Lyn Eather 2006
   

Last night an Irish farmer came to visit our property.  He was asking about BIG farming
machinery, so I dragged out old photos of our family’s harvesting days of the 1980’s. 

This picture emerged and I relived my short career as a teenage header driver.

I was in my teens and was instructed to take lunch to my big brother Ken who was harvesting sorghum.  Ken had been harvesting non-stop – it was the RIGHT time to harvest and the seeds HAD to come off NOW!

We met in the paddock, and he yelled from his favourite machine “Jump in! You drive while I have lunch”.  “Okay” I said, “but don’t you leave me, you stay here”.  Like an obliging brother Ken stayed with me.  There is only one seat in a combine harvester.  So he squashed his long body to the floor of the cab.  His knees were up near his ears as he sat in the corner.  We chatted a bit while he woofed down his lunch.  Then he said I was doing okay and he fell to sleep in the sitting position.  His last words were, “wake me if you need me!” 

So around and around I went, harvesting Sorghum using a John Deer harvester and a 30ft front.  Two hands on the wheel concentrating, I had actually driven it before for short spells.  And I knew the drill; don’t spill a drop of seed.  Don’t put the comb too low and pick up dirt, remember how to turn efficiently around corners of the paddock.  (To this day I still don’t actually understand how to do it, I just know it’s important!)

A combine harvester is an amazing machine.  They are so huge, but at the same time very manoeuvrable and with the correct use of all the instruments you could do quite delicate work.  This machine had everything, even power steering!  I drove slowly, harvesting the seeds, flicking the few switches I knew.  I tried hard to keep a straight line and keep the revs up.

Around and around I went.  The machine gently whirred, the auger rolled in front of me as it took in thousands of seed heads with an almost hypnotic rhythm.  You know it can be quiet nice, sitting up there so high, and the views are unbelievable! The acres and acres of land are breath taking.  And the nature you can see; grasshoppers madly hop in front of the swishing blades.  Birds swoop down to pickup freshly picked seed, kangaroos bound across the paddock, the sun, and the sky. It’s quite therapeutic.

Around and around I went.  I began to gain in confidence.  I knew I was doing an okay job, my brother would be proud.  I relaxed and took the time to the take in the wide-open spaces while I manoeuvred this expensive machine around the huge open paddock.  Well almost open paddock, except for one lonely bottle tree.   

Around and around I went.  Then I started to get itchy, I blamed it on all that dust.  I looked at my brother at my feet, fast a sleep.  I remember thinking, “boy he works hard.  I’m so glad I can help him.  He’s only a few years older than me, but he’s a real working man.”  I shifted in my seat.  I checked the time. The voices on the radio started to annoy me.  Bloody cricket!  I checked the time again.  Can’t they put anything decent on the radio?  I need music.  I reach for the nobs above my head, why did they put the radio so high up.  I had one hand on the wheel, and the other…OPPS!

When you look back it’s hard to explain how you were thinking or really what you were thinking.  I knew the tree was there; it had been there all the time.  In fact it was the only tree in the paddock!  And for some reason that I’ll never understand I choose that moment.  The moment I was supposed to drive past the tree.  I chose THAT moment change radio stations! 

I clipped the tree with the comb.  The machine jolted with the impact, but then it roared on.  The tree stood it’s ground and the machine still pushed forward.  OH SHIT!

You know when you dream of being a hero, of saving the day, of doing good for one and all.  Well all I could think was think OH SHIT!  I panicked, what do I do, won’t this stupid harvester stop…how do you stop this thing!  The rest is a bit of a blur, but the results aren’t.

My brother stopped the machine.  He jumped out of the cab and looked at his baby.  What had I done?  My big brother was in shock; I was in shock.  Then my brother, my big strong powerful brother cried and then I cried.  It that moment I was sure the world had stopped.

The damage done does not reflect in this photo.  But I can tell you that another machine finished the job and we didn’t make any money on the crops that year.  But I have a loving family, no one yelled or screamed or even asked why.  They just reassured me that everyone makes mistakes.