Make an outback farm

The homestead
Spuddie and Dimples live here with their parents, older sister and brother, and old grandpa.

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The Garage
The family keeps their Model T Ford here. It was a popular car on Australian farms in the 1920's.

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The Stable
There are sheep and cattle on this farm. The horses keep safe in this stable at night.

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The Background
A typical farm had cleared paddocks where sheep and cattle could graze.

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The equipment, animals and people
The family also grow grain. They have hard working farm machinery.

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The Dairy
After milking time, the milk is taken here to be stored or made into cheese.

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The Fences
All the paddocks are fenced to keep the cows and horses safe.

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Children had lots of jobs to do on farms like milking the cows, collecting the eggs and feeding the animals. It sounds like fun but not when you had to get up early every morning, even in winter, when it was cold and dark.

Farm geese were fierce and unfriendly to strangers. They honked and cackled loudly and flapped their wings. They made great guard dogs. 

Sheep were shorn in summer by shearers who travelled from farm to farm. The wool was pressed into large rectangular bales and carted by wagon to the nearest railway station. It travelled to Sydney then was loaded into a sailing ship and taken to woollen mills in England. Being pressed into bales, made it fit more easily into ships. 

Did you know that cows can’t bite you? They have no top teeth, only gums, to make it easier for them to eat grass close to the ground.

Swagmen wandered from farm to farm doing odd jobs for money. The way they carried their swags (bedding and belongs) on their backs showed which Australian state they came from.

A kangaroo dog was the first type of Australian dog. It was a cross between a greyhound and a deerhound. They were much taller than a toddler, could run very fast and were used for hunting kangaroos and sport.

Did you know that you could tell how old a horse was by his teeth? As a horse got older its teeth went yellow, changed shape, and got worn down. It was important to know this in case you bought a horse that was too old to do the work needed.

From the Powerhouse Museum's collection:
The swagman is a well known character in Australia. Do you know a song about a jolly swagman? There's a swagman amongst your Outback farm characters. Can you find him? He's camping with his swag, boiling his billy of tea.

You'll also find a little swagman here in our doll collection. He was made for a little girl called Barbara, by her mother, in 1933.
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