This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt shows a man on
horseback with a milk can.
I have a photo of a man on horseback with a
different kind of ‘food’ – rabbits.
This photo is of my Mum’s great uncle Albert,
known as Uncle Abbie.
It was most likely taken during the rabbit plagues that
swept through country Victoria in the late 1940s.
The family had property around
Laang, Glenormiston, Panmure and Terang.
Albert Charles LONG (1887 – 1975) was a twin to
Ernest Frederick LONG (1887 – 1969) and the youngest of the 12 children of my
great great grandparents William LONG (1838 – 1909) and Frances Eliza BROOKS
(1846 – 1922).
All except one of these children lived into their 60s!
Frances was born in Hobart, the daughter of a Tasmanian convict but that’s
another story.
Albert married Elsie May HOLMES (1900 – 1984)
and had four children. They were both born, married and died in Victoria’s
Western District – along with most of that side of my family.
Then, for the ‘cute’ factor, here’s another
horseback photo – one of my Mum! She said it’s just for show as she couldn’t (can't) ride!
I had to Google "rabbit plague" as I had never heard of that. As cute as rabbits can be, it does sound rather creepy. Judging by the number of rabbits Uncle Abbie shot that day, they must've been a real nuisance.
ReplyDeleteFunny when something you grow up with is completely unknown to someone else! These Sepia Saturday posts open my eyes to these differences!
DeleteIt seems a little creepy to see all the dead rabbits, but I certainly wouldn't like to see hordes of live ones running around and ruining everything.
ReplyDeleteWell-matched that first photo and an apt reponse, but your mother is the winner here.
ReplyDeleteI'll let mum know - although hopefully she's reading this.
DeleteAbsolutely your mother is just adorable. Your uncle must have felt quite proud of his day's run! What a fun post, thanks.
ReplyDeleteI gather from Mum that this was quite a common 'haul' of rabbits - there were just so many at the time.
DeleteI am looking forward to the story of Frances's ancestry. It was a good idea for her parents to stay put where they were sent....see No 11 of the residents at the end of my street here in Derby:
ReplyDeletehttp://goo.gl/rl6U9
Wow! scary. Frances' father got a conditional pardon with the condition that he leave Tasmania and also never return to the UK. He had to leave Tasmania almost immediately - went to Victoria. His wife was heavily pregnant with Frances and had to stay put until after the birth - must have been tough. Even tougher as her father had disowned her for marrying a convict.
DeleteWe've had our share of rabbit plagues here in New Zealand too, and I believe farmers resorted to an illegal import from Australia to deal with the last one.
ReplyDeleteI have heard stories about the Rabbit plague and mum and dad tell stories of the mouse plague too.
ReplyDeleteI think that your mother looks adorable and very comfortable.
Ah, you must be younger than me, I certainly remember mouse plagues - putting the bed legs in containers of water and taking the valences off so they couldn't run up and over us in bed- eek.
DeleteI wish a man on horseback would come by my house and rid our garden of rabbits.
ReplyDeleteme too!
DeleteMyxomatosis proved to be the scourge of rabbits. It was introduce in Australia in 1951 I believe. We acquired it in England too; I worked on a river project in the mid fifties and we used to spend our lunch breaks putting the poor beggars out of their misery - shooting would have been much more humane than myxomatosis.
ReplyDeleteI still spend some time chasing young ones out of may garden,
They keep coming up with new viruses to kill them off. There's just been a new one released here. Following fox baiting in the National Parks, the rabbit population exploded and so they were next. The fox baiting caused problems with wildlife as small animals would eat the bait, then owls and tawny frogmouths would eat the rodents and get sick - always consequences...
ReplyDeleteJackie, I don't know how this works as I have never seen a blog before and not sure how to work it. This is your newly found 'cousin' Susan, (or Susie as I am known in the family)
DeleteDid you know that Abbie fought at Gallipoli and was in the second wave that landed on 25/4/1915. Many years ago my son did a school project on Gallipoli, Grandma (Marjorie Long) happened to be visiting the family in Kununurra at the time and mentioned Abbie's involvement. After the war Abbie lived with her parents for a few years, he was very unwell & Grandma's mother nursed him back to health. As you know Grandma's father Ernie was Abbie's identical twin, Grandma was about 5 when Abbie returned after the war and she said she could vaguely remember the party to welcome him home. Being an only child she spent a lot of her time with Ernie & Abbie, she said Abbie rarely spoke of his war experiences, but once told her he made a dive to avoid being shot at and landed on top of a dead turk. He was injured shortly after arriving there, being shot in the arm & leg from which he was sent to England to recover & then returned to Gallipoli, staying there until the evacuation, he spent the remainder of the war in the Middle East.
At the time we sent away for a copy of Abbie's war record and my son included it in his project (& won the Principal's Award), but I am sure you can access it online these days.
Susie