Living in the sticks
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (358207)
Rockingham, Australia
July 10, 2025 8:39pm CST
Ted, Annie Pergande and their only child, Teresa, lived in what many Australians would call ‘the sticks’, meaning well out of town in an isolated area. Ted went to an area out of Mt Marshall, Western Australia, in 1910 and his wife joined him a few years later.
They would travel to Trayning periodically to attend mass. To get there, they would sleep under the horse-drawn cart on the way there and back. In later years, mass was held in the house. In 1935, Ted was instrumental in having a church built in Bencubbin. He held a number of prominent positions in the town before retiring to Perth. He quickly became bored and took up a position teaching farming at Bindoon Boys’ School. His wife, Annie, taught English to boys for whom English was not their native language.
The collage shows one of the beautiful rock formations in the vicinity of the house.
10 people like this
9 responses
@DaddyEvil (153020)
• United States
11 Jul
And to think, I grew up on a farm 5 miles outside of the small city/town where Pretty and I live now and we were said to live out in the sticks back then... Our closest neighbors were half a mile away on any side of us.1 person likes this
@JudyEv (358207)
• Rockingham, Australia
11 Jul
@DaddyEvil That's the opposite mostly to what happens here. Small blocks of a few acres are subdivided and dozens of houses built on them.
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (153020)
• United States
11 Jul
@JudyEv The guy had bought another rancher here out and was just adding more acres to his new ranch. It doesn't normally happen like that here, either.
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (119112)
• Marion, Ohio
11 Jul
We are considered as living in the sticks now.
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (119112)
• Marion, Ohio
11 Jul
@JudyEv I am sure the house sitting helps.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (358207)
• Rockingham, Australia
13h
@wolfgirl569 Yes, thanks. It does, or at least did. We probably won't do any more unless it's really easy stuff with not much physical effort.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (358207)
• Rockingham, Australia
11h
Many people made quite big sacrifices to get to a church service.
@LindaOHio (194339)
• United States
11 Jul
The back story is very interesting. I remember going out in "the sticks" to a mall to buy my wedding dress. There was mostly farmland around. Now it's one of the most crowded cities/towns around.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (358207)
• Rockingham, Australia
11 Jul
The colours are really impressive. I know a lady who paints these sorts of landscapes. i'll buy a painting off her one day.
@FourWalls (76586)
• United States
11 Jul
That’s a beautiful rock formation, indeed! And we call the sticks “the sticks” here, too.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (358207)
• Rockingham, Australia
11 Jul
Yes, it's in the south-east of Western Australia. Some say Australia broke off from Africa at some stage. We share some plants that aren't found anywhere else.
