a local black man ,Jack , a munjung or wild black as they were called; but he knew camels , and knew the country for 70 miles in a NW direction and was willing to show Buchanan as far as he knew. To cut the story short, after travelling about 70 miles in a NW direction, Jack wanted to go home. [ just after they turned West] Buchanan then handcuffed Jack to his camel at night while Jack slept,[ he always slept along side the camel pack saddle on which he rode] Buchanan traversed three hundred miles of unknown country with Jack, who surprisingly elected to stay with Buchanan voluntarily, uncuffed, for the remainder of the exploration. Jack was instrumental in helping to find the one thing that made the exploration successful, that being water. There is more to the story, with Jack staying with Buchanan until they investigated country south of Hookers Creek, where Jack, at the furthest Eastern point, provided with spear, tucker , water bag , and tobacco he set out on the long tramp to Tennant's Creek . For a munjung he proved himself one of the best, and most faithful to his boss.

I read a chapter a night, from" Pack horse and waterhole," by Gordon Buchanan. A wonderful account of our early history .