Nicole Alexander | Author

Nicole Alexander

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25.01.2022 It's harvest time for many in my part of the world. A time when clear, hot, sunny days are hoped for. Mechanical break-downs unwanted and stress levels are on the rise. Swing back to the 1930's and harvest was still very much hands-on but without the mechanization that growers enjoy today. This picture of Mr Ernest Field shows him sowing up wheat bags on his property near Forbes, NSW in the 1930s. Mr Field was a member of the Australian Wheat Board during the Second World War... as well as President of the Farmers & Settlers Assoc. This industry body was eventually amalgamated with the Graziers’ Assoc. of NSW and the Riverina Graziers’ Assoc. to become the Livestock and Grain Producers’ Association of NSW before changing name again to become NSW Farmers. All of these organisations before unification had fought for rural industries and country people, helping them with issues such as isolation, limited communication, transport and the vagaries of mother nature. Vital work for those that live and work in remote, rural and regional NSW. (Image courtesy The Land 2011 Anniversary Issue) See more

25.01.2022 Nothing epitomizes 2020 more for me than virtual conversations with family, friends, readers, libraries and booksellers. Facebook live chats, pre-records, Skype cooking segments for TV and Zoom flung me into a new world in early March and now it seems very much the norm. Like everyone else across the world I'm now wired for sound.

22.01.2022 After a cold and rainy visit to the High Country Writers Festival, Glen Innes, I'm now in Sydney. Over the weekend I chatted with the likes of guru festival organizers Michael Burge and Virginia Eddy, authors Mary Moody, Callum Clayton-Dixon, Mary Garden and freelance travel writer Amanda Woods and visitors from Armidale, Sydney, Belligen, Coffs Harbour and further afield. The vote was unanimous. The second High Country Writer's festival held at various locations in and aroun...d Glen Innes including the gorgeous Waterloo Station shearers huts (believe me the common room is fantastic) and 'the' arts hub, The Makers Shed, was an overwhelming success. There was a mix of author talks, meditative country walks, fine food, discussion panels and workshops to choose from and best of all the discussions were open, engaging and enlightening with tons of audience and author participation. Even if you're not a budding writer and just after some engaging conversation then you should mark this festival in your diary for next year. You'll come away invigorated. I was so busy that I forgot to take many pics. I'm sharing this one of the restored Waterloo Station Shearers huts common room. See more

18.01.2022 Imagine owning pastoral lands equal to a third of the size of Belgium. James Tyson (1819-1898) was an Australian born, self-made ‘millionaire’ who owned a string of properties around Australia, his fame as a pastoral tycoon, immortalised by Banjo Paterson in the Poem T.Y.S.O.N. By the time Tyson finished acquiring pastoral leases along the Warrego River and Cuttaburra Creek, adding runs in other parts of Queensland and adjoining properties in NSW his holdings covered over tw...o and half million acres, said to be roughly a third of Belgium. Although the properties operated in two different states they were managed as a part of Tinnenburra. Tinnenburra Station, near the town of Cunnamulla in Queensland, 800 kilometres west of Brisbane and around 260 kilometres north of Bourke in NSW became the focal point of Tyson’s operations. With a fortune founded on supplying meat to the Bendigo gold fields at first Tyson concentrated on cattle-breeding at Tinnenburra before an improvement in wool prices led him to swapping cattle for sheep. Of course a decent sized shed was needed and Tyson built one. With 101 shearers' stalls the elevated shed was supported by rows of tree trunks, stories mention 1000 cypress pine logs. Corrugated iron awnings over the windows helping to alleviate the heat. Our first millionaire and an enormous shed deserves a myth and Tinnenburra woolshed had one. One story was of a shearer fired for swearing. He slowly walked through the shed and out the other end where the foreman re-hired him not realising the shearer had grown a beard in the meantime. Tyson was a business-savvy, quiet man who never drank or married. He concentrated his abilities on what he knew best and took interest in everything. He was reportedly sympathetic to the local Aboriginals reserving an area for them on the eastern side of the Cuttaburra where they were to be left in peace and not disturbed. No doubt this was a mutually agreeable arrangement as Tyson then had access to skilled bush labour. At his peak Tyson held 3.8 million hectares of land with stations in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. I often wonder why he is not more celebrated in Australia’s pastoral history and wonder if it’s not because unlike the Kidman family there was no large kinship network to carry on the business after his passing or at the very least keep his legacy alive.

15.01.2022 Remembering all those who fought and died in the line of duty to keep us free. Lest We Forget. Remembrance Day 2020. (Image courtesy Kirribilli Club)

12.01.2022 Old maps can tell us so much more than land mass. People and resources, the prevailing attitudes of the period and, the cartographers interests and ability and of course detail, which can only be defined by the given knowledge of the era. This population map of Australia is fascinating. Darwin is missing, and it wasn't done intentionally. At the time this map was produced, Darwin's population was about 1,500 people, way below the figure required to be deemed a town with 10,000 people. Darwin wasn't granted city status until Australia Day in 1959 so it missed out on being included in this map which is thought to have been drawn up in the 1920-30s. (Image Courtesy - NLA)

10.01.2022 Sparkling Sydney.

06.01.2022 I'm launching into a new creative endeavor this week. Still writing my current work-in-progress - 70,000 + words and counting, but dipping my toes into a related but totally different area. I figured it was time to try something a little different so I'm starting off with an on-line Zoom course on weeknights which will take me through until the end of November. If it all sounds 'secret squirrel' stuff ... it is, for the moment. Brand new adventures can't always be revealed immediately, there's magic in learning and conjuring and letting ideas flow and settle before they're released into the universe. In the meantime my posts might be a bit spotty over the next few weeks but I'm still here... (image courtesy Science Focus)