Page 8 - OurStories-2022_Preview

8 | OUR STORY: GRUNDY

▲ INVITING: Colin Grundy showing guests, including ▲ UNUSAL GUESTS: Dean Tugwell and Peter Grundy ▲ TAKING FLIGHT: Mundoo is home to an array of
English television presenter Martin Clunes (centre), came across a seal in Grannies Hill paddock in birdlife. PHOTO: Sally Grundy.
around Mundoo Island station. 1971.

THE Grundys are not just farmers of Mundoo “We are fortunate to live in a nature-rich livestock away from the water’s edge and
Island Station, but caretakers. environment that is home to a number of subsequently planted 140,000 shrubs, trees
The importance they place on sustainability endangered species as well as many native and grasses with help from the Coorong, Lower
is illustrated by the multitude of environmental species,” Sally said. Lakes and Murray Mouth Vegetation Program.
and biodiversity preservation activities they’re “We feel a responsibility to collect crucial data The family also lease a property on
involved in. about the many species on our station so that Hindmarsh Island from the Department of
They undertake regular voluntary surveys we can ensure the biodiversity is recorded, Environment and Water, with a view to making
of wildlife, including frogs, turtles, bats, fish monitored and protected. both environmental and production gains.
and tadpoles, native water rats, shorebirds, “Important data is archived regarding “The arrangement has been beneficial
waterfowl, orange-bellied parrots and species, patterns of occurrence, breeding and as we manage the property and provide
Australasian bitterns. measuring population. environmental gains, while we take our cattle
The parrots and bitterns are among a litany “Our data is used by government and non- out of our wetlands during the winter months
of vulnerable and endangered species that government agencies for various applications and graze them on the high ground on
have been observed on the station - Eastern and our environmental pursuits ensure a Hindmarsh Island.
curlews, curlew sandpipers, southern bell frogs, valuable historical record.” “The government doesn’t need to employ
southern pygmy perch, Murray hardyhead and The Grundys fenced off the saltwater side someone to manage the property as we are
the eastern long-necked turtle to name a few. of their islands close to a decade ago to keep the caretakers.”

Life, labour and equipment relied on by many pastoral properties on and With better machinery, fertilisers and seed
around Lakes Alexandrina and Albert to deliver technology, crops improved and quite a bit of
Life on Mundoo Island Station throughout the groceries, produce, building materials and farming lucerne was grown.
1900s was an ever changing landscape. equipment, but also to collect wool, skins and Another source of income was from salt, with
In the late 1990s, reflecting on a life spent on other cargo to be sold. any idle time used to scrape salt from swamps.
the station for the book Mundoo Island Memories One such barge named ‘Albert’, built in 1882, It was shovelled into 130 pound bags and sold
authored by Sally, Colin’s father Peter said was used for many years by Jack Grundy to to local farmers to mix with feed for dairy cows,
Mundoo was very much a mixed farm in his early transport wool, barley and oats to Goolwa for sheep and pigs.
days. loading onto trains, and trade lambs to and from A number of watercraft were used throughout
The family had chooks, geese, turkeys, pigs, the island. the years to get between islands and jobs on the
ostriches and milking cows and their calves, During the building of the barrages, a school station.
but sheep, lambs and wool provided the main was established to cater for the children of the A hovercraft bought in 1970 had a mounted
income. workers, which Peter attended from 1936 to seed sprayer, but Peter was sure most of the
Before new barrages were built in the 1930s, 1938. seed was wasted and maintained the best way
the Grundys could only keep sheep, because the He would later ride a pony to attend school on to plant grasses was with clods of the actual
cattle would not drink the brackish water from Hindmarsh Island. growing plant.
freshwater soaks dotted across the islands. The first tractor was bought by the Grundys in A skinny airboat with a VW motor was bought
Merinos, Lincolns, Suffolks, Corriedales and the late 1920s, though horses were still used to in 1968 and used to drive up narrow channels,
Romneys were some of the breeds run across the cart hay until 1948. while a larger airboat, powered by a motor out
years. The family were among the first to buy a hay of a Tiger Moth airplane, was bought in 1973
Peter said life was made easier by the building baler, with Peter doing contracting to “earn a few and enabled them to carry panels and posts for
of the new Mundoo Barrage. extra quid”. stockyards to the islands.
It helped provide freshwater for cattle and Cropping was a time consuming task in Peter’s The Grundys also owned a plane during the
enabled the family to cart wool, stock and grain to early days, so only a small area of barley and oats same period, which was used for stock checks.
and from the island by truck. were grown.
Prior to that, sheep were walked over the old Chaff was cut to sell to horse owners and used
worn test barrages or, when impassable, walked for the Grundys’ own horses and cows, while
across a limestone reef or swum across the river. oats and chaff would be used for sheep feed in
Paddle steamers and barges had also been the event of a late season start.

▲ WATER WAYS: Peter Grundy driving a VW motored
airboat along Holmes Creek.
▲ TRACTOR PULL: Jack Grundy on the binder and
workman Eric Birks driving the W30 tractor.