The Light Bulb, the Header Shed, and the Balloon Shed

The stories this photo tells are manyfold, and only some of them are with me. Since our family sold the farm in 1987 I suspect there are many other stories which can be told by others or invented with the aid of this photo.

Even though the photo is from the past it can prompt memories and stories from its future.  This is an amazing thing about a picture or a photo.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words – I say it is worth much more than that, it is worth a thousand words a minute, or month, or year, or decade etc..

Looking south west from Mens Quarters towards Header Shed, Super Petrol Tank, and WJB build shed. Wilfred Brimblecombe, March 1977.

The Light Bulb

Thank god for that light – when ever we had to traverse between the farm buildings at night in the dark that light saved us walking into power poles, buildings, mud and water, and kept the boogie man and monsters away. The only catch was that you had to walk, mostly in the dark, to get to the light switch – which is visible on the lower left hand side of the photo.  (A bit like – “Opening instructions inside”.)

On the other side of the wall from the light switch was my photographic darkroom.  I converted an old bathroom in this “mens quarters” building into a darkroom.  The “mens quarters” harked from a time when sheep were kept on the farm and this was a facility used by shearers. The “mens quarters” was built in the 1950′s as a facility for farm workers to use.  This photo was originally processed in this darkroom.

The Header Shed

The shed, which is mostly obscured by the building holding the light (the mens quarters), was where we use to park the header (combine harvester).  That was until we got a new header which was too big to fit into it – we then put a wall on the back of the “header shed” and turned it into a tractor shed.  The header was then parked in the famous (in this blog) Red Shed.

The Petrol Tank

Contained Super petrol for trucks, Utes, and cars.  There were other tanks on the farm which contained Standard petrol and diesel.

The Balloon Shed

The tattered shed to the right of the Petrol tank – I now call the “Balloon Shed”.  I don’t remember what we use to call it.  The reason I call it the “Balloon Shed” is because it use to blow up and expand during wind storms.  It was built by my Grandfather – Wilfred John Brimblecome.  It was constructed of logs which were tied together with wire – onto which rails were mounted – onto which the corrugated iron sheeting was nailed (and tied on with wire in places). The reason this shed has lasted  so long is that during storms it just flexes and blows up and down like a bellows – it does not try to resist the storm with strength – it resists the storm with flexibility.

In the “Balloon Shed” you can see a spray rig, a slasher, a white Falcon Ute, and in front of the Ute there appears to be a farm implement of some kind.

For some reason I recall feeling safer and cooler in this shed than in other sheds on the farm.

Other notes

• I like the way the power lines are more visible in the photo against the cloudless sky and only slightly visible, if at all, in front of the clouds.
• I like the references to energy in the photo – essential for the running of a mechanised farm.  Electricity and liquid fuel.
• I used my father’s Fujica ST901 with 55mm F1.8 lens to take this photo.