USC295_0009

ROLLO PETRIE REMEMBERS ORANGE TREE CAMP

[left column]
In this Third Part of Rollo Petrie's memories of his
young days on Fraser Island from 1913 to 1922 he
recalls days in 1916 near the mouth of
Woongoolbver Creek where the stand of Hoop
Pines records the site of the Petrie's second
Forestry Camp.

"From Bogimbah Dad arranged for the
Woongoolbver camp at what we call Orange Tree
camp, about two miles, just up Woongoolbver
Creek above the tidal mark and into the fresh
water. It is about two and a half or two miles I
suppose, from the mouth of the creek.

In 1915 we moved from Deepuying (which is the
aboriginal name for the White Cheeked Honey-
eater) to Orange Tree Camp. It was from here that
the tramline had been laid to Eurong Scrub. It had
the same type of buildings as Deepuying but a
house was built by early '16. We got more horses -
some draughts. Dad bought a buggy and the
transport problem had improved considerably.

A nursery was formed and built with a slab roof of
split Piccabeen Palm hauled down from Eurong
Scrub. Numerous men were employed. Harry
Walker and family, Eltie Sharmon and Beetson
were at Walkers Camp at Central Station, and
clearing and felling scrub. Sharmon was foreman
and had others whose names I can't recall. Later
there were Wiers, McLean and Stoddarts. Bill
McLean was a chemist by trade. Beetson a
copperplate signwriter. By this time there were
several Forestry employees - Chris Dam and
family, George Holmes, Ben Harrop, Freddy
Wondunna, Ken Webber, Frank Simpson, Jerry
Jerome and of course Fred Epps. (Buck Geoghan
had gone to War and was subsequently killed). No
grog was permitted on Forestry premises in those
days and it was a good place for drying out as it
could be 6 - 12 months between visits to mainland.
Beetson and McLean were two such.

The Eurong Road as we know it now, where the
tourist traffic comes across from Eurong Beach to
Central and down to the coast, the inside coast,
was a bullock team road. It was made by the
bullockies when they cut the timber in the Eurong
Scrub. Even before the tramline went in there, that
road was formed. The tramline was mooted and
put in before we left Bogimbah, so that it would be
an operative concern timberwise before we went
down there. We built the home and the first forest
station on Woongoolbver where the navvies or the
builders of the railway camped at first. That was
the first big camp there. They cleared a patch and
camped. That was why there were so many fleas
there.

The site where we lived was the first camp of the
gang building tramlines. The Orange Tree at the site
was planted by the tramline gang some time
earlier.

[right column]
When we arrived and set up tents - the fleas just
about carried us off. There were millions of fleas
when we went there first abd we just couldn't sleep
for fleas. There were sandflies and mosquitos but
the fleas were worse.

Mum, with Gindy her aboriginal house helper, and
another gin, got to work and raked every leaf, every
blade of grass and every skeric of litter away in a
big circle that would go to 50 yards in radius. Then
each day when the sun got hot they would open up
the tents and take everything out of the tent
blankets, etc. and put them out on the hot, dry
sand. When the sun came out the bare sand was
unbearably hot. The fleas would hop and land on
the sand and turn red and very dead. In no time the
fleas were gone and there were only sandflies to
contend with. Smoke fires were the order of every
day. However, I can still remember as we put our
feet out from under the mosquito nets in the
morning we had our instant "black socks" on.

There was a great big fig tree there just where [tha??]
camp was. It has gone since altogether. The roots
of that fig tree used to come out in the creek, in the
water, 150 yards away.

The tramline went as far as Central Station to begin
with, through the Eurong scrub. I just forget how
far through, but not out to what is now called
Louisa's Camp. We called it Dellon's Scrub [wit??]
the tallow woods then. That is, I think, as far as the
train line ever went, and that reached there in 1917.

Not without humour was the accident Buck
Cassells had, with an axe, a frightful gash - [angl??]
wire across the instep, through a pair of blutcher
boots (brand new). As Mum was sewing up the
wound after cleansing etc. and with a large, [ber??]
needle ad sterilised white cotton, at each
puncture of the skin there would be a groan
followed by, "My new bloody boots ruined
repeated after each stitch, and there were many [??]

[Photograph]
FORESTRY SUPPLY VESSEL "RELIEF" This [??]
loading supplies in Woongoolbver Creek at [??]
1935. Photo by courtesy of [illegible]
MOONBI 43, Pa