What works, he says, is talking with mates.

“It was a bit of a shock to the system,” Mr Scholz said.

“You get down and out for sure.”

Mr Scholz, now 67, said it was support of family, connecting with community through sport, and sticking close to his mates that helped.

“I just got stuck into sport and talked to a few good mates,” he said.

“That really saved me; I don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t do that.”

Mr Scholz, a Henty farmer, said when the drought hit years later, some of those emotions returned.

“You get a bit depressed, your dams are empty, you have to find feed for your stock,” he said.

But he said he used the same methods of coping he had discovered earlier and got through.

Now he wants to encourage other farmers to do the same when facing hardship.

Mr Scholz said men often found it difficult to be open about problems.

“We just clam up, I guess,” he said.

“Talking about it feels so much better.”

Mr Scholz later married Kerrie and they had two sons; “I couldn’t have asked for anyone better”.