Hon Mia Davies MLC - Australia Day address in Wagin
Author: Mia Davies
Published on: 26-January-2012
I’d like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today and pay my respect to elders past and present.
I’d also like to acknowledge Wagin Shire President Cr Phil Blight, Cr Greg Ball - Deputy Shire President, Councillors Dale Lloyd, Ron Walker and Shire CEO Len Calneggia.
Special guests, ladies and gentleman
Thank you for the invitation to be here today to celebrate Australia Day with the Wagin community and particularly to recognise Australia Day award winners.
January 26 is a special day. Of course the date marks the landing of Captain Cook at Botany Bay.
But more and more the day is becoming a celebration and reflection on the contemporary Australian way-of-life.
When I’m asked to speak at events like this it gives me the opportunity to reflect on what occasions like this really mean.
It is a day to celebrate what makes Australia great.
We live in a beautiful country – our natural surrounds are often used to define our nation.
The Kimberley, Ayers Rock, the vast plains of the Nullabor, the Great Barrier Reef, the harsh and timeless rockscapes of the Pilbara and the patchwork of paddocks that defines the Wheatbelt.
We are lucky to have these wonderful assets on our doorstep for us and the world to marvel at, but for me, what makes our nation great is the people, and our way of life.
For those of you I haven’t met before, I grew up on a wheat and sheep farm close to Wyalkatchem where my father’s family had settled in the early 1900’s.
My Mum’s family are from this part of the world – Darkan, with extended family in Wagin.
Today I’d like to reflect on the humble beginnings of many communities throughout the Wheatbelt by reflecting on how the community I grew up in came to be.
In April 1908, the then Minister for Agriculture and Land, Sir James Mitchell, having traversed the area between Tammin and Yorkrakine Hill arranged for 51 sections to be surveyed in the Yorkrakine-Korrelocking areas.
Blocks of country were valued at ten to twelve shillings per acre with the payment to be made over twenty five years. In 1899 labourers’ wages started at 7 shillings per day and a man, horse and cart could be hired for 10 shillings.
In today’s prices this equates to land values of $1.50 per acre, laborer’s wages of $1 per day and the bargain price of $1.50 for a man, horse and cart package.
The unemployed and those that were married with large families were invited to apply through the local press and of the original settlers, five of the families had ten or more children, the smallest family consisted of six children.
These families eked out a living in a harsh and unforgiving environment. They lived in houses made of hessian bags and corrugated iron with dirt floors while they cleared the land for farming.
They did it with no mechanical equipment – just sheer hard yakka. In amongst this, they found time to build their community, open a general store, build a town hall for gatherings and form sporting clubs.
The schools, hospitals and sealed roads came much later.
They built their communities from scratch, with little assistance from the Government of the day. In fact Sir Mitchell was blamed for his bland optimism in allegedly throwing new settlers into the bush with just an axe, claiming that new railways and ‘a little muscular activity’ only were required for success.
He became the prime target for the Farmers and Settlers Association, founded in 1912, and two years later the association returned eight Country Party members to parliament.
Today, there are less families and bigger farms but over one hundred years later, ten families remain in the area of the original 51 that took up the challenge in the Yorkrakine-Korrelocking area, mine included.
I suspect I could tell this story for nearly every country town throughout the Wheatbelt.
In the Wagin district, the first official list of land grants made to European settlers included names like Spratt, McKenna, Taylor, Boddington, Padbury, Thonley Loton, Andrews, Cronin, Barron, Shenton, Rogers and Piesse.
In town, it was names like Ballard, Barnett, Clatons, Climie, Cowcher, Hicks, Haynes, Cronin, Pearson, McAullay, Kersley, Piesse, Spratt, Taylor and Rawson.
I’ve no doubt that these names litter the honour rolls of sporting, council and community groups in Wagin to this day.
There can be no doubt that the hardship endured in these early days forged the foundations of the community you’re part of today.
So today, I’m choosing to celebrate all the wonderful aspects of life in rural Western Australia.
A way-of-life that centres on the strength of the community and the role community members play in making their town an inclusive, productive and happy place to live.
Whether it’s inclusion as part of the school, the local football team, the CWA or the Woolorama team – regional WA, and particularly the Wheatbelt, has a very special brand of community.
Of course there are challenges – but this is where we come into our own – nothing demonstrates the strength of a community in the face of a crisis.
Drought, fire, the loss of a life, storms, floods … we’ve experienced them all.
We are tested, and on balance, I think regional Western Australians show a resilience that is unique to those who see contribution to their community as an intrinsic way of life rather than a choice.
Wagin’s 2012 Australia Day award winners are examples of exactly this. Citizens and groups who donate their time and skills for the betterment of the whole community.
I look forward to congratulating those that are recognised for this service later in the day.
I’ve reflected today on the beginnings of European settlement in this region and how communities were created.
You may be aware that this year is the Year of the Farmer nd I think this gives us a great opportunity to celebrate and reflect on our way of life.
Too often the news headlines bear the grim side of farming – not enough rain, rain at the wrong time, poor commodity prices, challenging terms of trade.
Each year, farming and related industries inject more than $405 billion into our economy - that's 27 percent of Australia's Gross Domestic Product.
The Australian agribusiness value chain also employs 1.3 million people. Researchers, agri-science industries, manufacturers, marketers, retailers and sales people all rely on farmers, not just to feed and clothe their families, but to keep them employed.
So, today, and for the rest of the year we have an opportunity to celebrate what makes the industry great and what underpins so many of the communities in this region.
Agriculture provides the chance to shape your own destiny, to practice unbridled innovation and to employ cutting-edge technology and science.
The perfect example of this is the proposal to develop a food and fibre hub here in Wagin I was pleased to see it has been shortlisted for funding under the Federal Government’s Regional Development Australia Fund.
You have my ongoing commitment to champion this project wherever and whenever possible.
In a century we have progressed from horse and carts to some of the most sophisticated machinery and technology to run our businesses.
It’s exciting, but it needs ambassadors.
By being an ambassador for farming you are being an ambassador for your community, your way of life and the heritage we should be proud of.
Never take for granted the experience of being a member of a country community.
My experience has been filled with life lessons - the importance of civic duty, tolerance and team work.
The education system may try to instill this in our children through curriculum and books, but in the country it is a part of life.
So 2012 is the time for us to put our way of life up in lights, to encourage new entrants, to share our experiences so others can start to understand why, in spite of the challenges, we love this way of life.
Of course, I may well be preaching to the converted today – Wagin already does an exceptional job as host of the Woolorama … and there’re are few communities that have built a 9 metre tall, 4 tonne ram and named him Bart as a tribute and recognition of the regions contribution to the merino industry!
I urge you to take every opportunity you have this year to celebrate our way of life, I will be doing the same.
Thank you for inviting me to speak today, I look forward to chatting with you over breakfast.
