Freedom's Land

by Anna Jacobs

  In the morning there was no sound from the other half of the humpy. Andrew moved the trunk and opened the door, revealing another grey sky with wind thrashing the tree branches around. ‘I think it’s going to rain again. Let’s make an early start.’

  Norah got up quietly, dressed and went to milk the cow, who had indeed stayed close to the humpy, water bucket and her rough shelter, which was made of one piece of corrugated iron bent over a frame that curved over at the top. Other scraps of corrugated iron filled in two sides and left the other open. That would shelter Blossom from what Gil said were the prevailing winds.

  By the time she’d finished the milking, Andrew and the children were ready to walk down to the camp with her. ‘Shall we wake them?’ she asked, looking back at the humpy.

  He hesitated. ‘I suppose so.’ He went to bang on the door of the other half and called, ‘Breakfast will be served soon, then the men have to start work.’

  But there was no answer. With a shrug, he joined Norah, took the lidded bucket of milk out of her hands and they walked along the track together, avoiding last night’s puddles.

  Gil and two other men were already sitting at one end of the long communal table, cradling big enamel mugs of tea, and Pam was cutting up some bread. The camp ovens were standing in the embers, so she must have put some damper on to bake already.

  Gil gestured to the huge teapot. ‘Freshly made. You lot are up early.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘How’s the milking coming?’

  Norah smiled. ‘I think I’m getting quicker. Blossom’s very friendly. She comes over sometimes to stand near the humpy. I think she’d come inside if I let her.’

  ‘And how did your new neighbours settle in?’

  ‘They shouted at one another.’ Janie giggled. ‘I didn’t know what some of the words meant.’

  She repeated a very rude word and the two boys tittered.

  Andrew snapped, ‘Don’t you ever use that word again, young lady!’

  There was a pregnant silence, with all the adults trying hard not to smile.

  Janie scowled at her stepfather. ‘I’m not doing what you say. You’re not my real father.’

  Norah dragged her to one side. ‘If I ever hear you speak to your father like that, I’ll spank you myself. The cheek of it, being rude to a grown-up! What would your granddad say to that?’

  Tears came into Janie’s eyes, but the mutinous look didn’t leave her face. ‘I don’t care. He isn’t my father.’

  So Norah upended her daughter over her knee and gave her a few hard smacks. When she let Janie go, the child was crying and tried to run away, but Norah grabbed her arm. ‘You’ll stay here with your family, miss. Now, come and sit down with your brothers.’

  If looks could have killed, Janie’s would have dropped Norah where she stood. She was amazed and horrified. What had happened to her daughter? Janie had always been wilful, but never openly defiant and naughty like this.

  She helped Pam make them some bread and jam, their usual breakfast, making sure all the children got their share.

  Andrew watched his wife, grateful that she’d made a quick, sharp point about Janie’s misbehaviour. He’d have done the same to his sons if they’d been defiant or cheeky to Norah, whether in public or in private.

  ‘How did you get on with the Cheevers?’ Gil asked quietly.

  Andrew turned, shrugging. ‘As you’d expect. They didn’t try to talk to us, too busy quarrelling with one another. I just hope they’re going to have a washday soon.’ The sour smell of unwashed bodies seemed to waft everywhere, even in the Boyds’ side of the humpy.

  ‘If they don’t, I’ll tell them to do it,’ Gil said. ‘But with so many in the group now, I think it’s time we all did our own meals. I’ll share out the flour and other stuff. I’ll tell folk after breakfast. And if they don’t bring your crates soon, I’ll go to Pemberton and bring them myself.’

  Norah joined them, sitting down with a smile as her husband poured her a cup of tea. ‘It’ll be good to have the rest of our possessions, but we’ve nowhere dry to store them now that we’re sharing the humpy.’

  ‘I’m sending off a letter to the Board this very morning,’ Gil said. ‘They have to do something about this group. Of all the stupid ideas, to add on an extra group!’

  Irene woke with a start, feeling Freddie’s hand reach for hers. Their beds were very close together, because their hut was housing three families now. She wished they hadn’t chosen to do without a central partition when it was built, but it had seemed better then to have one big room. She smiled at her husband, then peered round in the grey light of pre-dawn to check whether anyone else was awake. She could hear that it wasn’t raining now, at least. The noise of the rain beating down on the metal roof last night had kept her awake for ages.

  She saw a man at the other end of the room stretch his arms and heard him yawn. As he got up, clad only in knee-length drawers and a short-sleeved vest, she averted her eyes quickly. He pulled on his trousers and walked outside. Reaching out, she pulled her clothes into bed with her. She wasn’t getting dressed in front of strangers.

  ‘I’ll hold a blanket across this corner for you, love,’ Freddie said. ‘You’ll tie yourself in knots or fall off that narrow bed trying to get into your things lying down.’

  ‘All right.’ She shivered in the cold air and scrambled into her clothes as quickly as she could, not bothering with her usual wash. She’d do that later in privacy.

  By the time Irene had held the blanket for Freddie to dress behind, most of the others were stirring. A lad of about ten was still fast asleep and a little girl of four. The newcomers they were sharing with weren’t too bad. She didn’t envy poor Norah, who had to put up with that horrible complaining man and his slovenly wife.

  It was so much cooler this morning, she shivered as she walked down to the camp area. Rain seemed so strange after all the warm, dry weather. But welcome. She wouldn’t have to water her vegetable garden as often now.

  After breakfast, Gil set the men to work then gathered the women together and informed them that there were too many people to eat communally now. ‘I’ll share out this week’s supplies and you can cook what you want at your own places. Since the bags of flour are heavy, I’ll drive them out to you. But before we do that, we’ll show all you newcomers how to make damper in a camp oven.’ He held one of the heavy iron cooking pots up to show them what a camp oven was. ‘We can’t always get bread made for us, you see. No corner shops in the bush. Pam and Norah are dab hands at it now.’

  ‘It’s just soda bread,’ Norah said. ‘Not hard to make at all.’

  They nodded, some looking happy enough, others frowning.

  ‘Maybe those sharing humpies can share the cooking?’ he suggested. ‘Anyone who hasn’t got a camp oven can get one from me, to be paid for from your earnings.’

  Norah looked at Lil, whose nails were black with ingrained dirt and vowed that nothing that woman touched was going into her children’s mouths.

  That was easier said than done. As they walked back after a demonstration, Lil said, ‘I’m not good at making bread. Maybe we can share the cooking?’

  ‘I’d rather do my own cooking, but you can watch me if you’re in any doubt, then do yours the same way on your own fire. If your husband wants to build you a lean-to kitchen, Andrew will show him how, but that kitchen is ours and so are the things in it.’

  ‘You’d think a person would want to help newcomers.’

  Norah didn’t answer.

  ‘You’re walking too fast for me.’

  ‘I always walk briskly. And you know the way home now.’

  Lil began to cry.

  Norah hardened her heart and pulled Janie along as fast as she could, holding the empty milk bucket in her other hand. It was a relief to have the well to get water from now. The Cheevers had even complained about that, but they hadn’t had to dig it out as Andrew had.

  Thinking of Andrew made her sigh and look down
at Janie. When they got back, she spoke very sternly to her daughter. ‘It upsets me when you’re so badly behaved.’

  Janie didn’t say anything.

  ‘I want your promise that you’ll not shame us again.’ She saw a tear roll down the girl’s cheek, but wasn’t going to soften, not this time. ‘Promise me you’ll behave in future.’

  She thought for a moment or two that Janie was going to refuse, but in the end heard the promise made. ‘Good. We’ll say no more about it, then.’ She set Janie to work collecting more firewood, put her buckets inside her half of the humpy, instead of leaving them outside. She just didn’t trust the Cheevers.

  She went to check on Blossom, who was standing out of the sun in her shelter, swishing her tail to and fro. Norah got the shovel and collected the manure, piling it up carefully and covering it.

  ‘That’s men’s work,’ a voice said behind her. ‘They shouldn’t ask a woman to do that sort of thing.’

  She turned to see Lil. ‘I’m the one looking after the cow, so it’s my work.’

  ‘Can you let me have some milk for my tea, and show me how to light a fire.’

  ‘You got your milk this morning. I noticed you in the morning group.’

  ‘I need more than that.’

  ‘There isn’t any more. When you get your own cows, you’ll have all you need. Till then you’ll have to manage without, like the rest of us.’

  ‘You seem to have plenty of milk.’

  ‘I get an extra ration because of looking after the cow.’ She went to draw some water from the well and heat it up to wash a few pieces of clothing. They wouldn’t be as well washed without a boiler and starch, but they’d be clean and if the rain held off, they’d dry quickly.

  In the afternoon she walked across to Pam’s block and when she got back, she found that her milk supply had gone down noticeably.

  She went storming next door, to find Lil lying on a bed. ‘Someone has stolen my milk.’

  Lil shrugged. ‘It wasn’t me.’

  ‘Who else could it be? There aren’t any people walking past here.’

  For a minute it seemed Lil would deny it, then she shrugged. ‘I needed it. You’d think a person would take pity on a woman in my condition. The child was hungry.’

  ‘If you steal any more, I’ll tell Gil and make sure he doesn’t give you a share the next day. And don’t you dare set foot inside our half again.’

  Lil burst into tears and covered her head with the sheet. The child was fast asleep on the floor, looking filthy and unloved.

  Norah hardened her heart, but she ached to feed and clean the poor little thing. Only you couldn’t help people like this, she knew from past experience with slovenly neighbours. They only expected more and more from you if you started and they rarely changed their ways, whatever you said or did.

  11

  By mid-afternoon all the humpies were partitioned into two halves and Gil had shown the newcomers how to clear the smaller growth ready for felling the bigger trees. It’d rained intermittently in the afternoon, but he’d kept the men at work because they might as well get used to it now winter was coming on. It’d not snow and there would be no heavy frosts, as he’d encountered overseas. He hoped he never saw snow again, had hated it.

  During the day he’d kept his eyes on Bert, who seemed a bit less strained, and he managed not to tell Reggie what he thought of his carping and complaining, though he did speak sharply about the slowness of the man’s work.

  He was glad when everyone went off to bed. He always enjoyed the last half-hour of the day, sitting alone with the fire for company because Pete, who was extremely fond of his sleep, usually went to bed early.

  Gil sat on a low stool made from an upended log, his back against a pile of crates on the sheltered side of the storage humpy, watching the dying embers and the patterns that formed and re-formed in them. He didn’t bother to put more wood on the fire. He smiled as he heard the soft snoring and whiffling of Pete.

  When he heard a noise he couldn’t place, he listened intently, then got up, still hidden by the side wall. A shadowy figure was approaching the store entrance. The man clearly hadn’t seen him. ‘Who’s there?’ he called, thinking it was someone who’d got a family emergency.

  The figure turned and ran off down the track, turning to the left, heading towards the town.

  Gil was so surprised he didn’t move for a minute, then decided it was too late to chase after the person. Why would someone run away when spoken to? Surely there wasn’t a thief in the new group? He heard the sounds fade into the distance and sat wondering who it could have been.

  Pete was such a heavy sleeper that if the thief came back, he’d probably not notice, so Gil went and shook his deputy awake. After telling him about the intruder, he suggested he put something across to bar the inside of the door.

  After kicking out the fire, Gil made his way to his tent, which was up the slope from the camp. He’d not be moving to his own block till later, because he liked to be here to start the day. But he’d not let the new people use his humpy, because if he did, he’d have to stay there himself. He’d got some of his things stored there, but had others at his cousin’s in Fremantle.

  It was a while before he got to sleep, because his thoughts kept going back to the prowler. Damnation! He didn’t need this as well as all the other problems.

  He wondered which family the man had been from, counting off in his mind those whose blocks were to the left. But he couldn’t pick on one who might be a thief. They’d all seemed decent enough folk. If the man had run to the right, he’d have suspected Cheever. He didn’t know why, but he’d mistrusted the fellow on sight. Not because of his complaining, but because there was something shifty about him.

  But the would-be thief had definitely run to the left, so that puzzled Gil. Could he have come from another group? What had he been after?

  Gil decided to keep a careful watch on things from now on, though the group’s tools should be safe enough. There was no one around to sell large items to, after all, and no way of getting them to the town without the others noticing.

  He’d also put a lock on his own humpy.

  How could anyone expect to get away with stealing in such a small group?

  Norah waited until the children were asleep to tell her husband about Lil stealing some milk. He was angry, she could tell that, even though he kept his voice down.

  ‘I was wondering – Andrew, do you think we could make some sort of lock for the door?’

  ‘Yes. I’ve got the padlock from my trunk. That’d fit. And I’ve two keys for it, so we can have one each. You can lock it in the mornings before you take the milk down.’

  So they did. But it felt strange after living so freely until now.

  At the camp, Gil was waiting for the milk. ‘We can’t expect you to walk down with it twice a day,’ he said. ‘You have your own family to look after. I’m going to suggest a roster, with people coming to collect their own and their neighbours’ milk in turns – or sending their children for it. How about that?’

  ‘That’d be fine. There’s a bit less today. I, um, spilt some.’ She didn’t tell him about Lil, but felt terrible lying to him. Still, things would be all right from now on. There’d be no chance for pilfering with the padlock in place.

  But when Gil strolled up the track the next morning for his own and Pete’s supply of milk, he saw the padlock on the door. ‘Why’ve you put a lock on the door?’

  She hesitated. ‘I don’t want to tell tales.’

  ‘It need go no further than the two of us.’

  She explained.

  In return he told her about the person creeping round the central store humpy.

  She shook her head sadly. ‘I don’t like to think of there being a thief among us. It’s hard enough to manage without that.’

  ‘Thieves,’ he said, emphasising the final ‘s’. ‘We have more than one. Lil stole your milk. The other was a man and he ran away when I called out to hi
m, which brands him as guilty in my eyes. I should have kept quiet and nabbed him, but I thought he just needed something.’

  Lil came sauntering across to join them, a patently false smile on her face. ‘I’m so glad to see you, Gil. I need extra milk and she won’t give it to me, even though she gets a whole bucketful morning and evening. I have a small child to look after and in my condition, I need the extra nourishment.’

  He didn’t trouble to hide his scorn. ‘Can’t do it. We have barely enough to go round. But you can buy tins of food and evaporated milk at the store in Northcliffe, if you’ve not got enough in your rations.’

  ‘How can I get into town in my condition? It’s miles away.’

  ‘Anyone who’s going in collects the orders and fetches them back. People leave their orders with me or Pete at the camp ground.’

  Lil abandoned her smile and glared at them both. ‘You know very well we can’t afford extras. I’ll get my husband to complain to the Board. It’s not right, the way you’re treating us, starving us.’

  Gil flourished one hand at her. ‘Go ahead and complain. You’ll find that the Board isn’t very good about replying to complaints.’ He was quite sure she’d not bother to do it. She was clearly bone idle. Look at the way she neglected that poor little child.

  After a look that would have soured milk, Lil swung round and went back to the humpy, sluthering her feet along the ground as if she couldn’t be bothered to pick them up.

  Norah watched her go in silence.

  ‘I’m sorry you’ve to share accommodation with them,’ Gil said. ‘If there was anywhere else to put them, I’d move them, but there isn’t.’

  ‘I know.’ But Norah was worried. The padlock was a flimsy thing and Andrew’s money was in their trunk. If only there was a savings bank near here, she’d feel a lot safer about it. Maybe they should ask Gil to store it somewhere for them?

  By the end of the week, most of the newcomers had been assimilated into the group and had got into a routine for managing their daily lives. Some women sharing humpies made friends and worked together, others preferred to manage alone. Norah sometimes visited Pam, but was tied to milking the cow. She didn’t mind that, was learning a lot about caring for cows, would need that knowledge.