The Aussie backyard is dead.

[Yenn]

I don't know how someone could want to live in a City, but I m very glad they do, because I don't want them here. I live on a ten acre lot, with a cattle property along one side and the rear. A couple of Km away there is a sub division with about half acre lots. Not my cup of tea.

[Old Koreelah]

I agree, gentlemen. Someone has to live in the human feedlot and I’m glad it ain’t me.

 

My kid lives on a tiny suburban lot, but it’s twice the size of the appalling new ones. Her kiddies have a little bit of yard space; I regularly spend a few days there and quickly get cabin fever. No workshop, nothing to fix or repair, no trees, no animals (except yapping dogs). 

The Grandies are incredibly lucky because they can spend the holidays at our place and run free, climb trees, chuck rocks, and visit the neighbour’s farm. 
Best of all, they get to make a valued contribution: collect firewood, start the fire and help with my building work.

[old man emu]

I'm amazed every school holiday time at the absence of children in the streets and even the parks and playgrounds. I know there are hundreds of kids around my place, because I see the Mummy taxis in the morning and afternoon going to and from schools.

 

Remember when kids went onto vacant land, wherever they could find it, and build cubby houses? This is so mid-20th Century that Wikipedia doesn't even have an entry describing what a cubby house is. You have to look at "cubby hole", which is a completely different thing.

[ClintonB]

9 hours ago, old man emu said:

 

I bet you live in southwest Sydney, along The Northern Road.

Nope, rural nsw on edge of Tamworth. Out of town developers only see $$$. Blocks in this new mess are around 1 acre and last lots started in high $200k to mid $300k. As farmland it was worth far less when they bought it. The elderly couple who owned it retired in their 80’s from running about 30 head of cattle on it.

[Marty_d]

4 hours ago, old man emu said:

I'm amazed every school holiday time at the absence of children in the streets and even the parks and playgrounds. I know there are hundreds of kids around my place, because I see the Mummy taxis in the morning and afternoon going to and from schools.

 

Remember when kids went onto vacant land, wherever they could find it, and build cubby houses? This is so mid-20th Century that Wikipedia doesn't even have an entry describing what a cubby house is. You have to look at "cubby hole", which is a completely different thing.

We live on 5 acres with lots of excellent places for kids to run & build and do whatever they want.

 

But we have to pry them out of the house with a crowbar.  Sunny days at perfect temperature for, well, being outside, and they'd rather lie on the couch complaining that they're bored!

[spacesailor]

Still a lot going to Scouts, and the poney club hasn,t  a vacancy,

Our friend is flat-out, not only running scouts, but also,  SES.

spacesailor

[nomadpete]

Marty, it sounds familiar. Although my 'kids' are in their 40's I had a lot of trouble like yours.

 

I tried so hard to motivate them, taking kids camping, to sport, scouts, guides, music lessons, camping, fishing, sailing.........

 

They always had a great time.

 

But I never did manage to instil the passion to persue a goal.

 

Even now, they reminisce about childhood 'good times', but none have got off their bum and gone out on a adventure.

[Old Koreelah]

1 hour ago, Marty_d said:

...they'd rather lie on the couch complaining that they're bored!

I treat that as a swear word.  No bluddy excuse for being bored.

[willedoo]

2 hours ago, Marty_d said:

We live on 5 acres with lots of excellent places for kids to run & build and do whatever they want.

Marty, if you get sick of it they've got a nice little block for you at Kingston.

 

 

[nomadpete]

We've got one of those near us. Huonville is growing towards us.

 

Thankfully the nearest street light is too far away to ruin the starlight.

[nomadpete]

I do like OK's terminology.

Cities are indeed 'human feedlots'.

 

This confirms my belief -

I'm not really human. I couldn't live like that. And I definitely don't think like those creatures crammed together in human feedlots.

 

And some time in the future when I'm out the back staring up at the beautiful carpet of stars spread above, a UFO (a space Uber) will silently zoom down and collect me to take me home.

[Marty_d]

9 hours ago, willedoo said:

Marty, if you get sick of it they've got a nice little block for you at Kingston.

 

 

Isn't that disgusting.  Kingston is already full of dogboxes and just expanding. Still, they'll go like hot cakes - direct access to the highway so 15 min to Hobart. 

[old man emu]

Don't you just love the names these developers give these potential slums? Spring Farm isn't so bad, but we have Arcadian Hills, and Emerald Hills, and Willowdale. 

 

This is what they advertise 

 

This is what you get            

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/macarthur/horticulturalist-tim-pickles-calls-on-environment-protection-for-new-estates/news-story/9e184d530da2f363ff69cf721dcba13b

 

[Marty_d]

2 hours ago, nomadpete said:

I do like OK's terminology.

Cities are indeed 'human feedlots'.

 

This confirms my belief -

I'm not really human. I couldn't live like that. And I definitely don't think like those creatures crammed together in human feedlots.

 

And some time in the future when I'm out the back staring up at the beautiful carpet of stars spread above, a UFO (a space Uber) will silently zoom down and collect me to take me home.

Can you please delay your celestial ascent until you've helped me with the fibreglassing?

[nomadpete]

 Maybe the developers have a cynical sense of humour?

Names like Emerald Hills usually foretells that there won't be any emerald Hills when they finish with it.

I saw one development that was named 'pine Grove' after the grand row of Norfolk pines along one side. By the time the last lot sold there wasn't a pine tree in sight!

[gareth lacey]

2 hours ago, old man emu said:

Don't you just love the names these developers give these potential slums? Spring Farm isn't so bad, but we have Arcadian Hills, and Emerald Hills, and Willowdale. 

 

This is what they advertise 

 

This is what you get            

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/macarthur/horticulturalist-tim-pickles-calls-on-environment-protection-for-new-estates/news-story/9e184d530da2f363ff69cf721dcba13b

 

Many years ago(1971 to 78 )i used to ride horses through all that area when Penfolds owned a huge acreage at leppington we used to hold 3 day events on many properties around there to Bringelly, was through there 2019 to see and old mate who had 10 acres at Rossmore the developers have offered him (9.5 million for 5 of his acres) now that rea is just part of greater Liverpool, as i have said before too many people making these areas undesirable.

[Yenn]

I have just worked out where I live we have 18 people to 100 acres or 116 to the square mile. Luckily I am on the edge of that 10 acres.

[willedoo]

The growth and subdivisions bring about a lot of demographic change. I've lived on my place for almost 33 years and when I first went there, our road was only inhabited by people like myself and raggedy-arsed cane farmers who refused to wear shoes. It was nice and quiet and everybody knew everybody else. And then they came. Always inevitable when you're ten minutes from the beach. Now we have gated community subdivisions full of ex city people and a car going past every few seconds. I had three neighbours bounding on my property and now I have thirteen.

 

I guess with those of us who have always lived in a rural environment, we can sometimes take it for granted. I don't blame the people moving here from the cities down south. It must be paradise for them, and there's just no comparison between what they can sell their place for and what they can get for their money here.

[Bruce Tuncks]

Gosh Williedoo, my understanding of cane farmers was that they worked about ten weeks of the year during planting and harvesting and then spent the rest of the year on holiday.

[red750]

I guess you guys would do well in one of these then. This is Brisbane, not overseas.

 

[willedoo]

4 hours ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

Gosh Williedoo, my understanding of cane farmers was that they worked about ten weeks of the year during planting and harvesting and then spent the rest of the year on holiday.

That was back in the good old days. Six months of continual work, then the rest of the year they refer to as the 'Slack Season'. During the slack most of the work is machinery maintenance, slashing & spraying headlands and other routine jobs. When cane prices were high and the money was good, a lot could afford good holidays. The industry has gone downhill a lot since then. A lot more countries are producing too much supply and depressing prices long term. While input costs are continually rising, the farm income has dropped to the point that it's all up to whether the price per tonne will cover transport costs. Probably the only ones making a quid are the growers around Mackay where there is a lot of mills and a good tram line setup.

 

In my area the mill closed quite a few years ago and most of that land now grows houses or weeds. The farmers that had land suitable for housing development sold out to developers and were probably able to retire or take up something else. Some run cattle and have off farm jobs to survive. Those who grow cane on the floodplain are in the worst situation as the land is not suitable for any other crops. Cane has a window of time where it can survive flooding for a while before it starts to die. The farmers around here who stayed with cane would truck it up to Maryborough mill on B Doubles, about a four hour round trip. Thee only way they could cover the transport cost was because Maryborough mill payed half the freight. The mill did this because they needed the cane to survive.

 

Then Main Roads applied restrictions on the trucks which made the transport a lot more expensive. Recently, the Maryborough mill closed as well and it's not viable to truck cane from the Sunshine Coast to Bundaberg. The latest plan being talked about is trucking it up to a transport hub where it can go from there to Bundaberg via existing tramline. If it works and they can cover costs, some growers will still stay on, but it's only to keep the farm going. There's no income to be made and they have to have off farm jobs for that. A lot of the flood plain farmers don't want to sell because the land is not worth much now that the cane industry is almost dead. I think the day will come when the Mackay region is the only cane growing region left in Australia.

 

Here's the google view of one of the farms I used to cut cane on. Another human beehive.

 

Edited February 11, 2021 by willedoo

[old man emu]

Halcyon Lakeside??? Optimistic branding.

Halcynon (adj): denoting a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful.

[spacesailor]

Blacktown has a " SwanLake " subdivision.

Used to be a bad flood zone , every heavy rain day the roads were closed.

spacesailor

 

[Old Koreelah]

12 hours ago, willedoo said:

Here's the google view of one of the farms I used to cut cane on. Another human beehive.

 

This national obsession with individual houses is crazy! 

Better to build townhouses with shared playgrounds, parks, etc.

[willedoo]

20 minutes ago, Old Koreelah said:

This our national obsession with individual houses is crazy! 

Better to build townhouses with shared playgrounds, parks, etc.

Or something like the Russian style of new residential development. Borrows heavily on the old Soviet urban planning with lots of parkland and playgrounds. Only this time round you get your own bathroom and toilet, plus lifts between floors. Admittedly you have to have the available land space to be able to build like that.

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ONzzb4FCvg&feature=emb_logo

 

 

 

Edited February 11, 2021 by willedoo