Latest news with #Thomas'
Otago Daily Times
27-05-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Family ending connection with land
One of the many heritage family farming properties in Oxford will soon be ending its 140-year family connection when it is sold. Island farm has 110ha of prime farming land located 7km from Oxford at View Hill. It has been in the hands of the family of its founder, Henry Engelbrecht, since 1961. But 87-year-old Owen Thomas, who has farmed the property for the past 64 years, is selling up. "I'm too old to continue working the land on my own," he says. Mr Thomas' wife Margaret (nee Engelbrecht) died last year and now the farm and its 130 Angus Beef breeding stock units are for sale. "I've been here since 1961 when Margaret and I bought the property from her father Percy Engelbrecht, the son of Henry," Mr Thomas said. The couple had met at the wedding of Mr Thomas' younger sister and had been farming in the Oxford district. Mrs Thomas' grandfather, Henry Engelbrecht, was one of the many German migrants who had moved to the North Canterbury area to escape harsh conditions in Germany, when he bought the property. History books say in the 1840s times were difficult for rural labourers in the north of Germany. They were entirely at the mercy of the landowning aristocracy. They could leave the service of their master, but in doing so lost the right to live on the land. For many, emigration was the only answer. However, not all immigrants were rural labourers, as many who came were from the educated middle class. They appreciated New Zealand's civil rights and its advocacy of freedom of thought and speech, which contrasted with the severe censorship in the German confederation of the time. Mr Thomas said when he and his wife bought the then dairy farm it was still the same size as when her grandfather Henry had originally established it. "We later bought two extra lots nearby on Sladdens Farm Rd to raise it to 110ha in size.'' He said life was not easy for the newly married couple when they took over the dairy property in 1961. "It was right in the middle of a drought, and we struggled for many years until we established two extra wells and an irrigation system out in the paddocks in the early '80s." They milked 60 cows via a walk-through milking operation until they set up a herringbone shed. "It was very hard in the beginning, but Margaret and I, and [our] four girls, persevered and as a family we got through it." Mr Thomas was at one time the Canterbury Federated Farmers Dairy section head, while Mrs Thomas was well known for her community work in the local church and school. "We carried on dairy farming for 46 years until we decided to sell off the cows in 2007. "We reared dairy heifers for the next four years, then we traded beef stock until seven years ago, when we became a purebred Angus operation." He said he had scaled back from 160 cows to 130 now, and that stock was going to Canterbury Park for auction. "We have always been a regenerative farm. "People forget that Henry started this farm back when green was only a colour, much of the processes he set up is still being practised today." Mr Thomas said he had fielded a bit of interest in the farm, and he hoped it would be sold to a young couple beginning their association with the land. He did not know what the future held, but his daughters were standing beside him as he faced the next step in his life.
The Age
27-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- The Age
Life in the 'Burbs interactive map of Melbourne
Opinion pieces from local writers exploring their suburb's cliches and realities and how it has changed in the past 20 years. See all 53 stories. How many stories are there to be told about Melbourne? To adapt an old line, there are at least 5 million of them in this city, one for each of us. In The Age' s hit series, Life in the 'Burbs, we invite ordinary Melburnians to share their story of what it's really like where they live, and they have embraced the opportunity. Whether they are a professional writer, a food truck owner, an accountant, a schoolteacher, a speech pathologist, a singer-songwriter, a nurse, an interior designer, a horticulturalist, an organist or a game designer, in this series everyone has the opportunity to celebrate and affectionately poke fun at the streets that surround their homes. This week, we proudly celebrate the 100th instalment of Life in the 'Burbs with a new interactive feature for readers to easily search our story archive. Take a look at the map below to see which of Melbourne's hundreds of suburbs have so far been featured, and type your suburb's name into the search bar to find the story. How it all began In February 2023, we published an impassioned opinion piece by writer Lyndall Thomas in defence of her home suburb of Frankston. The beachside neighbourhood was, she wrote, much more than a place full of bogans driving Monaros. Thomas' affectionate and mocking defence of her community instantly struck a chord. Loading The good-natured rivalry between Melbourne's suburbs has been a distinctive feature of the city almost since its inception – name a well-known suburb and most Melburnians can instantly reel off a reputational cliche or two. As Thomas wrote, a defining feature of this city is 'that it matters where you live. I've known Melburnians who care whether people live on the wrong side of the river, the wrong side of the highway and even the wrong side of a creek.' We asked 10 more Melburnians to write about their suburb, whether the cliches about it are true and how life has changed there in the past 20 years. We titled the limited series 'Life in the 'Burbs'.
The Age
26-05-2025
- General
- The Age
Life in the 'Burbs interactive map
How many stories are there to be told about Melbourne? To adapt an old line, there are at least 5 million of them in this city, one for each of us. In The Age' s hit series, Life in the 'Burbs, we invite ordinary Melburnians to share their story of what it's really like where they live, and they have embraced the opportunity. Whether they are a professional writer, a food truck owner, an accountant, a schoolteacher, a speech pathologist, a singer-songwriter, a nurse, an interior designer, a horticulturalist, an organist or a game designer, in this series everyone has the opportunity to celebrate and affectionately poke fun at the streets that surround their homes. This week, we proudly celebrate the 100th instalment of Life in the 'Burbs with a new interactive feature for readers to easily search our story archive. Take a look at the map below to see which of Melbourne's hundreds of suburbs have so far been featured, and type your suburb's name into the search bar to find the story. How it all began In February 2023, we published an impassioned opinion piece by writer Lyndall Thomas in defence of her home suburb of Frankston. The beachside neighbourhood was, she wrote, much more than a place full of bogans driving Monaros. Thomas' affectionate and mocking defence of her community instantly struck a chord. The good-natured rivalry between Melbourne's suburbs has been a distinctive feature of the city almost since its inception – name a well-known suburb and most Melburnians can instantly reel off a reputational cliche or two. As Thomas wrote, a defining feature of this city is 'that it matters where you live. I've known Melburnians who care whether people live on the wrong side of the river, the wrong side of the highway and even the wrong side of a creek.' Loading We asked 10 more Melburnians to write about their suburb, whether the cliches about it are true and how life has changed there in the past 20 years. We titled the limited series 'Life in the 'Burbs'. Readers loved it, and our city's writers were inspired, so we kept the series going, publishing a new piece online every Monday night and in print on Tuesday. We anticipated it might last another month or two, but Life in the 'Burbs continued to grow, quickly becoming one of The Age 's most read and talked about pieces each week. How it works
Sydney Morning Herald
26-05-2025
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
Life in the 'Burbs interactive map
How many stories are there to be told about Melbourne? To adapt an old line, there are at least 5 million of them in this city, one for each of us. In The Age' s hit series, Life in the 'Burbs, we invite ordinary Melburnians to share their story of what it's really like where they live, and they have embraced the opportunity. Whether they are a professional writer, a food truck owner, an accountant, a schoolteacher, a speech pathologist, a singer-songwriter, a nurse, an interior designer, a horticulturalist, an organist or a game designer, in this series everyone has the opportunity to celebrate and affectionately poke fun at the streets that surround their homes. This week, we proudly celebrate the 100th instalment of Life in the 'Burbs with a new interactive feature for readers to easily search our story archive. Take a look at the map below to see which of Melbourne's hundreds of suburbs have so far been featured, and type your suburb's name into the search bar to find the story. How it all began In February 2023, we published an impassioned opinion piece by writer Lyndall Thomas in defence of her home suburb of Frankston. The beachside neighbourhood was, she wrote, much more than a place full of bogans driving Monaros. Thomas' affectionate and mocking defence of her community instantly struck a chord. The good-natured rivalry between Melbourne's suburbs has been a distinctive feature of the city almost since its inception – name a well-known suburb and most Melburnians can instantly reel off a reputational cliche or two. As Thomas wrote, a defining feature of this city is 'that it matters where you live. I've known Melburnians who care whether people live on the wrong side of the river, the wrong side of the highway and even the wrong side of a creek.' Loading We asked 10 more Melburnians to write about their suburb, whether the cliches about it are true and how life has changed there in the past 20 years. We titled the limited series 'Life in the 'Burbs'. Readers loved it, and our city's writers were inspired, so we kept the series going, publishing a new piece online every Monday night and in print on Tuesday. We anticipated it might last another month or two, but Life in the 'Burbs continued to grow, quickly becoming one of The Age 's most read and talked about pieces each week. How it works
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
'When It All Burns': Sobering lessons about growing fire dangers from the front lines
Jordan Thomas didn't want to just research and write about fire, he wanted to see it up close, and he has turned that experience into the exceptional new book, "When It All Burns." A specialist in the cultural forces that shape fire, Thomas joined the Los Padres Hotshots, a crew that might be viewed as the Navy SEALs of firefighting. He spent 2021 battling wildfires extreme and treacherous even by the standards of these globally warmed times. A first-person account would be compelling enough, especially given Thomas' gift for terse, layered expository writing. But Thomas has more on his mind here. He alternates sequences of harrowing action and macho team-building with deep dives into the ecology, science, economics and, most important, Indigenous cultural practices related to fire. In Thomas' hands these subjects are interconnected, and his writing brings new heat to an ubiquitous subject. If you live anywhere near Los Angeles, you may very well prefer not to read "When It All Burns." But you should. Just this last January, a series of wildfires ravaged the region, fed by gusting Santa Ana winds, drought conditions and low humidity. Projected damage from the fires had ballooned to more than $250 billion in damages in January, The Times reported. At least 30 people were killed in the fires, with economic ramifications expected to stretch into the unforeseeable future. 'When It All Burns' was written well before any of this happened, and it sometimes carries the force of prophecy. The fire next time has already burned, though there will surely be more. Thomas sets the table early on: 'In the past two decades, wildfires have been doing things not even computer models can predict, environmental events that have scientists racking their brains for appropriately Dystopian technology: firenados, gigafires, megafires. Scientists recently invented the term 'megafire' to describe wildfires that behave in ways that would have been impossible just a generation ago, burning through winter, exploding in the night, and devastating landscapes historically impervious to incendiary destruction.' Read more: Nearly 3 months after L.A. fires, 30th victim discovered in Altadena ruins In other words, it's only going to get worse. As a member of the Hotshots crew, Thomas hacked away at undergrowth with a chainsaw as the firefighters made their advance, and he found himself fascinated by the subculture of people, mostly men, assigned to combat these otherworldly infernos. But the education and knowledge he carries also makes him deeply ambivalent about the very nature of fire suppression. For centuries, Indigenous peoples the world over have used controlled fires, or 'cultural burning,' for any number of purposes, from agriculture to reducing the risk of uncontrolled fires. But such practices didn't jibe with increasingly modern economies, and colonialists, especially in North America, saw burning as both barbaric and a threat to industrialized capitalism. Fire surpression was more than a byproduct of Native American genocide, it was part of the master plan: 'In California, fire had always connected people to their food, and Americans set about its suppression with unprecedented brutality.' Researchers who tried to bring this history to light often had their work suppressed like one more controlled fire. And as the practice declined, wildfires entered the breach. As you might expect, life as a Hotshot is fraught with medical risk: Hotshots tend to work sick and injured, loathe to pass up the overtime and hazard pay on which they depend. As Thomas writes, 'The precarious lives of Hotshots are one flashpoint in an expanding field of self-reinforcing social and environmental crises. Scientists call this a sacrifice zone — a place where low-income people shoulder the burden of industrial misconduct.' Read more: Signs of human error grow in failure to evacuate Altadena during fire. But who is to blame? Every time 'When It All Burns' threatens to get dry, like a combustible piece of brush, Thomas brings it back to his own firefighting travails, and the cast of Hotshot characters who showed him the ropes, berated him and bailed him out. The two Los Padres leaders are Edgar, a stern drill sergeant-type who rides everyone with equal venom, and Aoki, just as demanding but with more of a shaman-warrior demeanor. Aoki conducts Thomas' job interview as the two men hike a steep hill; Thomas eventually has to decide between asking questions, which takes up oxygen, or concentrating on the task at hand. 'At a certain level of physical suffering, the pain becomes almost comedic,' he notes, as he assesses his condition before hiking a mountain to carry an injured firefighter back downhill. 'My feet were torn and oozing within my elk leather boots, and every inch of my skin was a rash of poison oak. Hours before I had been incapacitated by muscle cramps.' And moments later: 'The only antidote to the discomfort was to return to the level of exhaustion where the body becomes numb.' 'When It All Burns' is one of those books that immerses the reader in the nuances of a world most of us know only through the lens of tragedy and destruction. Thomas' visceral, crystalline prose only adds fuel to the fire. Vognar is a freelance culture writer. Get the latest book news, events and more in your inbox every Saturday. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
