Memories of the Landscape in the 1960s
Vaughan Baker has lived at Bullamon since 1967, initially in the old homestead. Following are some of his memories of Bullamon in his childhood and how the local flora and fauna has changed in the meantime.
The Baker family, Max, (aka "Toby") and Isobel, with their two sons Graeme and myself, the younger by 5 years, Vaughan, moved to Bullamon in mid 1967 from a very basic dwelling on a small acreage just up river from Thallon.
Bullamon Homestead seemed huge to me after the small, unlined house at "Moonie View", with no electricity and the only heating in winter coming from the wood stove in the kitchen or a kerosene heater.
It also seemed strange going from living on heavy grey, clay-based soil to the deep red sand of the front paddocks of Bullamon, and the difference in the flora and fauna.
Graeme was away at school a lot, being thirteen when we arrived, so I spent a lot of time exploring the surrounding area, for I was a keen observer of nature as a kid.
The sand-ridge at that time was dominated by just two plants, wire grass with its tall sprays of insidious, corkscrew-like seeds, and a variety of large, yellow daisy that looked a little like sunflower and had broad, bluey-green leaves with a pungent odour. Neither were of any use to stock, and the wire grass seeds were terrible to sheep, with them working their way through the wool to the skin and embedding themselves in the muscle below in great numbers.
One of the first things our father did was to acquire some buffel grass seed which he broadcast by hand across the Bullamon paddocks, and also to some extent over the reserve between the boundary and Thallon township, which proved very effective in choking out most of the terrible grass and weeds over time. Sometimes he would sprinkle the buffel seed out and drive a mob of sheep over the route seeded to more effectively cover it with sand.
A large rabbit warren existed about halfway between the homestead and the boundary gate on the northern side of the road, and dozens of rabbits could be seen sitting amongst the burrows from vehicles passing by during the cooler parts of the day.
There were also a few of the trees known as Rough Barked Apple, the Gomeroi (also referred to as Kamilaroi and Gamilaroi) name for which is bulumin from which the name of the station is believed to originate. Mimosas, or as we called them, briar bushes, dotted the sand, along with common wattle and the odd quinine tree, stunted poplar box and cypress pine.
The briars attracted parrots which feasted on their bean-like seed pods during summer, especially the larger green and red Crimson Wings with their orange beaks.
Other species of parrots were plentiful in those days as well, including Pale Headed Rosellas, Bullen Bullens, Grass Parrots and the occasional Blue Bonnet.
These varieties of birds, although not gone altogether here now, are a treat to see where once they were commonplace.
The bunches of feathers of parrot and pigeon that were often found amongst the wire grass leave no question as to the main reason behind the serious decline in bird numbers over the years.