The adage, ‘A woman’s work is never done’ describes early twentieth-century life for Kallangur’s female residents. In her book, Murrumba Downs 1823-1991, Julie Lewis reveals how women managed gruelling household chores and played an indispensable role in farm operations during the Depression and wartime eras.
“…mosquitoes so thick you couldn’t see the trees”.
Julie’s grandparents Connie and George Blatchford first established a fruit and vegetable farm in Kallangur in 1932, where Undurba School, RSL’s Inverpine and Murrumba State Secondary College now stand.
Connie recalled that Kallangur was then forested with bloodwood and white gums, some “as large as a child’s bedroom, and inhabited by wild brumbies, wallabies and mosquitoes so thick you couldn’t see the trees”.
Farm work was a seven-day-a-week occupation. A typical day for the farmer’s wife began with hand-milking cows at 4am and finished at 11pm, packing vegetables for transport to market.
Once ‘the important farm work’ was complete, women chopped wood to heat the stove, baked bread and cooked meals, separated and hand-churned cream to make butter, cut and prepared animal feed, tended crops and poultry and washed the typically home-made clothing in boiling water in a kerosene drum or copper, heated by burning wood.
A farmer’s wife was also the doctor and dentist, employing home remedies:bread poultices to cure infections, eucalyptus or kerosene with a spoonful of sugar for colds, and sulphur on the throat for tonsillitis.
Julie writes that Connie Blatchford worked as hard as a man bagging pumpkins and packing cauliflowers and cabbage.
Other Kallangur women, like Doris Buse, tended cucumbers and pineapples; Annie Kroning ran a dairy and cut corn and cowpeas for cattle feed, while Josephine Kroning transported cream to Petrie by horse and cart. Dot Dohle, whose family did not own a saddle, delivered milk to Kallangur households riding bareback, carrying milk in syrup tins and honey bottles packed in sugar bags. Neenie Bickle taught children at home until Kallangur School opened in 1930.
Murrumba Downs: Women’s Unsung Heroes of Early Farming Life
Post-war migration brought a new culture, but women still laboured long hours on the farms as well as being homemakers. Marina Valmadre’s legacy is an orchard of 60 mango trees she planted on Undurba School’s oval.
When urbanisation came to Murrumba Downs, the Blatchford farm was sold, subdivided and resumed for school purposes.
In 1990, Connie’s farmhouse made way for a swimming pool, while the dam – a swimming spot hosting the 1966 Girl Guides Swimming Carnival – was developed into a park and dog off-leash area along Blatchford Drive.
A glimpse of this era remains in the collection of household items the Blatchford family donated to the Pine Rivers Heritage Museum.
Read more stories from The North Lakes Guide print magazine here:
- In the North Lakes Loop
- What’s Hot Around Town
- Eco Eve: Living a More Environmentally Friendly Life!
- Local Authors Put the Spotlight on Crime Fiction
- Six Things to Enjoy at Lake Eden
- Get Ready to Jump in for Some Fun
- Exploring Teen Activities at North Lakes Library
- Author Ky Garvey Makes Writing Look: Easy Peasy
- Four Must-Try Milkshake Spots Around North Lakes
- The Benefits of Stepping Away from Social Media
- Petrie Set to Become Hub of Sporting Activity
- Dance to Your Own Beat…in the Dark!
- Lunch, Laughs and Making a Difference
- A Feast of Fun and Food
- Engines Roar for Mental Health at Cruise Event
