Farmer Russell Shawcross talks to Robyn Ballinger about the pest problem on a farm at the Terricks in northern Victoria.

Like other Victorian rural areas, the rural population of the Patho Plains is decreasing. When landowners move out of the district, they take a wealth of historical knowledge and experience with them.

The Patho Plains Oral History Project was developed to capture the historical knowledge of farmers and landowners to better understand the changing landscape. These interviews and photographs form part of that project.

Further Information

Patho Plains interview excerpt 17: Russell Shawcross

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

ROBYN BALLINGER: And things like pests and weeds - rabbits, are they an issue?

RUSSELL SHAWCROSS: There were a lot of rabbits when Parks bought it and through spotlighting and imploding the warrens. Nick Hunter done that, and Mark Sharkey. I used to take him out spotlighting, and in those times, we could get 100 rabbits in a night, and we got that down, and you might get half a dozen now if you're lucky. You know, they've got 'em right down. Yeah, they've got 'em right down, which is...

ROBYN: So did you... Sorry.

RUSSELL: Just through persistence, they've really got rid of the rabbits.

ROBYN: Mmm. And did you... Was that part of your job before Parks took over? Did you do anything about rabbit control?

RUSSELL: I used to take my kids out there shooting, spotlighting, but they'd shoot 100 in a night, but they'd have 500 shots to get 'em...

ROBYN: Yeah. Yep.

RUSSELL: Yeah, but it was a lot of fun.

ROBYN: Yeah, it is. So basically, rabbits were just part of there?

RUSSELL: Only mostly, in latter years, around the house and mostly up around Regal and up towards Terrick National Park. I don't know whether they came from the rocks out of the national park, but there were a lot of warrens around Regal House Paddock and under the old house that's there. That's mainly where they were.

ROBYN: And kangaroos, were they an issue?

RUSSELL: Oh, no. Not really an issue. Along the creek, there's... Well, once upon a time, if you saw one, it was a novelty, and now you can go down there and probably see 10 or 15 and sometimes more, but they're not a problem, no. Not on there because it's not being cropped or anything, so it's not really an issue at all.

ROBYN: And locusts?

RUSSELL: Oh, the locusts this year are shocking. Yeah, no, really, I don't know what it's gonna be like in the springtime when they hatch out, but they're really bad. I think it was 2004 or something, they were really bad out there, but I think this year, they're even worse.