Tree Change Review, by Joy Foster
Please note: this review takes a chronological walk through the major points of Margaret McMahon's memoir, Tree Change: Koalas in the kitchen - Butterflies in the bush.
Anyone browsing through titles in a bookshop and coming across this one might reasonably expect a serene, relaxing read, not a page turner, but that is what author Margaret McMahon has given us with its tumbling pace of events, mainly unexpected, among the routine activities of her life as a farmer in this hard hitting memoir. Intimate glimpses of nature's treasures are there, most memorable her meeting with a baby rabbit sitting quietly in the grass just at the right moment to provide a calming influence on a sobbing, inconsolable daughter who has just been accidentally burned. As well there is the brief stay of a sick koala rescued in the bush and carried home for care in a basket by the fireside when not investigating the house instead.
Before any of this can happen we are given time to become acquainted with the author and her husband, a city-bred couple with a thriving legal practice in Sydney's Paddington, and come to understand that two people less suited to start a life on a farm would be hard to find. The challenge begins when by chance legal business takes them to Dungog where the charm of this dairying township on the Williams River wins Margaret's suppressed longing to break away from the city to make a better life with her husband Gregan and two young children. The solicitor acting for the other party wishes to retire and invites Gregan to buy his legal practice, an offer he accepts without hesitation. The author explains that 'he was of the opinion that one's first reaction was just as likely to be correct as any made after a great deal of deliberation', a philosophy which seems to underpin the many adventures she recounts even if she disclaims the title of optimist, one instance being the decision to remove a dilapidated old millhouse from the town to become their farmstead which their builder told them later he had believed would never survive the trip. The four hundred acres of land to which they add 240 bought from a neighbour is frequently referred to as 'back country' where rocky hills and high grass hiding swamps present so many hazards to vehicles, livestock and the farmer herself that her survival has to be counted as miraculous. She takes on full responsibility for the farm, honestly admitting her mistakes in a way which depicts how alarming her daily routine in learning to live on the land is but she has a talent for discovering all the right people to help her out of the mire of ignorance by teaching her the ways of their experience until she actually becomes an accredited farmer even winning the title of Farmer of the Hunter one year.
Sales of their Sydney house and legal practice have to provide the money for the purchase of the Dungog practice and set 'them up in farming'. Nothing goes to plan but they press on with determination, renting in Dungog for themselves, and two children.
Their first major set back is the collapse of a hand shake agreement over the purchase of the practice meant to finance their new life. Their only solution is to put up their shingle and start a new practice, a tricky venture in a small country town where there were already two other legal firms. They were warned as well that there could be prejudice against their Catholic roots in a largely Protestant population. The author finds no evidence of this in their work and together she and Gregan have the teamwork to follow their path. Soon Margaret has two more children to add to the two they have already, then she widens her interest in community activities, later writing her first book, Moving Out, a guide to young people entering adult life.
Her reputation as a farmer raising good cattle in hard country leads to an approach from an agent to look at Cottonwoods, a beautiful property with frontage on the Williams River. They face the prospect of selling up the Monkerai property together with all their resources in order buy Cottonwoods and build a new home but the chance of easier farming and a regular water supply convince them to make the move. Again they encounter a chain of obstacles but once more they win the struggle. The new farm does present some of the old hitches to be overcome but eventually success comes in the new home until the time to retire catches up on the couple so they make the sea change.
In the introduction to her new book she likens her life as a spider's web with its radiating strands and concentric circles but this writing is far too complex and widely diverse to be drawn into any pattern except as a display of the intelligence, energy and plain derring-do of a unique being who, fortunately for her readers, is capable of hustling us along to share and enjoy her adventures.
Before any of this can happen we are given time to become acquainted with the author and her husband, a city-bred couple with a thriving legal practice in Sydney's Paddington, and come to understand that two people less suited to start a life on a farm would be hard to find. The challenge begins when by chance legal business takes them to Dungog where the charm of this dairying township on the Williams River wins Margaret's suppressed longing to break away from the city to make a better life with her husband Gregan and two young children. The solicitor acting for the other party wishes to retire and invites Gregan to buy his legal practice, an offer he accepts without hesitation. The author explains that 'he was of the opinion that one's first reaction was just as likely to be correct as any made after a great deal of deliberation', a philosophy which seems to underpin the many adventures she recounts even if she disclaims the title of optimist, one instance being the decision to remove a dilapidated old millhouse from the town to become their farmstead which their builder told them later he had believed would never survive the trip. The four hundred acres of land to which they add 240 bought from a neighbour is frequently referred to as 'back country' where rocky hills and high grass hiding swamps present so many hazards to vehicles, livestock and the farmer herself that her survival has to be counted as miraculous. She takes on full responsibility for the farm, honestly admitting her mistakes in a way which depicts how alarming her daily routine in learning to live on the land is but she has a talent for discovering all the right people to help her out of the mire of ignorance by teaching her the ways of their experience until she actually becomes an accredited farmer even winning the title of Farmer of the Hunter one year.
Sales of their Sydney house and legal practice have to provide the money for the purchase of the Dungog practice and set 'them up in farming'. Nothing goes to plan but they press on with determination, renting in Dungog for themselves, and two children.
Their first major set back is the collapse of a hand shake agreement over the purchase of the practice meant to finance their new life. Their only solution is to put up their shingle and start a new practice, a tricky venture in a small country town where there were already two other legal firms. They were warned as well that there could be prejudice against their Catholic roots in a largely Protestant population. The author finds no evidence of this in their work and together she and Gregan have the teamwork to follow their path. Soon Margaret has two more children to add to the two they have already, then she widens her interest in community activities, later writing her first book, Moving Out, a guide to young people entering adult life.
Her reputation as a farmer raising good cattle in hard country leads to an approach from an agent to look at Cottonwoods, a beautiful property with frontage on the Williams River. They face the prospect of selling up the Monkerai property together with all their resources in order buy Cottonwoods and build a new home but the chance of easier farming and a regular water supply convince them to make the move. Again they encounter a chain of obstacles but once more they win the struggle. The new farm does present some of the old hitches to be overcome but eventually success comes in the new home until the time to retire catches up on the couple so they make the sea change.
In the introduction to her new book she likens her life as a spider's web with its radiating strands and concentric circles but this writing is far too complex and widely diverse to be drawn into any pattern except as a display of the intelligence, energy and plain derring-do of a unique being who, fortunately for her readers, is capable of hustling us along to share and enjoy her adventures.
Tree Change Review, by Peter J. Uren
Tree Change: koalas in the kitchen – butterflies in the bush is the story of Margaret’s experiences moving from the “big smoke” of Sydney to the quiet rural community of Dungog in 1973. But the story is more than just her experiences, as it provides a running commentary of the social and political upheaval that were occurring in Australia is the 1960s and 70s and how these changes impacted on her, her family and her friends.
The book is unlike some memoirs in that it is not written in a strictly chronological order. Rather, the chapters are ordered more thematically. While this provides the reader with a good understanding of “what” was occurring at different times, I did occasionally find myself wondering about the “when”.
I found Margaret’s writing style engaging and generally easy to follow. The only difficulty I found, as someone unfamiliar with rural practices, were some of the more technical details found in chapter 41 about improving pasture on her new farm at Cottonwoods.
Each chapter was given at times a rather cryptic “title” (a saying from a famous person), from which the reader must determine the subject of the chapter. At times I was left wondering what the saying had to do with what the chapter was about. But this is delving deep to find criticism.
I must confess, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. In one way it confirmed to me the realities of rural life and the difficulties that many face who chose life on the land. In another way, it opened my eyes to the various aspects that our farmers have to face: pasture management, weed control, animal husbandry, and much more besides. On top of this, Margaret was a wife, a mother of four children, a farm manager, and a carer of her aged mother-in-law. How she managed to find time to win Hunter Farmer of the Year Award in 1988 is amazing. I think the only title missing from the list is Wonder Woman.
The book is unlike some memoirs in that it is not written in a strictly chronological order. Rather, the chapters are ordered more thematically. While this provides the reader with a good understanding of “what” was occurring at different times, I did occasionally find myself wondering about the “when”.
I found Margaret’s writing style engaging and generally easy to follow. The only difficulty I found, as someone unfamiliar with rural practices, were some of the more technical details found in chapter 41 about improving pasture on her new farm at Cottonwoods.
Each chapter was given at times a rather cryptic “title” (a saying from a famous person), from which the reader must determine the subject of the chapter. At times I was left wondering what the saying had to do with what the chapter was about. But this is delving deep to find criticism.
I must confess, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. In one way it confirmed to me the realities of rural life and the difficulties that many face who chose life on the land. In another way, it opened my eyes to the various aspects that our farmers have to face: pasture management, weed control, animal husbandry, and much more besides. On top of this, Margaret was a wife, a mother of four children, a farm manager, and a carer of her aged mother-in-law. How she managed to find time to win Hunter Farmer of the Year Award in 1988 is amazing. I think the only title missing from the list is Wonder Woman.
Tree Change Review, by Michael Breen
“Tree Change” as the name implies is a story of transitions. It tracks from city to country, from a burgeoning legal practice with an income to reliant on capricious weather, significant work and cultural change.
Culture shock is most severe in movement between cultures, which are most similar. If you go to say Japan or Tibet you expect big differences. If you go from Paddington to the Hunter Valley there are basic differences you do not expect. But they are there and their unobtrusive simplicity is often shocking.
The protagonist is not some intrepid gung-ho male trailblazer. She is a woman with a family, which grows with her and which she guides.
Second nature city skills like using an Opal Card or managing traffic, times, delays and snares are acquired almost without awareness. Similarly, how to tie a number 8 knot in fencing wire or how to get a drench gun into a beast with clenched jaws or spot Bathurst burr are as natural as breathing country air. It is these small taken for granted differences which sort out the transitioner from the mob.
Mother nature and her land are great educators. They are both nurturing and objective while at the same time totally lacking in empathy. You learn from mistakes but they can be, and often are, costly in various ways.
As the narrative unfolds you can feel the author’s growing admiration and love for her land cattle, birds and dogs. There is compulsory pragmatism and authenticity the land teaches and demands.
Many country folk are blasé about their context. Margaret comes to pasture and stock management as a discoverer. She calls herself “a short course junkie”. Compare that with the long trial and error apprenticeship of a jackeroo or jillaroo.
The irony here is that what Margaret learns can put her neighbours noses out of joint as some jilly come lately who could show them up, or someone who just doesn’t understand ‘how you do it here’. Things she never tried to do. She ploughed her own furrow and learned to get best available assistance as needed. She learned to manage country men helpers who obviously respected her. Even though considered an old hippie she was pioneering the most up to date methods.
Margaret was no hobby farmer. She was a full time farmer, wife, mother, and carer for her mother in law as well as a community contributor. She managed weeds, drought, fire, erosion, stock buying and selling and pesticides. As well as a spectacular quad bike bingle. She pioneered Holistic Farm Management in her area.
Country people conserve, land, water, feed, and rural life. However that conservatism can be a severe barrier to outsiders, ‘people from away’, and ‘non locals’. It is as if there is an unsureness about rural practices, which manifests as a fear that ‘they will come and try to change us’. The stereotypes city, country and greenie are still severely alive.
"I now recognise that fear can, in a small country town, prevent people honestly expressing their views. Gossip is rife, and as there are only a few degrees of separation between its inhabitants, great care should be taken before a view is expressed that may offend."
On the one hand country people offer nurturing neighbourly help in times of difficulty, death, sickness and bushfires. Alternatively there is harshness and suspicion, an ingrained ignorance, where cruel human foot and mouth disease replaces straightforward inquiry about the facts.
There was a sign in the Dalton Pub near Gunning which read. “If you don’t know what you’re doing around here; someone else will”.
Margaret documents her achievements on her own property and beyond with humility. They occur as a list of done ‘to-dos’. Sometimes she is surprised by her achievements though never boastful. Nevertheless, the reader cannot but notice the sweat running from her brow. The book itself is just another job to be done to help other transitioners.
"I try to tell my story so that others who have embarked on or plan to start a journey as a tree-changer, can see that their quest will have many twists and turns. If, at its end, the sought-after destination has not been reached, that should not be considered a failure; the journey is the important thing."
She tells a great story and two facts stand out; Margaret’s courageous spirit of inquiry and her respectful acknowledgment of those around her; her husband, children, peers, teachers and workers.
I wish I had read this before I set out on a similar journey.
Culture shock is most severe in movement between cultures, which are most similar. If you go to say Japan or Tibet you expect big differences. If you go from Paddington to the Hunter Valley there are basic differences you do not expect. But they are there and their unobtrusive simplicity is often shocking.
The protagonist is not some intrepid gung-ho male trailblazer. She is a woman with a family, which grows with her and which she guides.
Second nature city skills like using an Opal Card or managing traffic, times, delays and snares are acquired almost without awareness. Similarly, how to tie a number 8 knot in fencing wire or how to get a drench gun into a beast with clenched jaws or spot Bathurst burr are as natural as breathing country air. It is these small taken for granted differences which sort out the transitioner from the mob.
Mother nature and her land are great educators. They are both nurturing and objective while at the same time totally lacking in empathy. You learn from mistakes but they can be, and often are, costly in various ways.
As the narrative unfolds you can feel the author’s growing admiration and love for her land cattle, birds and dogs. There is compulsory pragmatism and authenticity the land teaches and demands.
Many country folk are blasé about their context. Margaret comes to pasture and stock management as a discoverer. She calls herself “a short course junkie”. Compare that with the long trial and error apprenticeship of a jackeroo or jillaroo.
The irony here is that what Margaret learns can put her neighbours noses out of joint as some jilly come lately who could show them up, or someone who just doesn’t understand ‘how you do it here’. Things she never tried to do. She ploughed her own furrow and learned to get best available assistance as needed. She learned to manage country men helpers who obviously respected her. Even though considered an old hippie she was pioneering the most up to date methods.
Margaret was no hobby farmer. She was a full time farmer, wife, mother, and carer for her mother in law as well as a community contributor. She managed weeds, drought, fire, erosion, stock buying and selling and pesticides. As well as a spectacular quad bike bingle. She pioneered Holistic Farm Management in her area.
Country people conserve, land, water, feed, and rural life. However that conservatism can be a severe barrier to outsiders, ‘people from away’, and ‘non locals’. It is as if there is an unsureness about rural practices, which manifests as a fear that ‘they will come and try to change us’. The stereotypes city, country and greenie are still severely alive.
"I now recognise that fear can, in a small country town, prevent people honestly expressing their views. Gossip is rife, and as there are only a few degrees of separation between its inhabitants, great care should be taken before a view is expressed that may offend."
On the one hand country people offer nurturing neighbourly help in times of difficulty, death, sickness and bushfires. Alternatively there is harshness and suspicion, an ingrained ignorance, where cruel human foot and mouth disease replaces straightforward inquiry about the facts.
There was a sign in the Dalton Pub near Gunning which read. “If you don’t know what you’re doing around here; someone else will”.
Margaret documents her achievements on her own property and beyond with humility. They occur as a list of done ‘to-dos’. Sometimes she is surprised by her achievements though never boastful. Nevertheless, the reader cannot but notice the sweat running from her brow. The book itself is just another job to be done to help other transitioners.
"I try to tell my story so that others who have embarked on or plan to start a journey as a tree-changer, can see that their quest will have many twists and turns. If, at its end, the sought-after destination has not been reached, that should not be considered a failure; the journey is the important thing."
She tells a great story and two facts stand out; Margaret’s courageous spirit of inquiry and her respectful acknowledgment of those around her; her husband, children, peers, teachers and workers.
I wish I had read this before I set out on a similar journey.
Reader Comments
I got Margaret's book, Tree Change, a few days ago and started reading it right away - perfect for the last week of rain which has been hammering California. Not done yet, but wonderful to read about her life and all the twists and turns and adventures. Totally sucked me in. And evoked strong nostalgia for Cottonwoods; by far the richest time I've spent in Australia.
Jan Sturmann
It is wonderful that you have told the story of the ’Real Australians’ on the land.
Leonie Cooper
How amazing were you tackling what you did on your farm and in your life.
Elaine Kelly
I enjoyed reading Margaret's account of her adventures in Tree Change very much and am full of admiration for her energy, determination and sheer grit in the face of considerable challenges. Many would have given up and returned to the relative comfort of city living. Congratulations Margaret!
Rosie Sulway
In her memoirs Margaret imparts her love of farming; the freedom and independence it brought her. But she also outlines some of the hardship and confrontation farming brings. Her book should be compulsory reading for any person thinking of a ‘tree change’ in the future. Margaret’s writing about family and farm are captivating and fulfilling.
Trish Bogan
We city slickers had I believe, a much easier time! Certainly different – we were not tested like you – congratulations!! Amazing.
Kay Dunford
Thank you Margaret. Tree Change is a wonderful read. It would make a fabulous TV series, never a dull moment.
Ursula Brown
The evolution narrated in the story and the events in it were engrossing, and the observations on human and animal behaviour were thoughtful. …it has the potential for a worthy TV series.
Anon
Tree Change is a true story of a young family who decided to give up their relatively easy life in the city for their dream of owning and living on a farm in the country. With no real knowledge of what this will entail they begin their journey in the early 1970s.
It is a story that shows great grit, determination and will to succeed against all odds. How Margaret survived doing some rather dangerous farm work on her own is truly amazing. Margaret paints a realistic picture of the struggles, failures and triumphs along the way.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading.
Lorna Roddenbury
Margaret, your books arrived yesterday. Naturally I had to start straight away into your story “Tree Change” and didn’t put the book down till 10.30pm last night when I read the last word. What a fabulous read and a great story of a tremendous time in your life. Your story resonated with me from the very first. I did have a few good chuckles as I read.
Margaret Vernon
Jan Sturmann
It is wonderful that you have told the story of the ’Real Australians’ on the land.
Leonie Cooper
How amazing were you tackling what you did on your farm and in your life.
Elaine Kelly
I enjoyed reading Margaret's account of her adventures in Tree Change very much and am full of admiration for her energy, determination and sheer grit in the face of considerable challenges. Many would have given up and returned to the relative comfort of city living. Congratulations Margaret!
Rosie Sulway
In her memoirs Margaret imparts her love of farming; the freedom and independence it brought her. But she also outlines some of the hardship and confrontation farming brings. Her book should be compulsory reading for any person thinking of a ‘tree change’ in the future. Margaret’s writing about family and farm are captivating and fulfilling.
Trish Bogan
We city slickers had I believe, a much easier time! Certainly different – we were not tested like you – congratulations!! Amazing.
Kay Dunford
Thank you Margaret. Tree Change is a wonderful read. It would make a fabulous TV series, never a dull moment.
Ursula Brown
The evolution narrated in the story and the events in it were engrossing, and the observations on human and animal behaviour were thoughtful. …it has the potential for a worthy TV series.
Anon
Tree Change is a true story of a young family who decided to give up their relatively easy life in the city for their dream of owning and living on a farm in the country. With no real knowledge of what this will entail they begin their journey in the early 1970s.
It is a story that shows great grit, determination and will to succeed against all odds. How Margaret survived doing some rather dangerous farm work on her own is truly amazing. Margaret paints a realistic picture of the struggles, failures and triumphs along the way.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading.
Lorna Roddenbury
Margaret, your books arrived yesterday. Naturally I had to start straight away into your story “Tree Change” and didn’t put the book down till 10.30pm last night when I read the last word. What a fabulous read and a great story of a tremendous time in your life. Your story resonated with me from the very first. I did have a few good chuckles as I read.
Margaret Vernon