Victoria

Title: Snapshot of change

I’ve always been a country boy. Lived and worked on a farm all of my life, until I sold my farm and moved into a small town near by called Wycheproof in Victoria. I’ve seen my share of changes living in the country; a lot of them have been changes in farming because of the lack of water.

Australia has always been dry, and always will be. I’ve seen a few droughts in my 80 years, and this one is no different. When this drought breaks, another will follow in later years. It doesn’t matter what you think you know about farming, if it doesn’t rain it won’t grow. Because of the droughts, farmers have had to re-think the way farming and agriculture is done.

As technology has developed, the way farming is done has changed. I never liked using horses in the first place, so using tractors made things a lot easier for me. These days we use different means to get energy, and those means have come a long way since I was a young lad. If pollution has increased since then, I haven’t really noticed.

In the past, farmers would breed and sell cattle and sheep in these areas – but the drought has made everything too dry and the animals weren’t growing very well, so the animals disappeared and farmers started growing crops instead. There is more money in crops because skinny animals aren’t worth much to a farmer.

The population of towns I have lived in has been decreasing in the last few decades. There is less opportunity for good careers out here, as well as a lack of the new technologies – so young people move away to cities to keep up with the world.

Building houses and living comfortable lifestyles has become a lot more expensive. I don’t think the economy can stay strong if food, petrol and housing costs keep going up. I think Prime Minister Rudd needs to bring in subsidies on petrol or something like that, or else poverty and starvation will hit a lot more people and families.

Change is inevitable, and the changes I’ve seen have been good for the country, and I’m happy with them. I’ve seen people grow and I’ve seen my country grow, and we are in a good place right now.