A HISTORY of the Kangaloon area, located in the Shire's north-east, was compiled by Bernadette Mahony and published in 2013 as 'Kangaloon Footprints'.

Extracts continue here from a talk given by Wes Morrow, son of a West Kangaloon school teacher, originally published in the Southern Mail in January 1950.

"Then came the cattle and the dairies, and houses had to be provided for the families. To build the houses and the dairies they felled trees and split wide slabs for the walls. For the roof thousands of shingles had to be split as well as numerous battens. Some of the dairies were roofed with bark but it was found to be not nearly as effective as shingles. As there were no means of storing water, all houses were built alongside good and permanent water.

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Cultivation in the first few years was done with hoe, spade and shovel, and the reaping with sickle or reaping hook. When flour was required they would carry half a bag of potatoes to what is now known as Unanderra (in those days called Charcoal) and exchanged it for flour.

Later bullocks were required and provided the first help for moving the enormous logs and assisting in the cultivation. The milk was set in up to 200 or 300 dishes (which took some washing) and skimmed. The cream was made into butter in the old fashioned churn, mostly by womenfolk, and carted, often by pack horse, to Kiama, Wollongong or Unanderra.

Even in those early days pests were plentiful. There were wallabies in thousands, native cats and silver opossums. The wallabies were very destructive to the corn crops, and the speaker had shot three or four coming on the crop on half an hour, while the native cats would kill many fowls in a night.

The only medical practitioner available was at Berrima, and in urgent cases residents rode to find him, taking an extra saddle horse to bring him out to the house. He was often attending another patient and this caused long delays. The only minister of religion was also at Berrima, but he would periodically spend a week or so visiting his parishioners, staying with them at night.

The most anticipated outing was going to church on Sundays, which was a meeting place for most of the families. The occasional dances held in homes usually went from dark until daylight.

For many years clothes were all made by the womenfolk, by hand, until James Dorrough, living on the property Willow Vale, purchased a sewing machine and, as well as providing for his own household, sewed material up for his neighbours.

Then came the Co-operative Dairy Factories which were scattered throughout the district, one each at Glenquarry, East Kangaloon, Robertson, Pheasant Ground, Wildes Meadow, and, at one stage, two at Kangaloon. By that time the railway had extended as far as Mittagong, and the milk was drawn by horse wagon to meet the railway. The roads were in an awful state, the carts sometimes bogging up to the shafts in wet weather. Later on, one man put in a separator and caused a terrible uproar among the farmers, but they soon found he was getting his cream away much more easily, and they all soon had separators. For many years the major part of the Kangaloon butter was sold to Anthony Horderns Ltd.

It was possible to plough only small areas with the bullocks, and as much land was missed around the trees and stumps as was actually ploughed. This land was then dug with a spade or hoe. Joseph Pearson was the first man in the district to use horses for ploughing, which brought forth many comments as it was generally agreed that it was stupid. However, he was successful, and it was not long before all followed and used horses. The settlers also grew wheat, which they ground into flour, but the rust eventually beat them. In later years chaff was cut with the aid of horse gear, and one man had a water wheel put in for this purpose."

Wes Morrow also recalled that "those early settlers had no chance of putting anything back into the soil as they had no lime or suchlike available.

However, as far back as 60 years ago two men tried to build up and maintain their land by using blood and bone, but they were faced with a very difficult task."

Today the area thrives and locals have not forgotten the endurance of its pioneers and their descendants.

This article compiled by PHILIP MORTON is sourced from the archives of Berrima District Historical & Family History Society, Bowral Rd, Mittagong. Phone 4872 2169.

Email bdhsarchives@gmail.com.

Web: berrimadistricthistoricalsociety.org.au

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