Soldier settlement’s sole survivor
• Ian Abraham with star filly Barooga Rock.
By Tony Scott,
December 01, 2021
For a last man standing Waterhouse farmer Ian Abraham lacks many battlescars.
He reckons from aged two he’s had a pretty charmed life.
That was how old he was when his family moved to the district, which had just been opened up for farming as part of the Soldier Settlement program.
“Dad was a returned soldier with a farming-type background, so we moved up from down south.
“There was a lot of questioning about how we would go.
“A lot of people thought it was poor sandy country that wouldn’t grow a thing and we’d all go broke or starve or both.”
Now 63 years on, the Abrahams believe they’re living proof of the scheme’s success, having established something of a farming dynasty – two sons ready to take over on the two properties worked by Ian and his father.
“But I’m not disappearing over the hill just yet.”
Apart from a brief stint in Bridport he’s only lived in the one house on the property Barooga.
“It’s a lovely place to live, weatherwise and everything really.
“You get used to the wind … the seabreeze is what we call it.”
His family was one of 23 to take up the allotments of about 1000 acres each, cleared and developed by the Agricultural Bank.
“They were all pretty much in the same boat, they’d come from all over the state, most of them had young kids and it was a pretty big move for most of them to come here so they all became very good friends, a real community.
“Over the years of course they got older and sold out and moved on so I’m the only original person left.”
Ian tallies up a population of about 120 at Waterhouse through the 1950-1960s.
That’s dwindled considerably over the years, but in the past few, numbers have started to grow again with the arrival of more intensively farmed dairies.
The area of farmed land has also grown dramatically from the original soldier settlement scheme.
Ian was one of the early ones to get bigger.
In 1964 the family farm increased when they bought a bush block and developed it from scratch.
“I was only a kid at the time but it was already becoming apparent that I’d want to stay on the farm so it would have to support two of us, my father and me.
“It was just a matter of getting a bit bigger … the bigger you are hopefully the more you can get out of it.”
The paymaster for Ian has been beef cattle.
“We’ve delved into sheep a few times, as speculation really.
“Mr father was a shearer so we only had sheep at the start, but I think you need a special temperament to have sheep. I haven’t got it.”
He’s not about to join the move towards dairying either.
“I think you’ve got to be brought up with that too, don’t you?
“No we’re pretty happy with the beef.”
Another side to his life is Ian’s abiding interest in pacers as a breeder, owner and trainer of a string of successful horses.
They have almost exclusively raced with the first name after the property. They have included Barooga Bullet, Barooga Geoffrey, Barooga Raider and the latest filly Barooga Rock.
“Barooga Bullet won races in Sydney and we sold him to the United States and he won races over there too.”
Getting involved in racing was an involved story.
Having played football through Scottsdale’s glory period of the 1970s under coaches like Don Henwood and Bob Wilson Ian was at a bit of a loss at the end of ihis playing days.
“I suppose I was looking for something to do and still a bit competitive.”
It came about when his brother-in-law Noel Gerke put him onto a good thing, a New Zealand-bred gelding retired by the Kendall family after he’d broken down.
“Noel had this fat horse in the paddock and, I don’t know whether alcohol played a part in the plan, but we decided to put him into some training.
“I borrowed some gear from Barry Millwood and that was the start of it.
“He broke down again so he didn’t race for me but I sort of got the bug I think.
“Anyway Terry Brown, who I played footy with, his uncle Viv had a pretty good breed of horses and he had a yearling for sale, so we went partners in the yearling and we ended up buying the yearling and buying a mare and of course then the foals come along and that’s where it started really.”
He’s only trained his own horses and has had up to six horses in work at one time.
He says the sport has repaid his investment, though wife Vicky might not agree.
“The one we’ve got now has done well. She’s won five and has two seconds from her eight starts so far.”
Ian has high hopes for Barooga Rock after her win two weeks ago in a $50,000 sires’ feature race for fillies emulating her mother in the process.
Over the time in pacing he’s saddened to see how the social aspect has died out.
“You used to be able to go to the races, meet your friends have an enjoyable time.
“Now you go put the gear on your horse, race, pack up and go home.
“It’s a bit different for the bigger events like the Easter Cup, you still a few people going, but there’s only one Easter each year.”
An active hands-on farmer, Ian can’t see any big lifestyle changes, either in his working day or spare time, if he had any.
“I’d be lost if I had nothing to do.
“I’d be the world’s worst golfer so that’s not an option.
“The boys might want to get rid of me, but I’ll be around a while yet,” he said.