The Tuckombil Landcare area covers some 700 ha and lies between the village of Alstonville and the seaside town of Ballina (pop. 16,500). The climate is subtropical with an average rainfall of about 2000 mm, which falls in a rather unreliable pattern. The drier months are in the spring and the wetter in the late summer. Frosts can occur on the lower reaches. Cyclones are very rare. The area is administered by Ballina Shire Council that levies rates, maintains roads and provides other community services. The first developmental impact on the land was probably timber-getting and by the 1870’s pioneers like James Whipps were taking up selections and beginning the long march of agricultural endeavour that proceeds to this day. Life was of course hard in those days. For many of the early settlers the fact that they had land of their own did not mean their days of wage earning were over. The scrub had to be cleared and crops planted and grown before they could even begin to "live off the land." Roads were rudimentary and long walks to school were the pupils’ lot. The first Tuckombil primary school, a 20’x 12’ weatherboard building, was opened in 1882 on the land owned by Owen Daley. This moved across the road to 2 acres donated by Jack Whipps and finally closed in about 1970. The schoolhouse still stands full of its memories. Mrs Ella Page recalls the teacher of the late 1920’s schooldays having midday naps in his pride and joy, a motor car, and if the students were quiet enough, lunch hour could last until 3 o’clock. The Former Tuckombil Primary School

The native vegetation was high rain forest - the so-called Big Scrub- that was seen as an impediment to development. Today only small (< 1 hectare) remnants of this rich, diverse floral community remain. Interestingly, it is a mistaken belief that the early settlers cared little for trees and made no effort to preserve or protect them. "…it was difficult or impossible …to preserve patches of scrub when many new settlers were anxious to establish pasture…".2 Adjoining blocks had to be felled and burnt at the same time to avoid a partial burn and the consequent problems.

The rolling hills are now largely grass-covered with a growing encroachment of forest and nut farms, and also a steady invasion of weeds, notably the camphor laurel (Cinnamomum camphora) a tree originally introduced for schoolyard shade but now a significant pest.

In the early days, farms were not large; although hired farm help was used. Indian labourers were available and a family might live in to run the dairy, dairying being the first major agricultural pursuit. Labour was relatively cheap- food vouchers were used during the Depression years. Labour cycled or walked to work.

Today’s pastures are dominated by kikuyu grass (Pennisetum sp. ) but of course the original forest supported no grassland (except isolated patches of swamp or ridge-top grass which were later named for their utility in feeding the numerous bullock teams (Chilcott’s grass, etc)). In fact, the first crops grown were maize or sugar cane. The first small mill was built by Nicholas Barlow in the Parish of Tuckombil.

Buffalo grass and blue couch were planted for pasture in the early days. Prairie and rye grass were sown for winter-feed. Mr. Seccombe introduced Paspalum dilatatum in the late 1890’s. Subsequently kikuyu came to predominate.

During WWII many men enlisted, and the womenfolk were increasingly introduced to the everyday running of dairy farms.

In the 1950’s whole milk collection was begun. (Up until then the milk was separated on farms and the cream cans collected by carriers) The infrastructural changes required for tanker collection saw the demise of many smaller farms at this time.

Dairying has disappeared from Tuckombil today, with beef cattle now grazing what remains of the old dairy paddocks.

The most recent "wind of change" - horticulture- blew through Tuckombil’s peaceful landscape in the 1970s and 80s. A growing awareness of the potential of subtropical fruits and nuts saw a steady increase in plantings and the immigration of many new farmers.

Crops like bananas, passion fruit, papaya and pineapples, and some small crops including peanuts had been tried (there was in fact a pineapple cannery in Ballina) but none of these is significant today.

It was possibly the recognition of the suitability of the deep, red, free-draining krasnozem soils for avocado production that ushered in a wave of trialing and commercial orchard establishment in a range of species.

The NSW Department of Agriculture’s Tropical Fruit Research Station lent considerable support to this fledgling industry.

Many crops have been tried. Of the more exotic, juicing guava, sapote, longan, tamarillo, loquat and others were planted in potentially commercial numbers, but all failed for different reasons including inadequate knowledge of their husbandry or undeveloped market.

The guava story is notable as an illustration of a typical (unsuccessful) agri-business tax relief venture of the kind that has proliferated in recent times. The non-emergence of the markets on which the investor’s hopes (and dollars) were pinned lead to litigation and a hefty damages settlement.

Kiwi fruit, lychees, blueberries and cherimoya are examples of commodities with wide market acceptance, but the plateau has lost these too for reasons of market competition, unreliability of performance or pest/disease pressure in this particular environment. Mangoes and lemon myrtle can be found in small holdings.

The crops that have endured and at least for the present are being farmed profitably, include macadamia nuts, avocado, custard apple, stone fruit and coffee, in descending order of magnitude.

A remnant guava plantation survives with the fruit going to a juicing facility.

Most fruit is trucked to the capital city markets. The nuts are processed locally in centralised factories and the produce largely exported.

Coffee is only now emerging as a local crop. It is of high quality and a local grower, Mr. Beattie, recently won a significant award.

Where, it may be presumed that early settlers were from rural backgrounds, Tuckombil’s present-day population represents a veritable kaleidoscope of origins. From their background of success in a range of pursuits they bring fresh ideas and a concern for the community and environment - as witness the Landcare group - that enlivens and enhances a tract of land that is as attractive as any on the NSW North Coast.

Its amenity and lifestyle values - climate, proximity to beaches and community facilities, for instance - may well be the vehicle that will take Tuckombil to its next broad evolutionary change: closer settlement and emphasis on "the good life." With good management, this will be achieved without detriment to the natural qualities that Tuckombil Landcare has undertaken to preserve.

2. Duck Creek Mountain, now Alstonville, by Foreman Crawford; pp. 228,229

1. Ibid p. 137