Bogewong – A bit of family history

There’s good and bad to rain in the outback. The good is obvious. Good for the crops. Good for stock. Good for wildlife. Good for our country. The bad is only obvious when you drive the many dirt roads that kris-cross across central NSW.

Back in the 50’s my dad managed a sheep station in Brewon/Bogewong. There were so many stories about this period but I was only a toddler, Robynn & Les remember a lot more about it. I was able to contact the owners of the property and they very kindly allowed us to visit, and to stay on their property.

Robynn tells how she and Dad would go the six miles from Bogywong to Brewon homestead for supplies in a horse and buggy. The track included an old bridge that the horse refused to negotiate without persuasion, Dad always had to lead the horse over the bridge. It turns out that the bridge is still there and still used, although Jim, the current owner has the same opinion of the bridge as did the horse in Robynn’s day and he too, refuses to use it.

The memory that most comes to Les is that he was thrown into the woodheap by a neighbour’s horse. It seems that while the grown-ups were inside, eight-year-old Les decided he could ride the horse. No doubt he could… until he couldn’t

The old house the family lived in is also still in use but it has been moved from Bogewong back to the main Brewon station and is used for temporary accommodation.  We weren’t able to get into Brewon main station so we couldn’t get photos of the house.

Brewon has always been a significant station south-west of Bourke and is currently around 100,000 hectares. Bogewong is much smaller at around 17,000 hectares. Bogewong (Bore Number 3) was bought by the Currey Family in 1950 and it’s likely to remain a family affair for a third generation at least.

While we were there the land was rich and well watered. The rain of the past two seasons is a big change after several years of drought.

And back to me, Jo. This stay was by far the prettiest (and my favourite) bush camp to date, so no apologies for the many, many photos. We drove down a minimal track, to the banks of the Barwon River which runs through Bogewong, and there we made our camp.

As you can see from the photos, this was a particularly lovely spot. We were surrounded by acres of Forage Rape in full flower which, when blown by the wind, gave the impression that we were camped in the middle of an inland yellow sea. We were only there for two nights, and would have loved to have stayed longer, but the weather was working against us.

The ground was already saturated, and Peter assured me that even the slightest amount of rain would turn our little slice of heaven into a soggy, boggy, quagmire. I of course thought that he was being a tad dramatic, but in the end, we agreed to prepare ourselves for a quick departure, just in case, then settled down to enjoy the evening.

It started to rain at 5:30pm. We did a final check and were bashing our way through the scrub by 5:45. Now, I can sometimes be accused of being a little short sighted, and I convinced Peter that we only need to drive as far as the main road, about a kilometre from camp, and stay there until morning. We found a good spot just off the side of the track and settled in for the night, again. Long story short, it began to rain heavier and at 10:00pm Peter convinced me we should leave. You see, I had forgotten that we still had over 80 kilometres of dirt road to drive before we got back on the black.

So, there we were, in the rain, on a dirt road, dodging kangaroos and rabbits, driving in the dark. Looking out of the window, the road ahead looked fine, but the road was slippery under the wheels and there was a constant, loud thumping as the underside of the car was pelted with hard clods of mud being thrown up from the wheels.

We were still driving at 11:30 (finally on the black), when a road-train came up fast behind us, and we did what we always do, got him on the two-way (thank you Oricom) and told him we’d pull over to let him pass. He was quick to respond: “Stay on the bitumen or you’ll sink in the mud.”

After a bit of a chat, he told us of a rest stop twenty minutes down the road which was where we spent the night. I now have a better understanding of the roads we’re travelling and won’t argue next time Peter says it’s time to leave. And if the threat of late-night driving doesn’t deter me, the three-hour job of cleaning Big-Ears and Chunky Bum certainly will.

Brewon and Bogewong were one of our most anticipated places to visit and we weren’t disappointed. We were welcomed by three generations of the current owners of Bogewong and they’re exactly the kind of people you would like to meet in outback New South Wales. Thank you Jim and Sue, we wish you all the best for the future.

See you out there somewhere

On tow and on the go!