farming

Farming!
Peter Norvill is the owner/operator of Rock Dhu , a sheep and cattle property of 4,000 acres situated 25km NE of Murrurundi in the Upper Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia. The Norvill(e)s arrived in the Murrurundi area in the mid-1800s and Peter's family has been working Rock Dhu for generations, not only grazing stock but also raising crops. The first known photograph of Rock Dhu shows a crop of corn ready for harvesting on the creek flat near the shearing shed.
Blue	Old Fordson Tractor – Lionel gives Peter his first tractor driving lesson
Old Shearers' Quarters, 1966
"Norville", 1928	Old shearing shed, 1966
Demolition of old shearing shed
Peter was born in Murrurundi and spent most of his life on Rock Dhu . He took over the full-time running of the property from his father in 1977. At that time, there were about 2,500 sheep and 1,000 head of cattle, and Rock Dhu employed a staff of two. At the present time, (October 2005), there are about 3,000 wool sheep and 150 head of Hereford cattle. Shearing has just finished, yielding a total of 70 bales of wool.
Sheep work, 2005 – Pete, Charlie and Curry	Shearing, 2005
Cattle	Molasses, James Bond and Son, 2005
Lambing began in September and Peter anticipates numbers will be significantly down on previous years due to the long period of drought and poor feed.
New Lamb, 2005
Following a protracted dry spell, rain began falling during the June Long Weekend 2005 and some further good falls have been gratefully received since then. Peter says that it is imperative to receive at least an inch of rain per week from the beginning of Spring until Christmas to replenish stock feed in the paddocks.