We often calling in to see Uncle Vic and Aunt Freda at “Gunbower”. On one visit Dad and Vic were talking about some old relative who wanted to visit the Cemetery and I piped up and asked how come there is a Cemetery on “Placilla” and Uncle Vic said the early Bullock teams would overnight at that spot because it was a hard bit of hard and level soil which was good for the Bullock wagons to get rolling in the mornings. On more than one occasion a bullocky died and was buried on that spot and that was the start of the cemetery. The wagons travelled a route from Drayton to Eaton Vale and then West to Western Creek with supplies and returned with wool bales. Main supplies were flour, tea, sugar and OP rum. This was in the early days long before the surveyors came through in the 1870’s
On the subject of bullock and horse teams there were two old gentlemen Mick and Barney Halley that were part of Petsworth’s history. Barney had a truck and carted sheep and cattle to the local sales. Mick had an end loader and whenever we wanted gravel for roads or strainer posts for fencing he was our man.
 Mick told me that when he was a lad of about 14 years old (this would have been about 1910) he got drunk and galloped a horse team and dray up the main street of Pittsworth causing mayhem. The local magistrate banned him for life from ever taking any teams and drays up the main street of Pittsworth. Mick told me that story in the 1970’s when he was telling me about carting wheat in bags on drays from down over the river on the black soil and back into town. He said as soon as they hit the Box tree country at “Gunbower” that the teams sped up from an average of 2 miles per hour on the black soil to 3 miles per hour on the poplar box tree country!!
Post School.
Dad was on a mission and they were good years for expansion in the farming game. In the late 1950s He was one of the first farmers to change from bagged grain to bulk handling  with the purchase of a F 600 Ford tip truck and an auger. Rod and John Stirling from Brookstead were the first to start bulk handling about the same time.
Dad was also one of the very first farmers to hook two tractors in tandem so one driver could pull two implements.
The first of these were 2 Fordson Power Majors of about 45 horsepower pulling 2 x 9 foot 6 inch Horwood Bagshaw scarifiers and  2x 20 run Horwood Bagshaw combines for planting.
(Horwood Bagshaw ex Lindenbergs, Ford tractors ex Falconer Ford Toowoomba)
These were followed by   Fordson Super Majors of 50 horsepower and in about 1965 the first of 3 sets of Ford 5000 tractors hooked up in tandem arrived. The early ones were 67 horsepower and the later ones 77 horse power and the scarifiers went up to 12 foot 6 inches and the combines to 24 run which were about 14 feet wide.
I am often asked how one person drove two tractors so there were two levers that ran to the front of the rear tractor. The clutch lever worked with an over centre action and when it was swung to the right the rear clutch was depressed and it was put in gear. The driver then hopped on the front tractor and the second lever which hooked up to the throttle was advanced. The driver selected the same gear in the front tractor and let the clutch out till it just started to grab then the rear clutch leaver was swung until it started to grab then both clutches were engaged together. Was not much in the way of hearing protection then and at night trying to get some sleep and the ears were still ringing. Hard work compared to now with aircon cabs and GPS steering.