Mary and Alick came to South Australia in 1970 from the UK with daughter Juliette and son Graeme.
Alick is a semi-retired mechanical engineer. He has worked primarily in the water industry in Australia and South East Asia. He still undertakes consultancy assignments occasionally.
Mary taught at the American International School in Hong Kong, and has subsequently edited Chinese to English translation documents.
Our Strathalbyn Road property was bought in 2001 as an undeveloped block. It has steep rocky slopes with two valleys running west to east. A small dam in the southern valley dried out in summer and the first project was to sink a bore to provide stock water. The dam has since been cleaned out exposing a submerged spring and it now retains water all year round.
After sites were selected for the house and shed, a route was established for the access road roughly following land contours.
When the road was completed, the shed was erected and two tanks installed to provide potable water. The house and power station were finished by April 2003 and more rainwater tanks installed. Cattle and goats were considered before we settled on Wiltipoll sheep as the resident ‘pasture to meat’ converters.