Goose Green

Sheep farmers and engineers

The Falkland Island Company (FIC) was actively involved in all aspects of life on the Falklands at that time, so naturally their sphere of influence included the sheep farms across the islands.

The settlement of Darwin was named after Charles Darwin, who spent some time there during his travels. It had been estabished in 1859 as a centre for cattle ranching, and later for sheep farming. At the height of its development, the Darwin community had grown to include shepherds and farm hands, master craftsmen, a doctor, a school master, and even a parson. But by 1920, it had become too small for the thriving settlement.

The FIC decided to consolidate sheep farming at Darwin, Goose Green and Walker Creek. Since Darwin was too small, they chose to centre their sheep holdings at Goose Green. The sheep farmers at Walker Creek in Lafonia found it took five days to walk the sheep around the sea inlets to Goose Green – and when they got there, the facilities were not large enough to handle the numbers of sheep they had. It was time to call in their Chief Engineer.

At first they needed a new wool shed at Goose Green, which he put up in 1922. Next, to shorten the journey they needed a bridge to span 400 feet across the Bodie Creek so the sheep could get from Walker Creek to Goose Green. Oh, and then some considerably bigger sheds for shearing the sheep.

Apart from Charles Peters as Chief Engineer, the team included the foreman, Mr E. S. Crawford, a mason, and Mr Evans, a carpenter working for the FIC. But for the manpower and energy required to construct the bridge they had to rely on the physically fit and strong local men such as Jock Pettersson.

There is an account of the history of this region in Wikipedia, and the Falkland Islands Tourist Board has a description of Goose Green and the Bodie Creek Bridge for visitors to the area.