The farmer’s family settled in this region over 100 years ago and where we, this generation have conducted our lives. We have produced legumes, pulses, grain, meat, and wool.
More recently, there has been a change in land use in that is has become home to WA’s largest solar farm. At the time of writing, power has not yet been connected to the main grid. Once connected to Western Power, it will have an expected output of 281GWh of electricity annually, generating enough energy to power approximately 42,000 Western Australian homes.
The solar farm was constructed over a period of 3 months, making it the largest solar farm in Western Australia. The small town saw an increase of almost 500 people in the latter part of 2019. After a 12 hour shift, the streets filled with backpacker workers, tradespeople, managers, and their teams. The pubs were lively, and any available accommodation was filled.
Come January, the town became deserted once more. People took their annual holidays and the workers left.
We have decided to reduce the pressure and stress of farming and lead a somewhat different life. The catalyst for this decision was that the farmer had a heart attack (and survived it) when he was only 44 years old. A relatively fit, active young man, he was practicing for a motorbike endurance the following weekend when the attack came on. In hindsight, the stress of farming was simply too great to ignore, and more than likely a contributing factor to the event.
Our daughters haven’t expressed too much interest in coming home to the farm. In fact, they haven’t really looked back since they left. Some of the younger people in the town who left, have returned to their farm and set up lives with their children.