Living in the sticks
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (358075)
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.
5 people like this
5 responses
@DaddyEvil (152874)
• United States
5h

1 person likes this
@JudyEv (358075)
• Rockingham, Australia
5h
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 (76513)
• United States
8h
That’s a beautiful rock formation, indeed! And we call the sticks “the sticks” here, too. 

1 person likes this
@JudyEv (358075)
• Rockingham, Australia
5h
It's very pretty country for all its isolation. Glad to know I don't need to explain the sticks. 

@JudyEv (358075)
• Rockingham, Australia
5h
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.
