Life in a Village Settlement on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp

This account of life on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp appeared in the Mudgee Guardian of January 31, 1907. I believe it is somewhat exaggerated, however life certainly was hard for those early settlers. The story took place 'some time ago' - the opportunity for 'half-time employment on the Government drain' mentioned in the article finished in November 1897, so, if true, the story took place before then. The bit about the kangaroo dog stealing the baby and carrying it away for two miles is interesting, given what happened to Lindy and Michael Chamberlain's baby, Azaria, in 1980. You can read my history of the Koo Wee Rup Swamp, here, and other accounts of Village Settlement life, here.

This is the article from the Mudgee Guardian of January 31, 1907, transcribed from Trove, here. According to recent Victorian news the village settlement of Koo-wee-rup in that State contains more concentrated essence of hopelessness than any other alleged village settlement in Australia - not even excluding the experiment in misery at Southport, Tasmania*. Some time ago it seems a man tried to settle at Koo-wee-rup and kept on endeavouring for three months. During that period all his clothes and most of his skin were distributed impartially on the jagged points of the all-pervading ti-tree stumps; his horse, weakened by excessive chewing of ti-tree bark, got into a crab-hole and wouldn't Koo-wee-rup any more; his wife fell into a ' big drain ' twice while trying to go catch eels; his children were chased by black snakes and got lost and sun-struck on their way to the half-time school, four miles up the swamp; goats or some other wild animals from the surrounding forest came in the early morning and demolished the few decrepid cabbages and frost-bitten potatoes in the garden; the native cats killed the fowls; a neighbor, or a neighbor's pig, came in the night and stole his flour and half a sack of onions; and a vagrant kangaroo dog stole the baby out of the gin case cradle, and only dropped it after a two mile chase through the ti-tree. 

Then the inspector decided that insufficient work had been done on the holding to entitle the settler to half-time employment on the Government drain. More ti-tree stumps should be grubbed, he said. The poor devil of a villager had built fences with ti-tree stumps, walled and floored his dwelling with ti-tree stumps, poured them down crab holes in tons, had grubbed them out and piled them up in huge bonfires that scorched his hair and whiskers, and burnt down his fowlhouse; heaps of ashes 6ft deep surrounded the premises, and lay like sand dunes up against the impenetrable wall of standing ti-tree at the back; and all the time the house and garden kept sinking slowly down until they got below the level of the canal, and the water soaked through the floor and put the fire out. 

Yet, despite all this, the inspector wasn't satisfied, for the ti tree stumps increased and multiplied. At every fresh subsidence of the homestead they sprang up like mushrooms. It was no use, so the settler shook the mud from his bare feet and gave the ti-tree stumps best.

The Koo Wee Rup Swamp - Settlements on the bank of the Main Drain.

The 'big drain' which the wife of the settler fell into while trying to catch eels.

Image: The Illustrated Australian News, February 1, 1894.

State Library of Victoria Image IAN01/02/94/4a

* Southport Tasmania Village Settlement - Ladies Relief Committee Village Settlement Scheme, establised in 1894 at Southport, Tasmania. 'The settlement was formed in 1894 to reduce the number of the unemployed in Hobart, and to induce these people to settle upon, and eventually buy some of the waste lands of the colony' Hobart Mercury November 7, 1896). Familes were given land and initially rations and were to become self-sufficient on small farms, up to 25 acres, which they would eventually pay off and own. It was not a success and handed back to the control of the Government in 1898. I have created a short list of articles on Trove on the Soithport Village Settlement, access it here.