THERE IS NO such thing as bad Country; there just happens to be bad custodians. And marsh is a natural feature in accordance with time; encroaching damp from a swamp pays no heed to a progressive twenty-first century and the equity of development.

Early colonists sent to survey the wetlands along the southern banks of the river had remarked how the fallen trees on the crest lines reminded them of abandoned guns. Hence the placename given: ‘Cannon Hill’. Only men from military backgrounds would deem the metaphor appropriate during occupation of such a fertile pocket.