Joseph Dreyer

Joseph Dreyer was a senior agricultural reporter and photographer for the Age and rented a property from Bill Dunn to test out his theories.

A straight-sided dam was one of his theories.

Instead of a scooped-out side from which the cattle could drink, it was straight sided, and about three metres deep and there was a pump which was used to fill the drinking trough. He felt that cattle should have clean drinking water.

On 2nd January, 1915, Joseph’s two sons, Keith, aged 13, and Thossell, aged 11, died in the dam on the family property.

A third son, Jack, who was born in June of the year of that tragedy, died in 1919 aged four, from eating ‘plum puddings’, the seed pods of onion weeds.

Joseph Dreyer died in 1916 on the way to cover the Bendigo Agricultural Show.