Bella Vista - And I'm not Just Talking About the Ice Cream Dude

Clare and I had a little walk up to Bella Vista Farm Homestead today as the local historical society was having an open day and offering a rare opportunity to go beyond the cyclone fence and actually have a look at the place. I've posted before as there's a nice path and doggy walk up there and it's an easy 2km round trip.

The interior of the house is less spectacular and still undergoing restoration by volunteers so it's a slow process. I was hoping to 'snap' something spooky on this stairwell, it certainly looked ghoulie!

The fireplace has had a renno but the floorboards
and wall coverings are in need of some TLC.
The house was actually inhabited until 1954

It's a ramshackle collection of buildings and outhouses in various states of restoration on a lovely block of land swathed by suburbs and light industrial estates but rather sweet. There's an old stone homestead and today, there were animals and re-enactments by badly dressed and pathetically rehearsed volunteers. These I imagine are the military version of amateur dramatics groups who forget their drill as quickly as the amateur thespian forgets his lines.

There was colonial music that sounded pecularly Irish, arts and crafts of a very amateur and 'local' nature, bad hand knits and paintings that your three year old could outdo. Also the local enthusiasts wood-turning and showing off their faithfully restored steam engines and a swag of green polo shirted 'Friends of Bella Vista' only too willing to chat about it's history. I almost have enough grey hair and a bottom big enough to join these enthusiastic ladies who's moleskin trousers are so tight you can see the lace trim on their knickers through the fabric.

There was a shearing demo but we were a little early and having seen it done many times before, didn't hang around for the main event. (It's a man, shearing a sheep . . .not Cirque du Soliel)

What made it so lovely was the very fact that it was remarkably unspectacular, incredibly ordinary and beautifully banal. Like a little country fair somewhere in rural NSW where nobody put in too much effort but everyone had fun anyway. Somewhere you could take your kids, your dog and your deck chair and enjoy the chat and the sunshine!


You know what made this so gorgeous, the very fact that it was tacky, amateur, homely and simply. No fancy stalls, no showbags, no pretention or money grabbing. Entry was by donation of a gold coin. Most people seemed to know or recognise each other. Everyone wanted to pat the dog. The 'soldiers' threatened to eat Lily for lunch and terrified any unruly youngsters and were only too willing to pose for photos (erm I refrained).

Normally closed in by cyclone fence to deter vandals, today, Bella Vista farm, once the home of Merino breeding John and Elizabeth Macarthur and then to the orange growing Pearce family, it was open to the public.

Loads of little photographic gems in nooks and crannies,
more on Flickr if you're into that sort of thing

You can see the encroachment of suburbia on these almost 200 year old
timbers that were once the dairy.

Not quite the calibre of baa-lamb that they brought to the colony but hey, they keep the grass down. Don't you just wanna go 'baaaaaa' . . .each had names like Fleecity,Baabara and Shaun . .so original we Australians, so original . . .

An attempt to add 'props' to one of the barns proved effective with plastic onions but somehow came asunder with the visibility of zips and the impossibility of a pair of Dutch clogs?

Magestic . . .Moreton Bay fig trunks next to a rather less majestic corrugated iron dunny At least their chooks didn't turn into emus and kick that one down

"Struth Joy, lift yer bloody game, I'm spinnin' faster than a flamin' funnel web!"

So you love a man in uniform do you? Even a Redcoat? Well feast your eyes on THIS!

"Right lads, shape up, we're on public view here so
tighten yer belts, we're gonna be flat out like a bunch of lizards drinkin"

"Bruce do I poke this long thin thing into this other long thin thing?"
(please enlarge this one because I think it's the funniest thing I've seen all week)

"Crikey boys, get some synergy going here! You lot couldn't drive a greasy stick up a dog's arse!"

Gratuitous shot of a very handsome ice cream man
. .they never looked like that when I was a kid!
And no I didn't take this one, remember who I had with me?

As we prepare for our Royal Easter Show (yes I'm being dragged along next weekend to battle the armies of strollers, sticky kids and avenues daubed with cow poo) for a day of produce, pets, farm beasties and fireworks - this was a cute and quiet distraction just a quick walk from home on a fabulously sunny autumn day.