The old red shed and a tornado

One of the few buildings that survived the march of time on the Strathcedar property that had been owned by Royden and Florence Newell in the 1900s was the house and the old red shed.¹

The shed housed the red corn cracker. It was the job of the children, Elsie, Nita, Robert, Trevor and Betty to make sure the corn was cracked and ready each day for use in the dairy. It was a farm job the children hated, but to not do it, meant trouble.

In later years the old red shed remained intact mainly because of the workmanship put into it. Other buildings either fell down or were blown down, as happened with a shed near the house in 2013. This shed was torn apart by a tornado that hurled a sheet of tin from it, through the kitchen window, narrowly missing Tom Newell who was trying to shut a side door, and wife Karen and their children who had just left the room. It also twisted the huge Moreton Bay Fig near the shed, and cracked its centre, but the old red shed was barely harmed.

Author: Robin Sheppard