“Drought is not like flood or fire, where you have it but then it’s gone and you start pulling your life together. Drought is like a cancer that slowly grows and grows and grows.”
Driving north to Thallon, the road is littered with kangaroo carcasses. This is the northern tip of Gamilaraay country, once a land of rushing streams, abundant Murray Cod and Golden Perch. Now, the Moonie River has stopped running and there hasn’t been a drop of rain worth mentioning for more than three years – nor a grain crop. Hundred-year-old trees are dying. On the historic Bullamon Plains station, paddocks are entirely barren. There is nothing but dry, ochre-coloured earth. The old-timers say it’s the worst drought in living memory.
Yet the people of Thallon are fighting back with everything they’ve got. And that’s why The Weekly has travelled here this Christmas – not to see the country at its worst but to celebrate human nature at its best and most inspiring – to introduce our readers to some of the people who call this country home.
The greatest gift
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der Christmas 2019-Ausgabe von The Australian Women's Weekly.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der Christmas 2019-Ausgabe von The Australian Women's Weekly.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
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