Trove Tuesday

It is always a fantastic feeling to find proof of a family story, and this week Trove has given me just that.

My father was fond of telling the story of how, during the 1956 flood, the sheep station 'Para' on which he worked was completely surrounded by water for several months.  Despite the flood, life had to continue, looking after the stock, feeding and shearing, and so on.  With all roads in and out cut, however, there was no way to deliver the wool clip to Wentworth or Mildura for sale.  So, according to my father, the station went 'old school' and hired the paddle steamer Success to ship the wool in.

The attempt almost met with disaster.  At one stage a tow rope broke and the barge almost collided with the Mildura-Wentworth bridge.  It was only at the last moment before impact that a rope was successfully thrown across from the Success to the barge to reestablish control.  My father was involved in loading the wool onto the barge and was one of the hands on board during the trip.  An interesting side note - Dad couldn't swim a stroke.

The article above was printed in the Western Herald on 18 July 1969, and tells of the trip in September 1956 which was likely the last such trip on the Darling, carrying wool from Para Station for sale.

A family story proven!