Badger Bevan Robyn. Badger Bevan Robyn. Badger Bevan Robyn. Badger Bevan Robyn. Badger Bevan Robyn. Badger Bevan Robyn.
1983-2012 ‘Durrunnook’
Written by Robyn Badger
In 1983 I moved to Nyabing to be with Bevan on the farm. Life revolved around farming and sport and an occasional holiday. Twenty eight years later… and all that has changed is there is less sport and more family time.
In 1984 I worked in the primary school office and was also talked into playing hockey that same year. I got involved with the club and played until my knees didn’t allow me to play anymore. We were never very successful, but we had a lot of fun. The kids didn’t complain too much, even when they were eaten alive by mosquitos at training on Thursday nights.
1999 Robyn, Bevan, Cara, Danae & Joel.
Photo taken by Vi Wilson, great granddaughter of W & M Shields, under the Pepper tree they planted.
Bevan was always busy with cricket in the summer and football in the winter. Nyabing played cricket in the Lake Grace Association, before changing to the Ongerup Association. Many Friday nights were spent on the phone trying to round up a cricket team. It was a very social outing, with the women and children supporting, scoring and doing the afternoon tea.
21st August 1993.
Bevan playing his 250th game, with Mark Ogle on left & Tony Broadhurst on right, playing their 100th games, and Neville Harris behind.
For a couple of years the women played softball whilst the men played cricket. Nyabing actually won the softball grand final one year. Bevan played until the club folded. For a few years Nyabing played indoor cricket at Katanning in what was to become the Katanning Furnishings “Cash and Carry” shed (2021 – empty – ed).
Nyabing also had a basketball association for a few years, which was very popular. At one stage there were six men’s teams and four women’s teams. They also travelled to play in Lake Grace and Katanning at different times.
Bevan started playing football for Nyabing whilst he was still at Narrogin Agricultural College, travelling home on weekends with John Smith in his trusty little Chrysler Galant. He was involved and very passionate about football, playing 260 games until his back stopped him. He umpired both juniors and B Grade after retiring and when work permitted. He never got to play in the grand final for Kent, but was the assistant coach when they won their premiership back in 2001.
We were married in 1986 and had three children, Cara (born 1987), Joel (1989) and Danae (1991). Danae was born the day after the last Nyabing-Pingrup Agricultural Show.
In 1978 Bevan’s dad, Neville Badger, had purchased a half share in his father’s Poll Merino stud, “Sunny View”. When we first started there was a Kent Districts Stud Merino Breeders Association, in which there were nine local Merino and Poll Merino studs.
19th October 1996
Joel, Danae & Cara Badger in front of the Shield’s wagon that they bought from Victoria, landing in Albany on Christmas Eve 1907.The wagon has an Albany number plate on it – guessing they had to register or license it??
We held a Field Day once a year. Gradually over the years all bar two of the studs sold so the association folded. It was then that we became involved with other ram Field Days, also attending the likes of Wagin Woolorama, Newdegate Field Days and Williams. We sold rams to a wide area of the state and occasionally interstate. Because the stud was so time consuming, we needed to employ a full time farm hand, which we did until we sold the stud in 2008. We enjoyed breeding rams and were sorry to sell it. Sheep and wool have always been an integral part of our farming enterprise.
July 1996, Bevan & Robyn with KJ124, sold at Katanning PIBA Ram Sale to Hustdene Polls Mukinbudin (Rod Butcher) for $2750.00
Sadly, in the 90’s and for most of the noughties (2000-9) decade, wool prices were very low. This saw a shift in some farmers either selling up sheep or switching to meat breeds. The last couple of years have seen wool prices increase and, in 2011, we received some of our highest prices for wool. We hope it continues. It is a product we love to grow.
We ran Poll Merino sheep, the Stud, cropped and I fished yabbies for many years. I sold them firstly to Tony Broadhurst, and then to Craig and Michelle Bamess, when they set up their yabby enterprise, and then to Cambinata Yabbies. About every five years, the dams would run low and I’d have to restock and breed them up all over again. The yabbies funded a couple of holidays and some home improvements.
In 1996, the Nyabing Piggery was desperate for water and the Water Authority allowed them to lay and pay for a pipeline, which went through the middle of our farm. This pipeline has been a godsend through all the dry years we have had. Seeing as we had scheme water, we put in a pool. This was greatly enjoyed by the kids, especially after a long bus trip home from school and it helped to fill in the summer.
There wasn’t any summer sport for the kids, but occasionally Bevan would organise a game of junior cricket, or they would travel to Dumbleyung for swimming of tennis. In winter they played football and netball.
All three children went to the pre-primary school in the CWA Rooms. The Education Department paid for the teacher and the parents fund-raised for everything else that was required to run a pre-primary. This fundraising kept us very busy. When Danae started year 1, the pre-primary moved to become a part of the school.
Outside of the school, the kids had Brownies, Girl Guides and Junior Red Cross, all thanks to Jo Addis (Brown Owl). I was Jo’s parent helper for a few years, so knew first-hand what a good time they had, especially camp outs and cake decorating day. They were always doing something, whether it was bagging up sheep manure, walk-a-thons, or painting town curbs. Jo kept them busy and taught them a lot.
Our children all went off to Perth to boarding school, and did really well and enjoyed their schools.
- Cara has a degree in Environmental Science and is currently working in Dumbleyung as the Land Care Facilitator and loves her job. It was no surprise that our little “greenie” chose land care as she has been caring for animals and planting trees all her life. Neville had cleared many of the trees, due to the rabbit plagues, so we have, over the years, planted back many thousands of trees in the creek lines etc, building up great wildlife corridors, especially for the birds, roos and foxes.
- Joel has just completed a degree in Mining Engineering and is about to start a graduate job, mining underground gold with Newmont at Jundee.
- Danae is currently working in Perth doing administration work for a strata management group. She has done some study in fashion design and photography.
As people have come and gone from Nyabing so have clubs and activities. I have been involved with, and enjoyed, the Garden Club, Boot Scooting and Patchwork. There always seems to be something on in Nyabing to do, so it’s just finding the time to do it.
In the year 2000 we purchased some of the Nyabing Pastoral Company adjoining us. We have experienced a few dry years since then. We have rainfall records which were started by the Shields Family in 1909, and it has been very interesting to see how our rainfall average has decreased over the last century. 2011 started out with us constantly carting water and feeding starving sheep.
2011 Harvest at Durrunnook
The Shire was declared “Water Deficient” in February. In the end, it has turned out to be one of our wetter years, due to large spring and summer rains. Our wheat crops are the highest yielding that we have ever grown, but taking forever to harvest due to wet conditions. The header has been bogged numerous times.
It is the 1st January 2012, and Nyabing was once again hit with a ferocious storm yesterday afternoon, with reports of 100mls in areas, and lots of hail damage and flooding with destructive winds. Ben and Arlene Sutherland were being wed at their Chinocup farm at the time, and escaped the storm luckily. There always seems to be something for the farmers to deal with. Just another year to remember!