My Life

One day a swaggie travelling in a horse and cart came to our small town and camped in a one room hut down by the sea. My brother would go and visit him daily and help with his horse. His name was Russian Joe and he helped put up the dog fence across Australia, which kept the dingo's up north and allowed the farmers to run sheep down south. North of the dingo fence they ran cattle.
One day my brother went to visit this old swaggie and found him ill, so he ran home and told our parents who took him to hospital. (he had diabetes) So this was how we acquired the horse. He was about 15hh and a bay gelding, 25yr old by the name of Billy. I was 9 and my brother 11. We would harness him up to the Trolley which he pulled and cart water for our garden. Our dog Bluey would be running alongside and one of us would be on Billy's back and one driving. We were in horse heaven. We would also go exploring in the bush with him looking for wild peaches (quondongs), which we would take home to mum so she could make wild peach pie. (yum)