True community at Pound Creek
CELEBRATIONS of volunteering, dairying and music culminated with a good ol’ country style barbecue at the Pound Creek Australia Day event on Saturday.
Hosted by the Pound Creek CFA Ladies Auxiliary, the gathering lured about 200 people to hear the South Gippsland Shire Brass Band perform the national anthem and Australian favourites.
Brigade captain Peter Vanzuyden acknowledged brigade members who fought the recent Glenmaggie bushfire.
The brigade urgently needs a new big fill pump after the current pump failed at Glenmaggie, but a new model comes at a hefty price of $20,000. The brigade is seeking donations to support an application for a State Government grant.
“The pump was stationed on the shore of Lake Glenmaggie and it was taking up to eight minutes to fill a 3000 litre tanker but it should have taken about two-and-a-half minutes,” Mr Vanzuyden said.
“It’s got to happen quickly when we are filling tankers in strike teams.”
Anyone willing to donate is welcome to phone Mr Vanzuyden on 0428 745 550.
“I’m very proud of the brigade from the point of view that we are attending 60 incidents a year, from house fires to haystack fires and road accidents, and as well as going to turnouts, we have had 15 people away at the Heyfield and Glenmaggie fires on swing shifts,” he said.
Guest speaker Max Jelbart offered an insight into changes in the dairy industry over the decades.
The Pound Creek CFA member and local dairy farmer is also a director of Murray Goulburn.
His parents farmed at Boggabri, near Tarwin Lower, when the dairy was a three unit back out shed and the top cow peaked at about 16 litres a day, compared to today’s peak of around 60 litres.
“The top herds in the district then produced 135kgs of butterfat. Today they produce 300kgs per cow per year,” Mr Jelbart said.
In 1959, the Jelbart herd of 70 cows took about two-and-a-half hours to milk, whereas Mre Jelbart’s 60 unit rotary runs at 360 cows an hour with one person, and all cows have electronic identification and are fed in the dairy according to their production.
He noted the challenges facing farmers today, particularly those with significant debt.
“Prices were much better in times past but the work much more physically demanding and little or no facilities,” Mr Jelbart said.
“This is primarily caused by the strength of the Australian dollar and the supermarkets’ down, down, down policy, but we all have a choice. No one is forcing us to farm and many are exiting the industry as it is just too hard for many.”
He said his love of Australia is strong and
unconditional.
“It is because of that pride and the depth of my love for my country – of what it has been and what it might yet become – that I feel so passionately that we must not just protect the legacy we have inherited from the service of all those Australians that have preceded us, but that we must be determined to improve on, expand and enhance it as our legacy to future generations,” Mr Jelbart said.
He also paid tribute to Aboriginal Australians.
“We need to be cognisant of the fact that our indigenous people have been here for thousands of generations of uninterrupted occupation of Australia,” he said.
“If you were a member of one of those families, what would your reaction be to a national celebration based on the day that your people, your family, were dispossessed of all and any rights to their land and home? I will let you ponder that.”
The first Pound Creek celebration was held some 10 years ago with mainly just CFA members and their families attending, and has since grown to attract a regular following.
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Posted by Simone Short on Jan 30 2013. Filed under Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
