Dorothea Mackellar’s love of a sunburnt country – with its droughts and flooding rains – is alive in the people of Torryburn as they strive to recover from another flood just eight months after the devastating April super storm.
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When Dorothea Mackellar set foot in Torryburn as a teenager the area was in the midst of one of the worst droughts in living memory.
Her father, Sir Charles Mackellar, had bought a homestead and property there as a country retreat in 1898, and during one of her visits she watched the drought break and the parched paddocks transform into a field of green.
She had been writing a long letter to a friend in England from the homestead’s verandah when she saw the land around her begin to change.
It happened after rain finally came in about 1900, historians say.
Mackellar recalled in an interview in 1964 that “the land to the horizon became green” and she had danced in the rain when it fell.
Those moments inspired part of her famous poem My Country.
More than a century later the people of Torryburn continue to battle extreme weather conditions, but their resilience and love of the land keeps their spirits high and sees them through.
The past year has been among their toughest.
They have suffered two floods in eight months and are still without a bridge after the devastating April super storm washed away their access to the outside world.
The town’s 100 residents were stranded for 18 days before a temporary footbridge was built over the crossing.
They waited six weeks before they could drive out of the township – after Dungog council finished a detour road through three private properties off Clements Road.
Widespread torrential rain this week saw the swollen Allyn River and Lewinsbrook Creek block the two low-lying bridges on the detour road and flood several properties.
The nearby McIntyre Creek, which backs onto dairy farmers Joe and Lou Brennan’s property, has also caused more flooding.
The Brennan brothers are among the primary producers who have endured their toughest 12 months on record.
They were forced to tip 2000 litres of milk down the paddock every day for six weeks after the April storm until the milk tanker could access the property.
This week has been a bewildering case of dejavu for the pair as they battle flooding with brimming milk tanks.
Their family has been farming in the area since 1850 and they hope their generation won’t be the last.
Despite two big blows in eight months, the brothers’ love of the land is unwavering.
They were pleased the flood water resided on Thursday so the milk tanker could access their property.
“We love it here, it’s all we know … It’s been tough but that’s how it is,” Joe said.
Historian Val Anderson said Mackellar and her brother also had a “special love for Torryburn”.
She has spent 13 years researching Mackellar’s life and said the poem My Country was “inspirational” and gave her a special feeling every time she reads it.
“It shows we are survivors; we can survive droughts and flooding rains,” Ms Anderson said.
“We have survived the April storm and now we have survived the floods these past few days.
“We are very resilient and we can handle the challenges nature throws at us.”
Ms Anderson is preparing content for the Paterson Historical Society’s next book about Mackellar, which will be released this year.
She said there would be new information and more photographs included in the book.
The former Mackellar homestead has been transformed into Torryburn Stud and is owned by John Cornish and his family.
Mr Cornish said they felt like custodians of history.
The 400-acre property was suffering a lengthy drought when Mr Cornish bought it, and it wasn’t long after the contracts were exchanged that it rained.
Mr Cornish felt it was repeat of Mackellar’s experience on the verandah.
“It’s accepted that Torryburn is where the poem was born,” he said.
Low-lying land surrounding the historic homestead – which was designed by J.W. Pender – was inundated during the April super storm.
The rapidly rising floodwater left a nanny mare and four weanlings stranded.
Mr Cornish said the mare sheltered the weanlings from the water and debris and would not leave until they had been rescued by the stud’s staff.
“The weanlings didn’t have long enough legs to survive the flood,” he said.
“They had to swim the babies out.”
Staff moved horses from low-lying paddocks on Tuesday morning before the creek, which divides the property, flooded.
Mr Cornish said staff watched the weather closely and were ready to evacuate areas near the creek if needed.
“It’s a major creek and it has many turns, the water builds up on each bend and breaks the banks,” he said.
Mr Cornish said the low-lying areas of the property were “the most valuable” because it offered lush pastures for stock.
The property is still recovering from the April storm after a substantial amount of its infrastructure, including fences, roads and sheds, were lost.