She stood up, saying these last words, over and over, “I do. I do.” She shivered! “I do love this place!” she felt at peace.
A twig cracked and she saw Murdoch coming up the rise. She waved gaily. “Murdoch, come quickly and see what I see.” She ran to him. “Murdoch, look all round you at the beauty. I can see what you have seen all along. I can see us being part of this land. I can see us really belonging here. I can see it and I do love it.”
He clasped her to him and his voice broke as he said, “Oh, love, how I have prayed to hear you say it. It was all that I needed to make life perfect. Love, we can really begin to live. Let me take you home to ‘Duntulm’.”
“No, Murdoch, that’s all wrong. It can’t be ‘Duntulm’. That’s living in the past. We have a future and we must call our new home something that fits into this world. Let us thank God and then go home.”
So they stood on the hill looking down at the shining river and praised God for their lives and then, like two children, they held hands and ran down the hill to begin their new life in this new land, a life that was filling the hearts of each one of the new settlers.
To some, the old land still called, as it had to Mary. To some, it meant a new beginning and forgetting everything about the old. To all, it is a land of opportunity. Every man, and woman had a chance to make something out of it. It really tested you, but by and large you got out of this land rewards, if you were prepared to work.
***
Mary enjoyed those Summer evenings when she could sit at her big picture window and look out upon the piece of land and that beautiful river in the distance, that was their own. Her chair was placed so that when she could take a moment she would sit and watch her family at their work and when time permitted, their play. She also would sit there to spin and weave and to sew. Soon the children would be grown. Soon they would bring their families here too, and soon the place would echo with more children's voices.
Mary lifted her eyes up from her work and looked over the valley. She called it her picture.
“Murd, I’ve just had an idea.” called Mary softly. “Do you think our mothers could make the trip out here from Scotland now that both our dar’s are gone. We have so much room and I think they’d really love it?”
And so Mary was content.
Chapter 26 - Epilogue 1
The eighty year old man in the old leather chair sat looking out the picture window, “Granda, are you awake?”
Duncan turned and and smiled at his granddaughter. “Janey, dear, come in. Yes, I am awake. I am just looking at Mother’s picture.”
“I shall always remember you sitting in your chair, looking through the window.”
“It was my mother’s favourite place. In fact my father had this window put in just for her, and bought her this chair especially for this spot in front of the window.”
“I must admit, Granda, I have often had a sneaky try of it myself. Only when you are busy outside. Granny would never let us sit in it if she could hear you about, though. She says that it is your own special place.”
“Your grandmother spoils me, my dear. I really shouldn’t claim it as mine, you know, but I must admit I have pleasant dreams in this chair. I always dream of our childhood here and the happy times we had. We were always a happy family, Jane, and I have always been thankful for it.”
“Well, we were happy too, Granda, until we lost Mummy and daddy.”
“I hope you are happy here with us, dear. Although it can’t be much fun for a young lass here with only old people like us to live with, but I know what you mean, dear. I was so pleased to see how happy you all were. Life is not quite the same without them, is it?”
“No, Granda, but I do love being here with you and Granny. Colin, too, is very content, but then, as long as he has his fingers in the soil he would be happy, even though he does miss Daddy so much.”
“Yes, it was bad enough having your father go away to war, but to come home safely and then for him to get that dreadful ‘flu, and your dear mother, too. I still cannot quite take it in.”
“Try not to worry about it all, Granda, we just want you to get better. We don’t want you to do anything foolish.”
“Well, it seems ridiculous to think that an old fellow like me could live through the epidemic and yet lose our dear young ones. Oh, Janey, life was so good.”
“Granda, please don’t think of it. Try to forget it now. Granny will scold me for letting you get upset.”
“I know, dear, but I try to put on a happy face for her. Thankfully she didn’t get the horrible illness. She would have hated not being able to look after me. She seems to love fussing around me and I’m afraid I like her doing it too. Do you know, Janey, I do love your Granny.”
“I know you do, Granda. You are such a pair of old love birds. I think it must run in the family. Daddy and Mummy were too. And I suppose I will be too, when I fall in love.”
“Anyone in mind, dear?”
“Not really, Granda. I think I am having too much fun with our set to pick out anyone special, but there is always Stephen.”
“Yes, there is a great deal to be thankful for having a large family in one area. We seem to have more cousins and nephews and nieces in this place than I can keep count of them all.”
“Yes, it is a lot of fun. There’s always something doing. In fact, there is a party at Frasers this weekend, but I am not going.”
“Why, my dear? I think it would do you good to get out and you have not been out much lately.”
“No, Granda, I really don’t want to. It is a bit soon yet. Stephen wants me to go with him though.”
Losing Andy and his wife, Betty, had been a terrible shock to them all. Duncan closed his eyes and thought about it all. “We were so happy. I did look forward to passing the farm to Andy. Now it would only be his family. What a tragedy it was, this ‘flu. So many of their friends had gone with the wretched disease. When he opened his eyes again he found that Jane had gone. What a sweet child she was. Such a comfort to Cattie and him. They were quite a compensation to them after losing their precious son and his wife. Colin was shaping up well, though. He is so like me in many ways, even to liking my bugs, smiled Duncan as he though back. He lay back in the leather chair looking out the big picture window at the farm below. Then he closed his eyes, thinking of all that had gone by during all his years in this wonderful place. He remembered the day his mother first called this property ‘Alawah’, which she had heard was an aboriginal word for a ‘make your home here’ or ‘remain here’. She had been very excited about this and thought that it was just the right name for it, but it just didn’t fit and after a the first trees in the orchard was planted she changed it ‘Nerrigundah’, which actually means ‘place with many berries’, it was just right! It seemed right to us, too, and so our lovely farm became ‘Nerrigundah’ and not ‘Duntulm’ as she’d wanted when she’d left Scotland! Mother was so at peace and so loved this place. So were both our grandmothers, when they eventually came from the homeland.”
“Mother seemed to be the motivating force in the family. Father adored her so much he was content to stand back and just do what she wanted. He was happy if she were happy. He was always there, the strong tower of strength. What wonderful parents we had. We were so fortunate and so fortunate they had long lives. On looking back I can see that she seemed happier here than she had been in our time at ‘Forrest Park’. Perhaps she just needed to be in a place of her own, but no , it was more than that, she’d learnt to love this new country. She seemed to be full of life when she brought us all here. Funny, I always think of mother running things, but I Father was the real head of the family. It was as though he let Mother have her head and he was content to let her run along with her ideas, but be the wise backstop. He was always there when we wanted him. I have never really compared him to the uncles as they all looked up to him. I suppose because we took all the family for granted, everyone seemed to fit into their own niches” Duncan reminisced.
“G
osh, I’ll never forget taking Uncle Alistair that wooden leg I made for him.” Duncan chuckled and didn’t realise that he had said this aloud.
“What are you chuckling about, you silly old man?”
Duncan opened his eyes and smiled at his wife. She was quite a small, rotund woman, several years younger than her husband. She had a bright, fresh complexion and seemed to glow with health.
“Hello, love, I didn’t hear you come in. Where’s Jane?”
“Oh, she’s coming. She is just waiting for the kettle to boil. I think I hear her now. Yes, here she is. Can you manage the door, Janey?”
“Yes, Granny. I see Granda is awake.”
“I don’t think I was asleep. Was I?”
“Well, dear, I called to see if you were and you didn’t answer, you looked so far away. So I just waited until Jane came. Then you started laughing to yourself. I must admit Duncan, it is good to hear you laugh again. Are you feeling better, dear?”
“Yes, Cattie, don’t worry, I’m fine now. I am so stupidly weak, that’s all. I’ll soon be out and about with Colin again.”
“Well, dear, I am sure that you will find that Colin is managing very well with out you.”
“Don’t worry, Cattie, I am not going to interfere with the boy, but you know I just like to potter about and see what is going on” growled Duncan.
“You can see from here. That will have to satisfy you for a while it.” said his wife lovingly.
“Very well, dear, let’s have that tea now. I know when I am defeated.”
“Granda, tell me about Uncle Alistair’s leg. What was amusing you so?”
The two old people smiled and Duncan said, “Well, lassie, you will have to know something of Uncle Alistair before you can really appreciate it. Remember, he was the schoolmaster. Soon after we came to ‘Nerrigundah’, Father gave him four acres on the road and he built the school.”
“Yes, I know that much. I always felt it was our school and I truly loved that place.”
“Well, in a way, I suppose it was ‘our’ school. Uncle Alistair was a very good teacher, but before he was a school master he was a farmer and a very daunting character. He was very strict with the children and in comparison to us I don’t think his children had much fun. I suppose he was a rather pious man and seemed to be scared that if anyone laughed they would tempt the devil, or something.”
“But he was very kind, dear. I loved being in his school.”
“Oh yes, Cattie, but that was after his accident.”
“What happened, Granda?”
“They’d moved up to a farm on the Manning River. At least, it wasn’t a farm when they went there, it was just bush. Tall trees and thick bush. They just carved their farm out of the bush. A big tree fell on both Donald and Uncle Alistair and broke Donald’s leg and arm and crushed Uncles legs and he had to have one off because it wouldn’t mend. It worried me to see such a big man hobbling around on one leg and a crutch and so I made him a leg. I was quite proud to think I could make one and it turned out to be quite a reasonable one at that. But you’ve no idea what I went through on the way to the house on the day I took it to him. I had no idea I was so scared of him until I knocked at that door. Anyway it fitted and the dear old soul wore it for some time until he got a better one.”
“Yes, I can remember him stomping around on that. I knew you made it and was so proud of you. I think I was in love with you even in those days, old man” said Cattie.
“You seemed to be forever trailing around after me, m’dear. can’t say I minded.”
“Were your two families close then Granda?”
“Yes, my father and Mr. Forrest were the best of friends and for that matter, our mothers were too, weren’t they, Cattie?”
“Yes, they were very fond of one another and so we were ever in and out of one another’s homes, especially after you moved in here, Duncan.”
“Yes, I am sure our parents wanted us together, but not that young, so we were told and not intrude too much. Anyway, you were a bit small then. Thankfully Catherine and Mary Ann invited me over every other afternoon after school. Officially to help with the dairy and so I got to be here far more than I should have been.”
“Daddy loved Mr. Mac. like a brother and your father felt the same about Daddy. It was a grand life, Duncan, wasn’t it, we had such fun growing up?”
“Do you remember coming to Australia, Granda? How old were you?”
“Yes, I remember. I was twelve. I remember Skye too and I remember that filthy ship, and the smell of the other people. Sometimes I can still smell it, particularly when I am in the pig yard,” he said with a chuckle.
“Surely not that bad?”
“Well, perhaps not quite so bad, but after the clean smell of Skye we thought it was very bad. That is probably where my little brother, Johnnie, first got sick.”
“I didn’t know you had another brother, Granda.”
“Yes, Johnnie. He died soon after we came here, he was only 5. He died of snake bite. He was with me when it happened. It was a terrible day. I always felt responsible, I was supposed to be looking after him. It was so quick.” Duncan looked almost grey.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. Tell me about Uncle Malcolm, Granda.” said Janey diverting him from his sad memories.
“We all worked together on ‘Nerrigundah’ for some years. It was a full dairy farm then, you know, even though we had planted quite a few fruit trees. We made it a very big dairy and did quite well, too. Malcolm married Charles and Isabelle Parry’s girl, Laura, and they, had a tribe of children. Seven, I think, eh, Cattie.”
“That’s right. Mr. Parry was a friend of fathers. In fact, Charles Parry and John Trent, whom your Uncle Fergus worked for, and Daddy were on the ship that Duncan came out on. That’s where they all met. Your Great Grandfather Murd, saved Mr Trent's son Hugh from going overboard.”
“Oh, I see.” said Janey.
“My Uncle Alistair went to work for Mr. Parry when we first came to Cattie’s father at ‘Forrest Park’, that’s how it all started. As my brother, Malcolm, had married Laura Parry and when her father died the place was left to her and so they moved out there. It was a grazing place and that suited Malcolm down to the ground and he was very happy to leave ‘Nerrigundah’ to Father and me. We carried on with the dairy for some years, but with far fewer cows and by the time our Grandmas, Catriona Macdonald and Margaret MacKenzie had to come all the way from Scotland only Mother, Father and the girls lived here in this house. When we married we lived in the cottage at first. It is not here now, Jane, but you can still see some of the trees your grandmother planted in our garden. She always was a great gardener. Her mother brought it out from the homeland when she came. It was a wonderful gift”
“You mean the rowan tree, Granda?”
“Yes, lass, that is where we started our married life. We loved it, didn’t we, old girl?”
“Yes, we did. That’s where your father was born, Jane.”
“We had to wait a long while for him, too. We didn’t think we were going to be blessed with children and then we had Andy. Life was good. We stayed there until my sisters married and we moved up here to help Mother.” said Duncan. “We lived in the ground floor and Father and Mother lived up here. By the time the Grandmothers died we had closed the dairy. The dairy was getting too hard for Father and Mother, especially for Mother, she had too much to do looking after the old folk, it was the early mornings in the cold weather, and Father could see it was telling on her so we went into grazing too, and then I began the orchard in ernest. I had planted an acre of citrus some years before and quite a few stone fruit trees, just to try it out and as it was successful, I planted more and look as it now! The paddock I chose for the stone fruit was good and fertile but a really big flood came and took most of them, and it was followed closely by a big frost. We lost many of the remaining apricot trees.”
“It’s beautiful.” said Janey, turning to look out the big picture window.
They
looked out onto the beautiful big trees, line upon line of oranges in one block, multiple lines of Valencia's, Navels, Seville's and then a few sorts of grapefruit, mandarins, limes and still a big section of stone fruit of every kind. “It is hard work though, Duncan. You have worked hard on all this to make it so” said Catriona, who gave his hand a squeeze.
“Yes, we have worked hard, but that’s what made life good, working hard and seeing something for it. It hasn’t all been good. We lost many trees with frost, flood and disease, but has all been worth it. Now Colin is taking over and it is good to see. Your father trained him well, Janey. I was blessed to have a son and grandson carry on in the work I love so much. More than my Father could say. I really wasn’t cut out to be a dairyman and he knew it. He never did imagine that I would have gone in for trees in such a big way though, but I think he would be pleased. I wonder what Mother would think of her picture now?” Duncan’s eyes seemed to glaze over and Janey knew he was thinking of where his parents were buried. They were next to Johnny and their own mothers in the old Church cemetery.
“Ever since I can remember, I have seen you sit there after meals and look out at the farm Granda. Remember how I used to creep upstairs when Mummy thought I was in bed and get into your lap and curl up and go to sleep. I must have been an awful nuisance. Mummy always knew where to find me.”
“We are very fortunate that Andy brought his family here to share our lives. I do think families should live together. We have always been a ‘together’ family.”
“Tell me more of the family, Granda. What about the Frasers?”
“You’ve heard about Uncle Alec striking it rich in Ballarat and so I won’t go through that again. I think even the smallest ones in the family know that story. We all thought he’d would die when he came home from the goldfields, but my Aunt Meg was determined he wouldn’t, and neither he did. Well, not for a long while, anyway. He bought ‘Riverdell’ and it hasn’t really altered since they bought it. He built it ramps and with a huge verandah all around it so that he could push himself in his wheeled chair and watch what was happening everywhere. They bred wonderful horses on that place. They were always horsey people. I remember the huge Clydesdales that they had there. I am sure we have lost something by not using horses as we used to, now that everyone is riding around in these new-fangled autos and using tractors on the farms instead of horses. I think they miss a lot. Everyone thinks machines nowadays. They even fought the war from aeroplanes. I suppose one day they will expect people to fly in them from place to place. Well, it won’t be in my time, thank goodness. Where was I? Uncle Alec used to be pushed around in a sort of reclining pram thing but on the day we sent to see their new farm Dad, Malcolm and I gave him a new chair with big wheels that he could sit in and push himself around in it, and while he could, he still ran that farm and he knew just what was going on there until the day he died. Young Ian started off a bit wild and married a no-good girl, but she died when their first child was born. I think it was a bit of a relief to Aunt Meg. She didn’t get to like her much. Anyway, she died and left Ian with little Peter and as you know, he was a great fellow. Aunt Meg brought him up until Ian married again and that’s where your Aunt Beatrice came into the family. After that, things went well. They still breed the best horses in the district, but not Clydesdales, as you know.”
The Heather to the Hawkesbury Page 20