Early Days on S.Y.P. A PIONEER'S EXPERIENCE
Mr. A. C. H. Gericke, of near Yorketown, has celebrated his 75th birthday. Mr. Gericke came to Southern York Peninsula in July, 1871. He was then 15 years old, and remembers the trip from Williamslown, near Gawler, to Sultana Point, near Edithburgh. His father drove a team of bullocks and the journey occupied three weeks. Fortunately, it was a very wet winter, and there was plenty of water obtainable on the track. They had to come through sheep runs from Port Wakefield to Troubridge District, as it was then named, and had quite a number of gates to open and shut on the track down the Peninsula. Their holding was Section 189 at Sultana Point. It adjoined No, 186 owned by Mr. Paul Martin, who sailed a small cutter regularly across St. Vincent's Gulf to Glenelg. He carried mails and also passengers at 15/- per head. Sometimes the trip would take six hours and at times all day. Edithburgh was then known at Point de Mole. Mr. Gericke mentioned that six Chinamen had been camping for several years prior to his father's arrival at Sultana Point. They caught tons of fish, some of the schnappers being 40 and 60 pounds in weight. Thc yellow men dried, pickled, and salted the fish, packed them in bags, and sent them to Melbourne. They were shipped on board the ketch "Edith Alice" from Salt Creek {Coobowie). Mobs of natives were in the Sultana district and mostly camped near the sea on account that fish was their principal food. Some of the corroborees held by ihem at Sultana Point were pretty lively functions owing to drink being supplied to the young bloods by white men. The men on the ketches that called at Salt Creek brought over the drink, and when the blacks were "ticking over," they used to fight with firesticks. Mr. Gericke did not think they had any idea of medicine. He noticed when they became ill, nature had to cure or kill them. There were scores of them buried on his father's land. Thc white settlers had very little sickness: it did not pay to get sick, as the nearest doctor was 100 miles away. Mr. Gericke said it was interesting to watch the aboriginals making fishing nets. They were very quick, and did the job in a similar way to our fisherman. They made their own twine from a flag rush that grew near thc seashore. A hole was dug in the ground in which branches and leaves of the water trees and rushes were placed. On top the blacks put dry sticks, paper, etc., and set fire to it. After the rushes had been steamed over this fire, they were split into strips, and rolled on the knees until they became almost as pliable as twine. The fishing nets were about 3 ft. deep and 2 or 3 yards long. A half circle of blacks and nets would be formed to wade into the water, and with their quick eyesight, they soon landed some good catches.
Did you have any trouble with kangaroos or emus?
My word we did. Of course we were glad the kangaroos were so easy to catch, as it gave us meat for food. There were no sheep or cattle available at that time. We had to buy our tea and sugar from the Chinamen, who, by-the-bye, got their salt for cooking, etc., from Lake Fowler; they scraped it themselves in whatever quantity they required. The Chinamen had a fine vegetable garden. Of course there was no store, and we lived mostly on kangaroo meat, wild ducks, and wild turkey. We had to watch our first crop of wheat night and day on account of mobs of kangaroos and emus. How did you clear the land? Well, we tried various systems. It was very dense scrub, covered all over with sheoak trees, nearly all the same height, and if we ventured out about a quarter of a mile it was very difficult to again find the hut, as there were no outstanding headlands or tall trees to mark any particular direction. We found bullocks were the best for pulling down the trees, and we used to pull down about 200 per day. They were drawn into a heap, and after harvest the plow was run round them and a match did the rest. Thousands of tons of good sheoak firewood were thus destroyed. The land was purchased for £1 per acre, and our first crop was reaped with a hand sickle. A circle was cleared and the bullocks were driven round to thresh out the grain which was afterwards cleaned in the winnower. We came in July, and sowed in August, and got eight bushels to the acre in December. We used a single-furrow plough drawn by four bullocks to break up the land. Later on, when the 2-furrow plough came in to use, we thought it wonderful. Now we have 12-furrow ploughs with 8 to 10 horses, and think nothing of it. Those early days, Mr. Gericke said meant days and days of hard work in stone picking, fencing, building, etc When the stump jump plough came into use it opened up land which pre-viously had been too difficult to cul-tivate. Mr. Gericke remembers Gover-nor Ferguson coming into Sultana Bay with his yacht. He came on a Saturday and remained until Monday. He thinks it was in the year 1871. The Governor was accompanied by a clergyman, who held a religious service on the Sunday in Mr. Martin's house — the only one built at that time. He mentioned the wreck of the "Iron King" on Troubridge Reef. Before the vessel broke up much of the cargo was lightered into ketches and taken to Port Adelaide. When the ship went to pieces cases and cases of candles were washed ashore, and the settlers were well supplied with this luminant for about 12 months. Some of the candles didn't burn very well — they sputtered too much. The first steamers were the "Royal Shepherd" and the "Lubra." They called on their way from Port Adelaide to Port Lincoln, and also on the return journeys. For a long time there was a great agitation for a jetty. Mr. Cornish wanted it at Salt Creek, and Messrs. Klem and Gottschalk boosted for Edithburgh, where it eventually went. Mr. Gericke remembers the Troubridge Hotel, which was kept by a Mr. Young. The hours were not limited at that time, and there was drinking and fighting going on all night. Yorketown had not been named when his father first came to the Peninsula. The town was then known as "Weaners Flat."