The Best of Both Worlds

James Amos

Hi my name is James Amos.

I live at Cranbrook near Swansea on the East Coast of Tasmania. On the weekends and in the school holidays I spend time here.

but I have another life at the Friends’ School in Hobart, during the week.

Our house at Cranbrook has been there since the Amos family arrived on the ship “Emerald” from England on St Patrick’s Day 1821. The house is older than Melbourne!

Seven generations have lived in this house and now I live here with my brother, sister, Mum & Dad, and the dog & the cat!

In the olden days, my dad can remember the floods, when the cellar would fill with water from the nearby river and all the wine barrels would float up to the ceiling, causing a great noise, keeping everyone awake at night.

The Friends Boarding House is where I live during the week. It’s named Walker House after George Washington Walker, who came to Tasmania as a Quaker missionary in 1832. He was the Great-Great Grandfather of my English tutor.

This is a picture of the

church that my Great Great Great

Grandfather, John Amos, built. He built most of the buildings

around the area including my place and

the next door neighbour’s and he also built a mill at the river’s

edge.

The Friends’ meeting House is like a church for Quakers. We sit in silence for ages and sometimes, someone comes in to talk to us. As you can see it is a much newer building than

our church at home.

This shot is from the other side of our property, Cranbrook Estate, looking over Moulting Lagoon. The lagoon is one of the biggest salt water lakes in Tasmania. It is full of bird life, including these two eagles, and sheep graze around its edge. Nearby there is Gunns Vineyard, Coombend Winery, which is the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere.

Next door to us is the Craigh Knowe Vineyard, which my family built but is now owned by the John Austwick.

This is the view from the balcony at the Boarding House looking down to the city and the Derwent River.

This is the front of Clemes College, where Years 11and 12 have classes. Most of my mates live here in Hobart, but I’d prefer to be in the country watching the local football side or fishing.

This is a photo of me & my mate Oliver, after a late night out in the paddocks, spotlighting, keeping the roos off the paddocks. He’s really keen at archery but we

didn’t catch these with a bow and arrow! My dad got these with a rifle!

At school, we train for rowing in the school gym. I spend about four hours in the gym each week.

On the farm, we spend a lot of

time near or on the water. This is at the Boxing Day picnic when the community comes down to the river to eat all the left overs from Christmas. We listen to the Boxing Day test on the radio and swim all day, in the freezing cold water. This is the family tradition.

Our school community in the Boarding House comes from all different countries. There are students from China, Germany, the USA, Japan, Singapore, and from interstate.

The activities I do at school include cooking,

,

… metalwork and ceramics. This is a piece that I made with my art teacher. This is the sheep of the future, Robotram! There is no money in wool so we have to go to metal!

This is my dad at shearing time, sorting out the wool. At the moment the market isn’t very good so we’re not getting very good prices. We run sheep as well as grow grapes.

Here is the river outside my place where big brown trout grow up. Down the bottom of the river are the best bream in the Tasmanian fishery, when they’re running! I love fishing and for my Make a Wish, I went to New Zealand, trout fishing.

Back at my room in the Boarding House I can sit in my room and dream of fishing or go down to the jetty with my mates to fish.

This is me and my Dad about to go fishing up at my Dad’s dam where there are massive rainbow trout and good views! It’s one of my favourite pastimes when I’m at this home. Both my homes have good food and good things to do. I like the Boarding House in the city because I’m with my mates and I like my home in the country because I’m with my family.

This is me and my Dad about to go fishing up at my Dad’s dam where there are massive rainbow trout and good views! It’s one of my favourite pastimes when I’m at this home. Both my homes have good food and good things to do. I like the Boarding House in the city because I’m with my mates and I like my home in the country because I’m with my family.

This is me and my Dad about to go fishing up at my Dad’s dam where there are massive rainbow trout and good views! It’s one of my favourite pastimes when I’m at this home.

Both my homes have good food and good things to do. I like the Boarding House in the city because I’m with my mates and I like my

home in the country because I’m with my family.

The Best of both Worlds

Dictated by James AmosTyped by Mary WoodPhotos by James Amos, Jenny Amos, Mary Wood

ABC Heywire competition September 2007