Divine In(ter)vention

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (2020)

Week 14 | Water

Pop Davey working the cultivation

My grandfather Ernest Frank Davey (Pop Davey) bought 50 acres of land at Eight Mile Plains on the then outskirts of Brisbane (Queensland) in 1932 for £5 an acre.  He began by establishing a poultry farming operation for egg production, followed by a small crops’ cultivation.  An essential ingredient for any farming venture, big or small, is water.

Fortunately for Pop Davey, one boundary of the property was delimited by Bulimba Creek which provided a supply of water for the farming activities.   Pop had a Ronaldson Tippett engine that pumped water up a quarter mile long pipe from the creek to the cultivation, connected to a series of spray lines.  This set-up might have been considered ‘state of the art’ for the time.

There was a bore on the property down near Miles Platting Road in the early days.  Initially, Granny Davey had to walk down the long driveway from the ‘old house’ and fill a four gallon kerosene tin from the well using a hand pump and carry it back to the house.

Pop Davey

Later the new house and chook (chicken) sheds were serviced by rainwater tanks – three near the house (2 x 1000 gallon, 1 x 500 gallon), plus several near the chook sheds.  These could be topped up with creek water if they ran low by means of a long hose running from the end of one of the spray lines to the tanks.   One of the house tanks was used only for laundry, the other fed the bathroom.  The two 1000 gallon tanks were connected underneath by a pipe so they always stayed the same level but a tap between them allowed for water to be kept separate (i.e. if the laundry tank was topped off with creek water it wouldn’t mingle with the rainwater still in the house tank). There was also a small dam on the property that was possibly fed by a spring.

To supplement these water supplies, Pop Davey also discovered he had a talent for water divining (or perhaps he learnt the skill from an expert) and he claimed he could find water underground.  His daughter Irene used to watch him doing this as a child and sometimes assisted him.

Chook sheds, Eight Mile Plains

He would select a forked stick and holding one fork in each hand walk around the paddocks until the stick vibrated, giving a signal that water might be found below that spot.  When Irene helped him, she would hold one fork and Pop Davey the other and they would hold hands in between to complete the connection and the technique would still work.  They would feel the stick twitching when there was underground water in the vicinity.  Having identified a likely spot in the paddock (although never the paddock under cultivation), Pop proceeded to dig a well, assisted by Irene, and about 12 feet down they found water.  On this occasion the location was alongside the dam.   

Pop Davey needed water – for his family’s daily needs, for his chooks, and for his crops.  Through intelligent purchasing, inventive and ingenious irrigation practices, and an iota of divining intervention, he was able to tap into multiple water sources to keep his farm supplied with rainwater, creek water, dam water, well water and underground water and limit the chances of his farm running dry.  The farm, in turn, provided a home and income for Pop and Granny Davey and their six children for over 50 years.

Aerial view of property in 1936.  Blue line very roughly describes property boundary [Image courtesy of QImagery]

Aerial view of property in 1966 clearly showing house, chook sheds and cultivation areas. [Image courtesy of QImagery]

[This story based on the memories of Irene Davey]