The lay of the land

Problem was, most of us did just that; we turned out a creative bunch. I became a writer. Lindsay, a genius at everything, now makes costumes and is an actor, singer and musician. Emmet stayed on the farm the longest and would have taken over however decided to try out boilermaking in Queensland. Daniel plays guitar and bass in a metal band and studies art and illustration. Hayden is a computer games programmer starting up his own business. Adam loves to act and is a leader at a youth camp.

Farming is a lifestyle, as then as a job, and the complexities of retirement and succession are vastly different from a city business environment. About 94 per cent of Australian farms are family owned and operated, in the main employing only family labour. According to a 2003 ABS report, fewer young people are staying on in agriculture. The median age of farmers increased steadily from 44 years in 1981 to 51 years in 2001, and is expected to continue at the same rate.