- Jervoise Station is owned by Kerry and Greg Jonsson. Jervoise was purchased in 1965 by Gregs late father, Alf Jonsson who was a vegetable farmer on the Atherton Tablelands.
Greg and Kerry started their married life at Jervoise in 1970. Greg ran the cattle and farmed on the rich red volcanic soil on the high country. They grew such crops as peanuts, corn and sorghum.
In that time they had 6 children.Shane is the eldest boy, he is married to Teena and they have a little girl Amber and a baby boy Scott. They live on Jervoise and Shane runs the cattle and the Tourist side of Jervoise.
Michelle is the Eldest girl, she is married to Peter and they have a little girl Ashton and a baby boy Samuel, (Samuel and Scott were born a week apart). Michelles family all live on Jervoise too! Peter is our Truck driver and he takes our cattle and hay to market.
Kristine is the middle girl, she was working at Kidston Gold Mine, which is only about one and a half hours drive from Jervoise. She drove the big dump trucks at the mine. In April 99 she headed off to travel the world and at the moment is experiencing London.
Paul is the middle boy, He makes all the hay that we need to feed our stock. He also sells any extra to other properties in the area. When the mustering is on Paul is a very big help. Paul lives at Jervoise.
Pam is the youngest girl. She is working in Townsville. When she comes home for holidays, she helps with the cleaning and cooking.
The youngest boy Darren is away at an Agricultural College in Ayr, where he is doing a two year course in Tropical Agriculture. Every school holidays he helps muster the cattle and drive the tractors to make hay.
All the children attended the Greenvale State School for their primary education and they all went away to college for their secondary education. They attended boarding school, where they lived at school and only came home in school holidays. Greg and Kerry missed them very much while they were away. A lot of people on properties have to teach the children themselves as they are too far away from any schools and the children are to young to be sent away. Greg and Kerry believe they were lucky to have Greenvale. The school bus would leave our property at 7am and pick up all the children in the area and take them to Greenvale, 108km away. They would leave school at 3pm and would not get home to Jervoise until 4.45pm. It was a very long day for the children.
It is very important for the children to have a good education. Most of the stations now use computers and some of the stations are able to access the Internet. You can even sell your cattle over the telephone. Some properties sell using videos of their stock.
Many things have changed from when Kerry and Greg first married and moved to Jervoise, back in those days, they didn't have any electricity, we used a wood stove, kerosene fridges and Kerry used to wash in a copper, there was no television, or telephone, and the only radio that we could get anything on was in the car.
Things are now a little more modern, we have Electricity, TV and pay TV, Telephone, Fax and Two way radio.
Mustering was also very different back in the early days, the men would ride out before daylight and not get home until well after dark. Both the men and the horses would be exhausted. You needed a large plant of horses, as they would have to be spelled for a few days before they could go out again. Now they mainly use motor bikes and can be up to the back paddocks in less than half an hour.
Water is the most important thing they need on the land. Some years Jervoise has a lot of rain and the river would flood. It would be weeks before anyone could get out or anyone could get in! Kerry remembers a particular wet when she was was almost due to have Michelle. "The men decided that I should be in town, it had been raining for about six weeks and the river was flooding, They blew up a big tractor tube and wired a piece of board under it. They put me in the tube with my bag under one arm and Shane (who was about 16 mths old) under the other. I was not very happy about this! However I got to town safely and then had to wait several weeks before the baby was born. This was the one and only time I ever let the men decide when it was time for me to go to town!!!"
Some years Jervoise had hardly any rain. In these times, much of Greg and his families time is spent feeding cattle to keep them alive. It can be hard sometimes.
Kerry and Greg have had many wonderful times at Jervoise and many wonderful experiences. They decided to try and help the children who did not have the same opportunities as their children did. For six years they took in disadvantaged youth and taught them how to work on a property. Over that period 177 young men and women passed through their doors most of them obtained good jobs and are doing well with their lives. Some are still having learning experiences!
Kerry and Greg have had five foster children over the years. They have all gone on to do what they need to do. Leaving behind many memories, most of them good.
(A Thought from Kerry)
"Through all these times our children have always helped us and the many young people we have tried to help. We are very proud of our kids, they are true 'Aussies'. They stand up for what they believe in, stand up for a mate and have always stood by their parents. We are humbled to have them".
