John+Ridley+and+farming+in+SA

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 * **__Crop farming, wheat etc__.** During and after the goldrushes, SA provided wheat to the eastern colonies for bread, and farming thrived. Until 1895 SA had the greatest area of land under cultivation of any Australian colony. In 1860 SA’s first country railway from Gawler to Kapunda was built to transport wheat as well as copper and wool.
 * **__John Ridley__** brought out a steam engine to gring flour in his mill at Hindmarsh. In 1843 he demonstrated a machine that reaped, threshed and winnowed all at the same time. Martin engineering works at Gawler were commissioned to manufacture them. Martins modified the stripper and made 16000 reapers. Ridley took no royalties. He gave any rewards to the Mechanics’ Institute to buy books. He said that we can learn much from the wisdom of our ancestors and that everybody should therefore learn to read. Before he returned to England, he was presented with a beautiful candelabra created by SA’s German silversmiths.
 * Ridley's innovations helped to make South Australia the prime wheat producer in the land.


 * With dew on my boots : a childhood revisited /​ Colin Thiele. Montville, Qld. Walter McVitty Books, 1997. Noted author and poet Colin Thiele grew up and went to school in the tiny South Australian settlement of Julia, north of Eudunda. This book of relatively short chapters describes his childhood on a mixed farm in a community where most people were of German descent. His detailed accounts of daily life on the farm bring to light the remarkable skills and talents of families who had had little education but who knew how to farm and sustain their families. Chapters include headings such as: Horse Power, School, Food, Hands On, Entertainment and Subsistence. His descriptions encompass a world covering the Eudunda area and the Barossa Valley but would apply to many other farming regions in wheat-growing South Australia.

Although Thiele was writing about a period in the 1920s to 1930s, much of what he describes relates to nineteenth-century settlement as well.

A teacher would find it useful to read out extracts, perhaps in conjunction with a visit to a local museum. Most school libraries have a copy of this book, sent free to schools several years ago. || || Colin Thiele wrote several books based on his childhood, as described above in "With Dew On My Boots". This is his first. It describes the adventures of Bruno Gunther, a young boy living on a farm and interacting with his school friends and teacher. In a wheat-growing area, where most families knew each other intimately, there were many stories to tell. Many of the comic incidents in the book are based on common stories that were part of the local experiences. Although the style is more literary than books read by most students at this level, teachers have successfully engaged their classes by reading it as part of their history program. Once again, although Thiele was writing about a period in the 1920s to 1930s, much of what he describes relates to nineteenth-century settlement as well. || || Please click here to return to Year 5 Topics
 * Sun on the stubble /​ Colin Thiele. Sydney : Lansdowne, 1996.

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