Learning From History

One of the things that I have learned from history is, that we never seem to learn from history.

Yesterday I wrote about the demise of Hill End in the central west of NSW, Australia.

This little town could be anywhere in the world though, and there are indeed probably thousands of towns that have suffered like this, and that history has seemingly forgotten.

Below: The road out of town.

The village is quite scenic, and the people that live there are quite nice.

There’s the crazy restaurateur/general store owner Dave who doesn’t care if you get what you want (great business model mate), the teacher’s wife, publican and farmers and their families.

But it’s only a shadow of its past, when it had 8,000 people there going about their business.

Most of the town has disappeared.

To make up for it though, there are pictures of what once was.

Like this one, a wheelwright business.

There are a few items in museums around the place to remind visitors of what life was like back then.

Some of the houses that remain are a bit run down, while others are quite well kept.

The over all feeling though was that history had passed the town by.

Items such as the plough below go to show how industries such as farming have changed with the help of technology.

Some farm worker busted his gut getting this thing around the field.

The problem with Hill End was that it grew up around one industry: mining.

Farming communities can die too, especially as larger towns nearby expand and develop new services and industry.

Hill End is surrounded by towns that have done just that, including Mudgee, another mining town that has also developed a thriving wine and tourist industry, along with agriculture and supporting businesses, and Bathurst with its government departments, education and secondary industry.

People follow work!

What does all this mean to the individual who can’t change the system?

The one watching as businesses move offshore, and governments sign new free trade agreements that could see things change even more?

They can change the way they think and act!

When I left school, I was told to get a job.

And work hard.

I did, and I learned new skills that kept me employable.

But along the way I realized that just having a job wasn’t enough, so I began to learn new skills, and develop other streams of income.

The word in this case is diversify!

Just the same as any town, state or nation, in this day and age I believe that individuals need to learn to diversify.

There are examples all around of people who went and created their own reality, and followed their passions.

Do you dare to change? Or are you going to be a living museum, full of stuff from the past, wondering what might have been?

It’s Your choice Sunshine…