Parts of New South Wales and Queensland have been battling the effects of drought for the past seven years, with may facing ruin as a result. In fact, 98 per cent of New South Wales and around two-thirds of Queensland is in drought or is drought-affected, with pastures drying up and the cost of freight and feed increasing exponentially.
But one photo shared by the daughter of 83-year-old farmer Alf King on Facebook neatly captures how truly devastating this drought has been on hardworking Australian farmers.
The image captures Alf kneeling on the sunburnt land of his devastated cattle farm near the border of New South Wales and Queensland, just outside of Bingara, praying for rain.
Facebook/Rhonda King
His daughter, Rhonda, 59, told Yahoo 7 news she took this photo as she and Alf were feeding the bulls on Sunday morning on their fourth-generation 2000-acre cattle farm, where Mr King currently helps out his daughter with the maintenance of it, even though he is almost entirely blind.
The drought has dried up 33 of their farms 35 dams, and the family has had to sell 27 steers to pay for cotton seed to feed their remaining 50 cows.
Ms Rhonda King is an army veteran who says her military pension means she isn’t eligible for farming assistance, such as the farm household assistance through Centrelink, and although she has applied for charity assistance, she is still waiting to hear more about her plight for help.
Laura BarryLaura Barry is a writer, bookworm and interior design enthusiast with a love for reporting on all things homes, travel and lifestyle. When not tapping away at her keyboard, Laura can be found making endless cups of tea or perusing the shelves of Sydney’s many bookstores.
