My Brother-in-law and Nephew came across a Wedge Tailed Eagle's nest in one of their paddocks last week. The Wedge tailed eagle is Australia's largest bird of prey.  They have a wing span of up to 2.3 metres and can weigh up to 5kg.  When ever we see one up close, usually when they are disturbed on the side of the road while eating kangaroo carcasses, it always amazes me how large they are.


The nest was unusually low, eagle's nests are usually perched in as high a vantage point as the eagle pair can find.  It was low enough that if they stood on the side of the crate on the back of the toyota they could see in the nest.  To their amazement they startled the sitting eagle and she flew off and revealed 2 fluffy white chicks.

Seeing as all of our collective children are home from boarding school for the holidays, we decided to visit them and have a look at the eagle chicks.  We all piled into the back of the toyota.  Kids, cousins and visiting school friends, and Grandfather pulled up under the nest and took turns climbing up to have a look in the nest.  We were amazed when we looked in to see the 2 healthy little fluffy white chicks with dangerous looking beaks already, and a half eaten piglet!  The parents were circling off in the distance not looking too bothered about all of the fuss.  Underneath the nest there was the front and back legs of a small kangaroo, so they are being fed well.

We are spoilt today with the advantages of refrigeration.  The old meat house still standing at the back of the 'Westfield' homestead is a piece of living history.  My Father-in-law recalls the vital role the meat house played in the lives of country people prior to refrigeration.  The sheep or beast was killed in the slaughter yard and then hung up overnight in the meat house.  The meat house has internal walls and ceiling of gauze to keep out the flies, and a large meat hook suspended from the ceiling.  The animal was hung overnight in the meat house and then cut up the next day.  This was the first job of the morning in summer so that the meat did not spoil.  There would be a fresh roast that night and the day after, a few pieces were placed in a kerosene fridge and the rest of the carcass was placed on salting racks in the meat house.  The meat was pierced and rubbed with a liberal amount of salt then left to cure.  The brine solution would drip through the racks onto the meat house floor.   Part of a beef carcass was also placed in a brine barrel.  The sheep carcass was eaten usually within a week, however the 'Salt Beef' would last up to a month in the meat house without refrigeration.  My Father-in-law did make comment that it was not a particularly tasty way to eat beef, but it was definitely waste not want not then.

Once the station was moderised with the addition of a large cold room in the 1950s the meat house was not used quite so much as the sheep would be hung in the cold room instead. We are very spoilt now and our butcher who processes out lambs for our customers also kills and cuts up our lambs.  It is so nice having our lamb butchered into individual cuts as it was only Roasts, chops and briskets prior to this.  My Mother-in-law was so skillful in using every bit of lamb and nothing went to waste.  I remember her making a corned brisket terrine which was a lovely cold dish for lunch on a hot day.  She would corn the brisket in a large pot with various flavourings and cook until the meat was falling of the ribs and then pick the meat off and press into a mould. Much to the horror of my city girl friends the shanks have always been considered dog meat in the country.  We are just coming around to appreciating them as a lovely slow cooked cut now!

The meat house used to also contain the cream separator an old meat safe which was obviously quite large as my Father-in-law remembers locking his cousin in it whenever they were visiting.