By Jim Mynard
BUDGERIE farm at Yannathan has been in one family since selection, when James Smethurst took up a crown grant in the area during 1887.
Parts of the holding were disposed of as the years and situations changed but the pioneering Keys family bought it from Smethurst in 1891.
Then James Grieves acquired the property in 1899.
The land was productive and James Grieves was able to produce prime lambs for Newmarket Saleyards and those were on-sold to the export markets.
Well-known early farming pioneer Arnold Keys bought the property from the Grieves in 1940, and because marriages linked the families, a succession of one-family ownership exists on Budgerie.
The Grieves family also owned large holdings around Berwick, including ‘The Springs’, and land at Caldermeade, including the historic ‘Warrook’, now a tourist destination.
Budgerie’s present owners Jennie Thomas and Ann Wilson are daughters of Arnold Keys.
Budgerie is now 160 acres of prime land, running beef cattle.
The property has a magnificent home built of bricks made from clay mined on the property.
Ann said the site from where the clay was taken is still visible.
She said that since her father took over the property in 1940 it had mostly been run by share-farmers.
“The Masters family had a farm nearby and John Masters share-farmed with our father for at least 10 years,” she said.
“He worked with dad for all that time, but later on he was a great help to us, and supported us for years as a neighbour.”
When Arnold died the property came to Ann and Jennie as a dairy farm.
However with changing farm economics it became too small for dairying.
Jennie said they went over to beef cattle and mixed and matched with another property.
Jennie and husband Bruce Thomas also own Glen Afton on Heads Road where she runs beef.
“The first thing we did when we put beef on Budgerie was to take out John’s fences to make big paddocks with a really good boundary fence.
“We opened it up to big paddocks but we have gone back to the small paddocks,” Jennie said.
She said there was a need to make changes to cope with the drought that has gone on for 12 years.
Ann said they joined the Pakenham Beef Cheque Group and this provided significant benefits.
“We did the pro-graze course at Ellinbank Research Farm and they taught us how to grow and manage grass.
“Noel Gibson from Landmark has also been a great help to us.
“Noel is at Fish Creek and always a good judge of cattle,” she said.
Ann and husband Brian Wilson have a son Tim and daughter Suzie.
Jennie and Bruce have Matthew and Sarah.
Jennie said Suzie studied physiotherapy and the others studied in the agricultural sciences.
Ann said the children represented the sixth generation of the family’s ownership of Budgerie and as they grew up they absolutely enjoyed their time at the farm.
“We believe James Smethurst built the house because he first took a mortgage in 1890.
“We think the mortgage would have been to pay for this home,” she said.
She said the century-old house was built with the hand-made bricks interlocked and double thickness.
“You can still see where they dug out the clay for the bricks.
“Budgerie homestead was featured on the Cardinia Embroidery,” she said.
The Cardinia Embroidery is a community arts project that enabled people from all over the shire to share their skills to produce a unique work of art that contributed to local heritage.
The project took two years and two months to complete and 384 features of local significance were embroidered by 218 women and one man and can be seen at the civic centre.
Jennie said the house had an enormous pantry because the family would go to Dandenong and buy up supplies for six months.
“We still have toys that our father played with in the house as a child and many artefacts depicting life in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
The sisters grew up in Dandenong but spent much of their youth at Budgerie.
“We would help with the harvest and take our turn at milking when the share-farmer went on holiday,” Jennie said.
They spent those early days without electricity because it was not brought to the road until 1956.
“When we came on visits we would go back to candles and of course we had an outside toilet,” Jennie said.
Ann said they were interested in horse riding when they were young but mostly that was done at their Lyndhurst property.
The family still owns the Lyndhurst farm and uses it for beef cattle.
“We recall the roads in the area being sandy but now we go out there on a busy highway.
“We also remember riding across wet paddocks but these days people only seem to see dry paddocks,” Anne said.
They run 70 cows and calves on Budgerie and at times bring on a few more to rest other properties.
“We mix and match the cattle,” Jennie said.
She runs Glen Afton separately to Budgerie.
Bruce has retired from his cabinet making business in Dandenong and Brian from his construction company.
There is a standing joke that they are ready to help on the farms when they can’t get out of it.
Brian has given himself the title of maintenance man and Bruce said he was the farm labourer.
Jennie and Bruce bought Glen Afton in 1997.
“We were looking for a place and it came on the market.
“We knew the area so we grabbed it.
“Bruce was still running his business in Dandenong and he commuted to work.
“The trip to work would take about 45 minutes at first but became slower as development progressed.
“It is not so bad now with the new freeway but he has retired and can help on the farm,” Jennie said.
Bruce is heavily involved in
the Rotary Club of Kooweerup Lang Lang and in community service.
Brian ran a major design and construction company for building mines and was responsible for the project management of several major mining projects.
The historic homestead on Budgerie stands solid and is a fine old building.
Ann said they put a lot into restoration of the old property.
She said the Yannathan Post Office was on the Budgerie freehold for many years.
“We had it shifted closer to the house and restored so it would be protected.
“The post office was always on Budgerie by permission of the Grieves family.
“Our children gained enormous pleasure from being here when they were small,” she said.
