Tag Archives: drought

I make no apology for the fact that both past and present tense are used in this piece; nor for the fact that both the imperial and metric measurement systems are used. I was raised on the imperial and it is these measurements which I continue to use in this piece.

Mention the Australian outback to most people, be they from other nations or Australia and often visions of vast, barren deserts, miles upon miles of virtually nothing except a bush here and maybe a tree there and plenty of red bulldust, are conjured up. 

Overall not an attractive picture, so most would think.

Old petrol bowser and pump on a station in Qld.

How wrong can some people be.

I was born in Adelaide, capital of South Australia and raised on a sheep station in the north eastern pastoral district of that state. The station is 115,000 acres, which is small compared with other stations further up and out. Our livelihood depended on Merino sheep for their wool and a few head of cattle. The land, which is very barren, is comprised of such vegetation as salt and blue bush, mulga and gum trees, among others. We average less than seven inches of rain per annum so cannot rely on cropping. Ours is amongst the first of the ‘big’ sheep stations heading north east of Adelaide.

Peterborough is the nearest town, being 32 miles away. Along with my three older brothers and our cousins, I was educated, until the ripe old age of 11, by School of the Air and correspondence school.

There were times when we actually did have enough rain to isolate us completely but with today’s technology this no longer happens. In those days (and I am only going back 30 or so years), we had our own generator providing us with 32 volt power, a telephone connected to a ‘party line’, mail once a week and groceries monthly. The wonderful Royal Flying Doctor Service provided our medical services in emergencies.

My brother and his family are living on and managing the station now. With improved roads, transport and technology my niece and nephew were able to attend the local primary school in Peterborough, rather than relying on the School of the Air. Both then followed the lead of the generations before them and attended boarding school in Adelaide.

As can be gathered from the information above, rain water is very scarce. While all (or most) stations have several large concrete tanks, dam water is used for personal bathing, washing and dish washing. The water looks dreadful, like wishy washy mud, but to many, it is a real novelty to wash and swim in. We also used to swim in the dams when they were full enough; usually they did not have enough water in them in which to swim. But there were the very rare occasions when water was plentiful, thereby allowing us to swim in the dams and even in the creek, both of which were a lot of fun. When swimming in the dams you just had to be careful not to be nipped by a yabby (similar to a crayfish or lobster and just as tasty). The other positives about swimming out there – no chlorination, no salt usually and no pullution. Just good pure water. A good deal of Australia’s outback water is supplied by huge artesian basins.

While kangaroos are a dearly loved part of the Australian fauna, they, along with rabbits and foxes, are also a terrible menace in the outback. Our station is surrounded by a supposedly dingo-proof fence. However, it seems no-one told the kangaroos about this as they cause more damage to the fence than anything else does. In fact, dingoes and wild dogs are plentiful further up north and rarely venture as far south as our station. They rip the stock to pieces – not to eat – just for the fun or it. Rabbits, kangaroos and other pests eat the spear grass and general vegetation, what there is of it, which is food for our stock.

Despite the above, as children we often rescued orphaned animals, including ‘joeys’ (baby kangaroos), emus, the odd kids (baby goats as some would know) lambs and calves. We also kept a carpet python as a ‘pet’ at one stage. All were released into the wild once old and strong enough.

Entertainment was a little different out there. Travelling over one hundred miles for any kind of social occasion was and still is very much the norm. If you were not prepared to travel – take a ‘road trip’ you didn’t really have a social life. I now live in the city and dislike driving in the suburbs intensely – too much traffic, too many pedestrians, traffic lights, freeways – no thanks. And I won’t go near the CBD. But put me on a country road and I can drive forever and love it. ‘Local’ towns held annual horse racing carnivals where the emphasis seemed more on local gossip, ‘high’ fashion and of course, drinking, than on the races themselves. Races? What races? We actually had race horses at one stage, but that was well before my time.

Up to the age of 11 my only real play-mate was my youngest brother, until we were sent away to different boarding schools. I also had a cousin – her father and my father were brothers and co-managed the stations for many years.

We all learned to ride horses and motor bikes and to drive cars (on the station only – NEVER outside the boundary) almost before we could crawl. That just seemed to be a part of life out there and I presume it still is on many remote properties.

Old chimney stack. Rest of the building long gone. These are found throughout the rural and remote areas of the nation. What a story they could probably tell…

At times we were almost completely self-sufficient; raising our own chickens; milking our own cows and also making cheese and we had our own sources of lamb and mutton. Also vegetables and fruit when we had sufficient rains for them to grow. In the very early days we also produced bread from our own ovens. In those days, we were fortunate enough to have an excellent cook, along with governesses and a ‘cow-boy’. Those days are long gone now and we no longer produce any of the above apart from the meat and fruit and veges on occasion. While parts of the sprawling homestead have been modernised for practicality, the bread ovens have been preserved, along with our old milk-separating cellar, although neither is used.

Like most stations, we have a couple of ‘outstations’. In better years one of these held a family of about fifteen children; the other has been empty as long as I can remember. Now both stand empty.

The homestead itself is typical of many country homesteads, with huge rooms, very thick stone walls, completely surrounded by wide verandahs, huge open fireplaces and very high ceilings. This building, the engine room, slaughter house, shearers’ quarters, shearing shed, stables (no longer in existence) and assorted other buildings, resemble a small village.

And then there are the snakes and other reptiles and ‘creepy-crawlies’. The worst and most venomous snake is the Common Brown but we also have had the occasional visit from the King Brown, which lives further north. Another common species is the afore-mentioned Carpet Python, which is harmless. As for spiders, the harmless Huntsman is easily the most common and they can grow to be enormous. I am afraid that I am very much an arachnophobic and have suffered from this fear since childhood. I used to try to overcome this for the sakes of my daughters – but that didn’t work – they are both worse than I am. We also have the Redback spider, which is a cousin to the Funnelweb (which we do not have) but not as venomous. But you don’t want to be bitten by the Redback either.

Budgerigars (budgies) poking their heads out of their front door to say hello – or maybe to tell us to go away.

Among my childhood and teen memories on the station is one relating to a certain uncle (not blood relative) who lives on a nearby station and who owned and flew a Tiger Moth aeroplane. This uncle used to make a habit of flying low over our station and dropping bags of sweets attached to tiny parachutes, for us children. This occurred annually, after he had visited the Royal Adelaide Show. We used to love racing each other into the huge creek bed at the front of the homestead searching for those little parcels; a bit like an Easter egg hunt. We also had an airstrip, as did and do most stations, only ours has been overgrown by salt and blue bush and I think would cause an emergency if someone tried to land a plane on it. If I remember correctly, these airstrips were mainly for the use of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) as well as the odd other plane – like our uncle’s.

Sign for outback race club meeting. Western Australia.

The afore-mentioned creek could be quite dangerous, but very exciting, in heavy rains. It didn’t even have to be raining on the station; as long as there were heavy enough rains ‘upstream’, the chances were very hight of our creek coming down a ‘banker’ (meaning a usually bone dry creek suddenly filled to over-flowing with rushing water). I have only witnessed it once but would not have missed that. Imagine standing in a completely dry creek bed and suddenly hear an almighty roar – looking in that direction and seeing a huge bank of water, sometimes many feet deep, coming straight for you, taking all in its path. These ‘bankers’ have been known to drag fences, trees, windmills, junk, animals and anything else that gets in the way, as far as the creek travels. We have found items on stations over 200 miles away – and other items have disappeared forever.

Very dry lake bed…middle of Qld.

There really is just so much more to the magnificent Australian outback than has been mentioned here. To the eye of the uninitiated, it probably still is and always will be a vast, barren, boring, unending desert with very little, if anything, to offer – especially compared with mountains (we have those in the outback too), lush green pastures, rivers and waterfalls, flowers and other flora and fauna…yes, I concede that the outback could well be considered ‘ugly’.

Just an idea of what the distances in our outback are like.

But it is not. To me, the outback is absolutely spectacular.

It really is beautiful if one bothers to take the time to really look and appreciate the beauty. You do not need a vivid imagination to really see the beauty out there. The colours of the hills and valleys at dawn and sunset and after a rain – even before a rain – are spectacular in themselves. I have seen many paintings of different settings in the outback – they cannot be imagined, they are real, just as are those of snow-capped mountains, waterfalls, rivers and forests.

Outback worms….hmmm….

The fauna of the outback is as impressive as that of the lusher areas, too. As previously mentioned kangaroos abound out there – but not koalas. These gorgeous creatures are fussy eaters in that, while Australia has numerous types of eucalyptus trees, the koala will only eat the leaf of one species and this is found in certain areas of the nation, not all over. Other fauna includes hundreds of different sorts of reptiles, along with many other creatures, some harmful, others not. Emus, eagles, eaglehawks, galahs, sulphur-crested cockatoos, rosellas, cockatiels, wild canaries, budgerigars to name just a few. There are also hundreds of species of small ground-living birdlife.

The spectacular Wreath Flower – one of our beautiful wildflowers.

Like every nation Australia has a huge amount of features of interest for the tourist and locals alike, but I just feel that the outback, which really does have just so much to offer, is so often overlooked. It is not even acknowledged by many city folk – or if it is, from what I have heard, it is very negative, in our own nation which I think is so very sad.

So this is my little effort to help acknowledge and salute it, as truly deserved.

DISCLAIMER

The book that this biopic is planned to be based on is my autobiography: ‘No Looking Back’ and has been written as anonymously as possible. Some cities, states and institutions have been mentioned but on the whole, no human names have been mentioned. The school where the bullying occurred is in NO WAY AT FAULT NOR IN THE LEAST BIT RESPONSIBLE FOR MY EXPERIENCES.

Talking to other past students both at my old school and other schools, it does seem that most of them look back over their school years with tenderness and happiness and warmth. 90% have told me that they loved those days. And I now know why I was picked on and realise that if I had my time again, there is absolutely nothing I could do about it. The ‘problems’ lay with me, absolutely but they were enough to cause the bullying. And I would have been and still would be powerless to change anything.

The amazing RFDS (Royal Flying Doctor Service) has to be able to land anywhere in emergencies…

‘No Looking Back’ does contain detail about my bullying nightmare which occurred over six years. However, it must be remembered that this happened back in the 1960s and 1970s when such acts as bullying and the like were not recognised nor acknowledged and very little, if anything, was done – and that was only when and if victims spoke up. How were and are the staff supposed to know that someone is being bullied unless they either witness something themselves – or the victim or someone else speaks up for them. I think it was accepted as just being part of life, part of growing up. These days, that has completely changed in many instances and many schools have now got their own anti-bullying programmes in place. Many also have counselors. But again, victims do need to ‘speak up’ and many still won’t, for fear of repercussions and similar. Sadly there are an increasing number of suicides occurring among victims of bullying. Most of these people, so I believe, have not spoken up.

Outside loo. Long since unused but a redback’s paradise. And possibly the odd snake.

There is actually a very fine line between teasing and bullying, although being pushed down stairs, locked in a cupboard and finding a huge spider on my bed (and I am very much arachnophobic) would be hard to be classed as teasing – I reckon they all fall into bullying. Full stop. 

So what is this film about? Me. Yes me. It is a visual autobiography – a biopic. And it is something that I never thought I would do, write an autobiography, let alone make a biopic based on it. At least not until I was in my late 70s or 80s and then probably get someone else to tape, then type it all. 

Shearing shed – or woolshed – most sheep properties have/had them.

But no … or yes, here I am, doing the lot at the moment and loving it. But before I really started writing it, I honestly did not think I had and am still living such an exciting and different and, perhaps, inspirational life that anyone else would be interested in. And that hasn’t – or hadn’t – really changed – I’ve now written and published my book – and life continues. And becoming deeply involved in pre-production for the biopic.

There is a reason I changed my mind and felt that maybe – just maybe – some of what I have done in my life could be interesting – to someone, somewhere – or even inspirational, perhaps. It was when people started asking me about my bullying nightmare – and then being asked to write about it, that my mind began ticking over and I felt that telling my story might just help someone else. Or not. I didn’t know but as I had never previously really described those six nightmare years to anyone, I also felt that writing it all down might be good therapy, for me. And now that I have done that, I think it has been good therapy – I know it certainly brought the memories rushing back and I even shed a few tears, here and there. After that I was being asked about my own primary education (via School of the Air) and then other aspects of my life also seemed to attract questions, whether I thought they were interesting/inspirational or not.

There is another reason – an extremely important reason, why I am doing this. Why I am persevering – not giving up even when I feel I want to stop the world and step off (thank goodness there are people around me who know me well enough to push me…not to step off the world but to get on with all that I am trying to do) and this reason applies to two of ‘my’ other books as well. My sheer passion for the outback and the life of the stations people and so many others who live out there. I have lived in suburbia for most of my life – but will never love it like I do the outback. And I am not talking about the rural areas so much, the farming areas, but more the really remote and isolated areas. Of Australia. 

One other aspect about this biopic is very important to me. I really wanted to use an all-Australian cast and crew – I initially wanted to use only people from SA and WA but then quite a few others applied – from other states and from overseas. I had also realised that a lot of the station hands and some of the owners as well as some working in businesses in outback towns, are from other nations – many are young backpackers. So I have quite a few of the relevant names on the list but overall I am trying to give local actors a chance. I am still working with that aspect and one further very important group of people are our Indigenous people. This last one is proving to be nearly as much a challenge as the funding, but I don’t give up easily. I am fascinated by the Australian entertainment industry and really want to help ‘add’ to it – do my bit any way I can. And if writing the above books, making a doco and the biopic are the ways that I have at the moment, so be it. And as I say, I don’t give up easily. 

I mentioned two of ‘my’ other books – the very first one, which my late father actually wrote, is about our family and ancestors and early life on our sheep station. My father had been writing this book for the last 30 or so years of his life and had literally just finished when he passed away. So it was not published before he died. Instead the manuscript and piles of documents and photographs that accompanied it, went round and round between my brothers and me for the next 17 or so years, until one day, on a birthday, I woke and realised we needed to get Dad’s book out. Someone had to do it. And that someone was me. So I did. I found a publisher who could offer exactly what I wanted and between the two consultants whom were assigned to me, and me, we worked like beavers (beavers do work, don’t they…) to get that book out – preferably before my late mother passed away. She was in her late 80s at the time and still appeared to be enjoying good health – although she was also wonderful at covering up any health issues. But her age was against her and us – but we did get that book out. It was published and released exactly a week after Mum passed away. Yes, I was devastated – but have been reassured that Mum knew something was about to happen and died a happy woman – or as happy as anyone could be when facing the end of life as we know it.

Yes it has been hellishly dry in most of the outback – however, much of this area has also recently had life-saving rains…

Dad’s book is obviously the reason for my enclosing the word ‘my’ in inverted commas – it was not my writing, therefore not my copyright but Dad’s – I simply had it published and released. Then came my biggest effort (until this biopic) – ‘Red Dust Dreams’ which describes the lives of the people on 20 of our sheep and cattle stations around the nation. To conduct the research, I did something that I have always wanted to do, ever since I was a very young girl. I traveled the outback, by myself. And I thrived on it. I visited 17 of the participating stations (in SA., NSW., Qld., the NT and WA – the ACT., Victoria and Tasmania were not included as most of the regional people in those states and territories do not live on such large landholdings – on the whole and as far as I know they are not isolated or remote enough to suit the requirements for this particular book). That was an amazing experience and so much fun. The book was published in 2012 and did become a finalist in the International Book Awards. 

After ‘Red Dust Dreams’ was published and released, the questions mentioned above began. During the research travels I also had a few people asking whether my travels and experiences were being filmed…as in documented, apart from being in the book. In other words, they were asking if a documentary was also being made. A visual interpretation of the written word, as such. It wasn’t – the thought had not occurred to me. But I did start thinking about it when I finally got home. And we have been trying to make this doco for the last few years – but the usual is blocking it – funding. Why does everything rely on money. During this time I was also being asked about my bullying nightmare and my own outback education as well as a few other aspects in my life. I sat and began writing, finally – and thus ‘No Looking Back’ was borne. Although I still did not feel it was that interesting nor inspirational – but others, it seems, feel differently.

Once the book was published and out and I thought I would be moving on, I had people asking about a visual interpretation of it. Huh? A movie – a bio-pic effectively. Oh. Er…no. That sounded exciting actually but also a heck of a lot of work – so into the ‘too hard basket’ it went – for five minutes. 

A typical outback plane. Privately owned by station people.

So – I got into it. Now, remembering that I am not a film-maker and I am in my 60s – and a female to boot – well it did seem that everything was against me even considering this. The other huge obstacle – which does hit just about everyone in this industry – you guessed it – money. Yes, money. Funding. Literally having never done anything like this before, it really was also a matter of the blind leading – something. I started researching heavily and then decided to post a piece on FB – not actually a casting call but more a call for ‘expressions of interest’ – for potential actors. I put two or three of these on relevant FB pages for WA and then tried a couple in SA. Unfortunately, as I no longer live in SA, this was not permitted but the admins were wonderful and posted the blurb that I sent over anyway. This happened around my birthday last year and I was in no way prepared for the response that I received. Not so much from SA (although I did receive a couple from there and both are now on our ‘shortlist’ which was growing daily but has now slowed down), but WA – wow. And then I posted on StarNow – not sure whether that was the best thing I could have done – or the worst. Probably the former but the timing was awful – right on Christmas at that stage. I was swamped. And I have tried to respond to each and every applicant individually – very time consuming but soooo interesting and I am learning just so much. Again all part of my mammoth learning curve. 

Distance signpost giving an idea of how vast Australia is.

I have also been able to find a couple of bigger names to be considered for the major roles as well as finalising locations (three stations are involved at the moment), which I am still doing. Next on the list is to print out all the profiles of those on the shortlist. And the script. At the moment, I think we have a director from South Australia, an assistant director from WA., two executive producers – both from WA, one cameraman who will also be making a ‘behind the scenes’ film as well as bloopers and a few other things. We are also gradually getting the music in place. And of course, the rest of the crew and cast. None of these is in concrete yet but we are getting there. 

So, as you can see, there is a mammoth amount to do but it is very slowly but surely coming together. I also do have several links and ideas for funding, all of which I am looking into and acting on as I can. But any suggestions/ideas for funding from anyone would be very welcome. Even donations are very welcome. 

I plan to keep these blog posts up and out to everyone, but mainly to the people who are shortlisted for consideration for auditioning for the biopic. This is my way of trying to keep everyone updated on our progress. Not sure how often I will publish these but I will do my absolute best to keep everyone updated.

We have recently had reason to visit our family station on the edge of the outback in South Australia. A very special trip and one that my husband had promised we would make by car. YES. I detest flying at any time so to make such a trip by car was wonderful to me. 

Yes, the drought is very real.

Many people have told me that I am mad for wanting to drive over, rather than fly. 

Why?

Why do people think I am mad for preferring to drive and not fly? Surely it is a personal thing – and I know I am not like most of the rest of the world – in that, yes, I could drive in the outback, on country roads, forever, but put me in the city and yes, I will drive, but do not enjoy it. Too many people, too congested, traffic lights – just too much. And it’s not getting any better. The only city that I enjoy these days is Darwin – it’s still like a large country town to me – I love that.

There was very good reason for this particular trip – it was for the marriage of our gorgeous niece and her lovely husband. Very much a first for me – attending a wedding on the station. And what a lot of fun it was. Cannot imagine a better venue, except for the little park where my own lovely daughter and her wonderful husband were married, in Perth. I have been to one party – many years ago, on the station, but it was not a wedding. In fact, I am not quite sure what it was. There was no formality for this other event – it was a weekend back in my late teens. I believe it was actually to celebrate my 18th, my brother’s 21st and another brother’s 23rd. What a weekend it was – our mother tagged it: ‘The lost weekend’. And I reckon she was pretty spot on. The strange (for want of a better word at the moment) thing that I mostly remember is when my eldest brother and his then wife ‘danced’ (more of a series of jumps) across the wooden floorboards of the shearing shed – and promptly went straight through one! I cannot recall them injuring themselves, but I can remember laughing and not being able to stop laughing. It was a good weekend. One of my brothers celebrated his 60th birthday in the shearing shed as well but unfortunately none of my own little family was able to attend, including me. 

Yep. Flat battery – at Madura.

Anyway, our trip was just amazing. We even got a flat battery in Madura – and realized how lucky we were to get it there and not out between towns or service stations – one of the very few negatives about the outback, in a situation like that. The on-site mechanic had us back on the road quickly and we were easily able to get to the station and back again, as far as the local town, to take ten minutes to get a new battery.

Our first night was in Balladonia, where things are so dry that they are having to have their water carted from Norseman – just like other areas in Australia’s outback. They even have special little notices in their en-suite bathrooms, asking guests to be careful with the water. These were there a few years ago, when we last passed through, so the situation has not improved. Second night was across the WA/SA border in Ceduna, which was very pleasant. 

I knew the country was and still is in drought – but really had no idea just how bad it is. I cannot think of words to describe it. Once through the wheat-belt in WA., the drought was very evident from there right through to the station. Not quite so bad between Peterborough and the Flinders Ranges, as that is farming land as well.

The wedding was just superb. The ceremony was held on our old tennis court, which did look wonderful. And just a few steps away, outside the fence surrounding the court, is a trough which has been put there for the horses and any other animals to drink. While we were there, with the rest of the wedding guests, quite a number of emus and kangaroos came in to have a drink. It was rather an amazing sight. While I grew up with both, I cannot say I have seen them so close to the homestead before. Both humans and animals watched each other, the latter not appearing to be in the least bit frightened – which they usually are – and continued drinking while keeping one eye on us. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera on hand for the actual wedding but did get a photo of the two very friendly Shetland Ponies that were just near the trough. 

Garden at the front of the homestead. Corner of tennis court where the wedding formalities were held.

The reception was held in the old shearing shed, which, these days, seems to be used for such events more than anything else. But the memories were still there, including the ‘graffiti’ which covered some of the walls. Nothing ‘bad’ – just some fun writing and pictures from the shearers and some of the guests whom have stayed on the station through the years. 

The night sky was just so clear and absolutely dazzling. No smog or pollution of any kind in those skies – nowhere near enough to a city or large town not to be able to see such uninterrupted views. The spectacular Milky Way – just fantastic. 

Some of the guests were people I had not seen since school days – 1972! Several approached me and had to ‘re-introduce’ themselves, others I recognised immediately – by face, but not necessarily by name, which does make it a tad awkward when trying to introduce them to my family. But we got there and it was fun having a chat and catch-up with these people. While some had to return home early the morning after the wedding, others stayed on for an extra night. We were there for a couple of days, giving us the chance to climb a favourite local hill where Mum’s and Dad’s ashes have been spread. I do try to do this each time I visit the station, which is unfortunately becoming rarer and rarer. The last time we were there to do this was Christmas four years ago. And who knows when the next time will be.

Although, that said, we are hoping to go over again early next year. It will be a special trip and there are good reasons for it. And each trip, I do enjoy wandering around the homestead complex, taking a heap of photos. Every time I go up, a lot has changed. And this has naturally happened with each successive generation that lives up there. For instance, Mum and Dad changed a lot when my grandparents retired and moved on. Mum and Dad put their stamp on it, if you like. But they have now passed  on and my brother and his wife are up there and have made another lot of changes and it really looks lovely. 

I do miss the station, very much. It is my childhood home. But the second to last time I visited, it clicked – finally – that it really is not my home any longer. That ‘click’ has only taken…how many years?? Hmmm. One of my favourite things to do when I do go up there is to sit somewhere very quiet and just listen – to nothing. Complete silence apart from the birds and occasional dog barking – the sounds of nature. I think this is also part of the reason that I am not a person who loves listening to the radio, except in the car. I just love the sounds of nature – the wind blowing, birds, dogs – and the sound of rain, not that I hear that very often. 

I have to admit it took a good week or so to get back into the swing of things once we returned to Perth after that trip. I just didn’t want to be here.

But I absolutely love my life here now – I have made a very good life for myself and am very happy with all that I do – but irrespective of that, I have always found it slightly difficult to adjust back to normal after having such a wonderful trip away. I always used to find that I needed something, no matter how obscure, to look forward to.  

We have now been back for a couple of weeks and I am now really looking forward to a few future projects that I am starting to ‘work’ on. 

I am also looking hugely forward (is that awful grammar…) to the next trip over to the station early next year. That should also be a lot of fun.

This used to be the station airstrip – where the RFDS and other small, local aircraft could land. These days, it would probably cause an emergency if anyone tried to land on it.