Mary joined our Oral Histories group as an interviewee. Mary and her family came to Tasmania from the UK in 1960. Eventually settling at Hughenden (just south of Woodbridge). Mary gives us an introduction to her Oral History recordings....
We arrived in Tasmania from England in 1960 after four weeks on the Fairsky, renting a flat in Blackmans Bay at first then a house in Lenah Valley, buying Hughenden in November of that year. At first Peter worked for Port Huon Fruitgrowers (PHF) travelling to Hobart on a Vespa scooter as funds could be stretched far enough to get a car. My in-laws came out in 1963 and eventually bought what is now Five Bob and Peter went into partnership with his brother, and later left PHF and farmed full-time. As well as working on the five acres of apples on Five Bob we sold cream to shops in Hobart and locally, had an acre of blackcurrants, raised calves and pigs and built two chicken sheds which housed about four hundreds hens altogether. During the 1967 fires all these were lost and eventually we stopped farming as it became obvious the farm was too small to give us a reasonable living. Peter worked in the Allport Museum for ten years while I bred Labradors. After he retired in 1985 we planted a plantation of eucalypts and a stone fruit orchard, but decided in 2001 that we were getting too old to keep things in good heart and made the difficult decision to sell Hughenden. After a few hectic months sorting out 41 years of accumulated items in the sheds and barns we moved across the road to a more easily managed property that still manages to keep us busy.
Mary Read October 2007
To listen to the first of Mary's Podcasts about the early days living in Birches Bay following their arrival from the UK - click the Podcast Link below.
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