WIFE DRAWS PLOUGH FOR DISABLED HUSBAND

Northern Advocate, 8 January 1938, Page 8

WIFE DRAWS PLOUGH FOR DISABLED HUSBAND

Because there is no horse on their farm, Mrs Edwin Higson, of Glenorie, near Wiseman’s Ferry, pulls the plough while her disabled husband steers, stated a recent “Daily Telegraph” message. “Yesterday we ploughed nearly an acre; I did a big wash and then scrublied out my three rooms,” said Mrs Higson. She has been drawing the plough for two years, since they cleared the first patch of their rough, hilly block of 42 acres. The plough is a light one, specially built by the local blacksmith. After building their own home on a Crown grant, they have cultivated two acres, now planted with passionfruit, peas, beans and tomatoes, Mrs Higson also draws a scarifier to cultivate the little patch. “Yes, they call me the horse round here,” Mrs Higson said with a smile. “Wife Won’t Steer.” “You see, we haven’t the money to buy a horse yet. We are only just beginning to make our way.” “My husband often tells me to steer while he pulls the plough,” she said. “I say, ‘No thanks. I’d rather pull. I might run out of the furrow.” Mrs Higson said that her husband was a partially disabled Impexnal exservice man. He was wounded in France.

He has been 12 years in Australia, before which he had had no experience of farming'. The couple have been married 11 years, but have no children. Despite her busy life, Mrs Higson has found time to carry buckets of soil to cover rocky patches near her home and to start a flower garden.