The Heather to the Hawkesbury

by Sheila Hunter

  In between the dancing there were songs and poetry. The Scots folk felt that an evening like this would not be complete if there was not a verse or two recited and all of their friends were skilled in these arts. Fergus sang some Scottish songs, which Alec was able to join him and they were received by the people with a great deal of appreciation. His voice was a pleasing baritone and the songs he sang were the beautiful island melodies that were tinged with a sadness. Quiet Caroline proved to have a very robust and rich contralto and many were surprised to hear her. She sang with a skill that would not disgrace a professional performer. Murdoch and Mary sang a sweet duet and later, Murdoch said some wonderful poems right from the Highlands. He began with a Scots poem on the ‘Massacre of Glencoe’. “He always begins with that,” said Alec, “but he gets better after he says it. It seems to relieve his feelings or something.”

  After the ‘Massacre’, Murdoch did go on to more delightful works and he was able to show his Scottish brogue in full when he recited some of Robbie Burns and then Sir Walter Scott to nearly finish up.

  “Dear friends, I have shared with you some of the poetry of past. They tell something of the feeling we have for our homeland and I am sure that you feel that your poetry shows yours, but we have a new homeland now, this land of Australia. I am sure that as time goes on, many poems and stories will be written about this great south land. I have tried to find something that was written about it recently and have learned to know a great man who comes from this very Hawkesbury area, Charles Harpur[12]. This is his poem, and he obviously knows and loves this new land of ours. His words speak for what I feel, He has called it “A Midsummer noon in an Australian Forest”.

  Not a sound disturbs the air,

  There is quiet everywhere

  Over plain and over woods,

  What a mighty stillness broods.

  All the birds and insects keep

  Where the coolest shadows sleep,

  Even busy ants are found

  Resting in their pebbled mound.

  Even the locust clingeth now

  Silent to the barky bough,

  Over hills and over plains

  Quiet, vast and slumbrous, reigns.

  Only there’s a drowsy humming

  From yon warm lagoon slow coming,

  ‘Tis the dragon hornet-see!

  All bedaubed resplendently,

  Yellow on a tawny ground,

  Each rich spot nor square nor round,

  Rudely heart-shaped, as it were

  The blurred and hasty imprint there

  Of a vermeil-crusted seal

  Dusted o’er with golden meal.

  Only there’s a droning where

  Yon bright beetle shines in air,

  Tracks it in its gleaming flight

  With a slanting beam of light,

  Rising in the sunshine higher

  Till its shards flame out like fire.

  Every other thing is still

  Save the ever-wakeful rill,

  Whose cool murmur only throws

  Cooler comfort round repose;

  Or some ripple in the sea

  Of leafy boughs, where lazily

  Tired summer, in her bower

  Turning with the noontide hour,

  Heaves a slumbrous breath ere she

  Once more slumbers peacefully.

  Oh ‘tis easeful here to lie

  Hidden from noon’s scorching eye,

  In this grassy cool recess

  Musing thus of quietness.

  There were many who were not appreciative of much Scottish poetry, but this moved everyone there. That this Scotsman could feel the wonder of this new land and think of the atmosphere of the place. Most had come to Australia in recent years and even those who hadn’t, could remember the strangeness that took a deal of getting used to. Murdoch’s efforts were much appreciated.

  Mr. Forrest stood and invited Alistair to say ‘Grace’ before they moved to the supper tables, and while waiting for Alistair to come forward he said, “Friends, I want to say something which is in my heart, and which I feel must be said. I count it a blessing to me that these four families of Scots folk came my way. I liked them on sight and I hope I do not embarrass them by saying this, but say it I must. I have watched with interest the fortunes of these fine people. We thought we had lost Alec, and to our relief, we found we had only mislaid him.”

  “Thank God you welcomed me again,” put in Alec.

  “Yes, we do thank Him. I am sure he watched over you lad. We thought we had lost Alistair to the bush up north and are very pleased to have him back in our midst, even though he came back missing a leg. It hasn’t stopped him much. We are very pleased indeed to see the family once more re-united. I felt I had to speak because to me, these four families represent the future of Australia. I am only mentioning them because it is their celebration tonight, but there are many more of you good folk who come into these categories. First, I see Murdoch as a typical farmer who has little in his thoughts but his farm and his family and all that revolves around these. I am sure he will get himself a farm in the near future and perhaps begin an Australian dynasty. Then we have Fergus, who thought he was coming to Australia to die and what happened? He became a business man who typifies the new strain of merchantmen who will spread out over this vast continent and service the people in all walks of life. We need a Fergus in our lives that we may live in some comfort. Then we have Alistair who represents to me the academic Australian.” Mr Forrest took a long breath.

  “Oh, no sir, not me,” put in Alistair hastily.

  “Yes, Alistair, I count you as representing the intelligentsia of our land. We have no renowned seats of learning as yet in our country, but look to people such as Alistair who can share their knowledge with us and teach our children. I happen to know that he has a certain talent for preaching that I hope we can take advantage of in the near future.”

  “We all appreciate the fact that we have a fine school in Riverbend and can send our children to Alistair to learn the necessities of life. Lastly, I come to Alec! Alec, I think, shows us what the Australian man is to be best known for. Alec will always give us mate-ship and friendship. Alec will give us humour and wit and a knowledge of life that we will all, at some time, appreciate. We will always need an Alec in our lives to share our happiness with and to share our worries. Our little mate! I cannot miss saying a few words about the Scottish lassies. I won’t speak about them personally, for I feel they are alike in the main thing that is necessary for the perfect wife. She must always be a good backstop for her husband. I have first-hand information about this, for the good Lord blessed me with the gift of a grand wife, and she too, from Scotland, as you know. A wife must face the things that are not to her liking with a fortitude that is never flagging. She must follow her mate to the ends of the earth. She must be guide, comforter and friend, wife, a mother and good organiser. My friends, I suggest to you that we have such women, with us tonight in Mrs. Macdonald, Mrs. MacKenzie, Mrs. Fraser, Mrs. MacLeod and my own Mrs Forrest. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you a toast to our friends.”

  Supper followed and some had found it hard to wait for the speech to finish before starting their meal, for meal it was. As well as the Scottish food that is present at such functions, such as every kind of oatcake that could be made, shortbread and even haggis, there was a grand array of food that the Australians thought necessary. Fine hams, beef sliced thick and several legs of mutton, as well as poultry and a fresh bush turkey. There were fresh crisp bread and cheeses, yeast buns and cakes and every kind of fruit in season, raw and preserved. Bowls of thickened cream and healthy yellow butter were dotted around the feast.

  “Thank you for all the amazing things you said about us, Mr Forrest,” said Murdoch when his boss came to talk to the four men who were gathered together talking about the speech that he had made.

  “You make us embarrassed, that you think so of us. We do not deserve it.”

  “I beg to dif
fer, Murdoch,” came the rejoinder. “Allow me to know the country I grew up in and allow me to know which are the men who are successful in this country. I have seen men from all walks of life make a go of this place and I have seen men from all walks of life make a mess of it. It isn’t a matter of who you are, but what you have in you. We thankfully do not have classes in society in the same way they do in the old country. I know that England is a land full of these classes and to a small degree, I think that this has been brought to Australia, but I am sure that in the long run classes will not matter here. What will matter will be what a man puts into his life. His willingness to work and willingness to adjust to the conditions he finds himself in. This is what I feel is so admirable in you four. You have all adjusted yourselves and do not complain about a bit of adversity, but take it in your stride. It will not matter to the future generations if your ancestor was convict or free, black or white or even mixed. In this country it will be up to the individual to succeed in their chosen fields and little will stop an enterprising person.”

  Midnight was upon them and everyone gathered in a large circle, held hands and sang “Auld Lang Syne.”

  Forrest smiled at the men, patted Murdoch on the back and bid them ‘goodnight’. Murdoch’s eves followed him across the room, then turned to his friends and said, “We fell on our feet when we met up with that gentleman, didn’t we? I wonder where we would have been if we hadn’t ?” He wondered what the New Year would have in store for them?

  Chapter 22 - The New Generation

  “Uncle Alistair, are you there?”

  “Yes, in the schoolroom. Oh, it is you, Duncan. Come in, my boy.”

  “Hello, Uncle. I’ve come to see you.”

  “Well, come in lad, don’t stand on the doorstep. What have you there?”

  Duncan came into the schoolroom to find his uncle sitting at his desk, marking lessons on a pile of slates. The boy seemed rather ill at-east and red in the face, he was tall for 15.

  “Uncle,” said Duncan. “You know that I like making things and have made quite a lot of things for my insect collection. Well, I got to thinking that you are finding it hard to get around easily and I thought this might help.”

  He brought a contraption from behind his back and proffered it to Alistair. The man could see that it was a wooden leg, a peg leg, the sailors called them. He took it from the boy and looked at it. “Why Duncan, I don’t know what to say, but thank you.”

  “Uncle you don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to. I won’t be hurt, truly I won’t, and no knows one that I have made it. It’s just that I have noticed how tired your good leg gets, doing all the work and I thought if you could have something to hold you up, you may not get so tired. You see, it goes on like this and it has a harness on it to help you keep it in place. If this one doesn’t fit, then I can make one that does. I saw a sailor with one on the ship and it was amazing what he could do.”

  “My boy, how thoughtful of you. I have often thought that I perhaps could get something like this one day. It would be grand if it worked. Let’s try it.”

  “I made the peg part of it longer than I thought, so we could trim it to the right size. I brought the saw to cut it. I hope it fits. I padded it inside to make it comfortable.”

  Alistair stood up and tried the thing gingerly. “I think I will have to wear it under my trousers, son, but we will try it over them first to get the length.”

  “You mean you will try to wear it, Uncle? You really don’t have to if you don’t want to. I didn’t tell any one in case you didn’t want to wear it.”

  Alistair laughed at the worried look on the boy’s face. “I want to wear it if we can get it to fit, Duncan. I think I am a very lucky man to have a nephew who wants to be so helpful. You have made it very well. Look, I think with a bit of trimming, I could manage it well.”

  “Stand up and I will see what length you should have it and I will cut it down.”

  At this stage the door into the house opened and Caroline came in. “Hello, what are you two up to? It is a leg! Where did you get that, Alistair? Duncan, did you make it? What a good laddie you are. Does it fit Alistair?”

  “Caroline, isn’t this fellow a marvel? Fancy him thinking this up. Do you know, I think it will work. Can you mark where you should cut it, Duncan? What about me standing on the edge of the step and you could measure it then?”

  “I don’t think I should cut too much off it at first, Uncle. I would rather have it too big at first.”

  Very soon, with adjustments, the leg was ready and Alistair took a few steps.

  “I think I will keep the crutches at first until I get the feel of it, but sonnie, I think it will work.”

  Duncan beamed at his uncle taking his first few steps. “You take it easy, Uncle, don’t fall. You will be careful, won’t you?”

  Duncan left Alistair and Caroline to try the leg alone. He was a happy lad to see his plan had worked. His father had made a good workshop in the shed at home and was only too pleased to encourage his son to make woodwork a hobby. Murdoch had always been quite capable of making furniture and the necessary things one needed around a farmhouse, but Duncan showed a skill in making really fine articles. He was nearly sixteen now and still interested in all the natural things around him. His collection of insects was quite remarkable and his woodworking skills came in handy for this hobby, for his specimens were housed in cabinets that any collector would be proud to have. He had made chests with tight-fitting drawers that kept unwanted parasites out. Duncan’s present of a leg for Alistair gave their relationship a new dimension. Alistair soon took more interest in him and found what a keen brain he had. Duncan was most appreciative of this new friendship and was able to talk to Alistair about the Latin used for the names of some of the insects he had caught. Mr. Forrest had lent the boy a book he had, that illustrated some insects which seemed similar to the ones he had caught. Duncan dearly wanted to know the meaning of the names. This was a hard time for Alistair, for the Latin he had, seemed to bear little resemblance to the language of the books, but they worked together on it and the friendship grew.

  Malcolm Macdonald, Ian Fraser aged nearly eighteen and Donald MacLeod, nineteen, were all, by this time, working on ‘Forrest Park’. Hard work was a way of life to them and they were all keen to learn well and someday have farms of their own.

  One evening after dinner, William Forrest walked down to Macdonald’s house, finding them on the verandah. He joined them and said, “Murdoch, I have a proposition to put to you. I have a friend who lives near Yass. He has a big run and many cattle. With this gold fever that most seem to be suffering from, he cannot get men enough to get his stock to market. We can buy good beasts at five pounds a head and I know that we can get ten pounds here. I thought you might care to take the three boys, Malcolm, Ian and Donald and go down for some. I would like to stock my new hill paddocks and I would like some for sale. If you would care to, you could buy some yourself and bring them with my lot. What about it?”

  “That sounds a great idea, Boss. The only thing is that I wouldn’t like to leave my wife for that length of time.”

  “Oh, Murd, don’t worry about me. Duncan will look after me. How long would you be away?”

  “I think you would get there in a week, Murdoch,” said Mr. Forrest, “and after that it would depend on how much food there was on the way back. Several weeks perhaps. We would keep an eye out for Mrs. Mac, Murdoch. We wouldn’t let you get lonely. What about the other lads. Do you think they would like to go?”

  “I am sure of it. I feel a bit concerned about Ian leaving Mrs. Fraser, but now that she has young Ellison working for her, she should be all right. He could help her with Alec, too. Jennet and Effie are big girls now. I think that would be all right. Alistair, too, would be happy to see Donald have the experience. Alec will not put up with any nonsense anyway! ”

  “Talk it over anyway. Don’t make up your minds right now. Think it out and let me know in the morning. If
you think you would like to do it, I will go over to see the MacLeods and the Frasers. tomorrow.”

  “How soon would you like us to go, sir?”

  “In the next week or two, I should say. I will write to Guthrie Carmichael and tell him the plan. We’ll have to get horses ready too, and equipment. So about two weeks, let’s say.”

  The boys were very anxious to go and thought the journey an exciting one to look forward to. Malcolm asked his father, “Would I be able to buy a bullock with my five pounds? Then I could get ten pounds for it at the sale. It sounds like easy money. Father.”

  “I don’t think money comes easily son, but you certainly may if you would like to risk your money. You have to get your animal back and you have to choose one that will bring in top price imagine the others will wish to do the same.”

  Ian Fraser said much the same to Alec, but with a difference. Alec was rather inclined to indulge Ian and allowed him to have twenty pounds to buy four cattle if Murdoch was agreeable.

  Alistair had little enough to give Donald, but gave the lad the ten pounds he had saved, hoping to double their money. Donald had five pounds of his own and so hoped to get three good beasts. “Father, I was thinking about this, could you give thought to this proposal? If I do and the scheme works out, I would like to do this as often as I can and work hard at it. I may not even have to go as far as Yass each time. I would like to earn money quickly, working for two years, and then I want to train to be a preacher. By that time I should have enough to see me through for a while. I will study hard and perhaps you could help me with this. I daresay I could preach while I work, so to speak. I mean that I could preach in towns that have no ministry and when I find a good lot of cattle, buy them and head home and sell them. What do you think of that?”