Miscellaneous

       Home       NEW Updates      About Us       Feedback      Historic Sites       Consultants          Contact Us       Terms/Conditions

 

FINGERS AND SNAKES

“In the early pioneering days in these districts every farm had a lot of chooks which provided meat and eggs for the household. Any surplus was taken to a local storekeeper for sale or exchange for other much-needed foodstuffs or other articles.
There were no foxes here in those days and the fowls had free range because there was no need to lock them up at night.
Needless to say, the hens laid their eggs in all manner of places - one of the more favoured being the haystacks which were a feature of every farm.
The egg collecting was usually the job of the younger children.
On one farm there were two girls, one aged 10 and her sister about 4. Their parents had to go to town on business, leaving the two to collect the eggs.
 

Collecting them was quite a challenge as the hens had a knack of finding some very well hidden spots to deposit their eggs.
In their search the girls eventually came to the haystacks, and the 4-year-old, who knew of the nest hidden in the straw, ran and put her hand in, not knowing there was a dugite snake there which immediately bit her on the finger.
What to do? No parents. No help at all.
Big sister thought quickly and, deciding it would be best to cut the finger off, ran to the wood heap and got the axe. Then she stopped and thought, this will hurt; but how much?
Quickly putting one of her own fingers on the block she cut it off to see how badly it would hurt.
Not as much as she expected, so she cut little sister's finger off also! Both survived”.

Every endeavour has been made to accurately record the details however if you would like to provide additional images and/or newer information we are pleased to update the details on this site. Please use CONTACT at the top of this page to email us. We appreciate your involvement in recording the history of our area.

 

References:                 Article:      Neville Beeck

                                  Image:     

 


Copyright : Gordon Freegard 2024