Milpa

Julie:
One of the initiatives of the Broken Hill Centacare Drought Worker, Ellen Day, is to facilitate a gathering of the Station families near Packsaddle on a station called "Milpa". Many of these families live long distances from each other and the children are home-schooled until they go away for High School. The area is a pastoral area with the stations running sheep, however, many of the stations have now been targeted for mining. Under the mining laws the station owners lose a lot of control over their land and this is the cause of a great deal of stress, not to mention a loss of production.

Monthly the women gather to do some craft and catch up, have a bit of pampering and generally recharge the batteries. Ellen asked me to come along to group to talk about communication and listening so whole families came, not just the wives. It was a beaut gathering of all ages including babies and young children and grandparents. Milpa is a beautiful homestead and the hospitality was generous and gracious.