Seems we have a new Minister for Education in WA.  Having had no success with the previous one I will be sending a letter to the new one ('keeping at them' on recommendation from various people - including some politicians) and pushing our cause further.  Our strategies have changed - I understand one was recently put forward to be included in a review of school anti-bullying policies in Tasmania.  I am waiting to hear the results.  


The Stations Book is going brilliantly.  Am in the middle of contacting heaps of retired pastoralists and all are being absolutely wonderful.  Such lovely, unique people.  I have been requested to kick the stations visits off with one of the participating properties in WA in February - to experience the heat along with witnessing the new school year being started by the School of the Air and other distance learning facilities.  Also trying to gain support from some of the larger national groups that are affiliated with the outback - offering reciprocations.


Was recently approached to write a new book, which will follow the stations one.  This one will be about a maritime disaster which occurred about the same time as the Titanic but was completely overlooked due to the latter.  How very tragic.  We are trying to do something about it.


And one other new project is in the wind.  This idea has come from foreign shores and might already be underway in Australia but I have not heard of anything.  More on that later.....


Stay tuned.  

I'm BAAAACK (think Garfield - I think - one of those cartoon characters anyway).  What a first half of the year it has been.  I am just hoping life will now settle down to a dull roar and the second half might be a little bit quieter.  I live in hope.  We have moved house, taken the most wonderful cruise (badly needed), had two deaths in the family and several others among friends and acquaintances, I have undergone eye surgery and face more later this year (so maybe life won't quieten down) and things are going very well with both my book on stations and the fight against bullying.  Re the latter, one of our list of strategies was recommended recently, by one of the Ministers for Education - a start, nowhere near enough, but at least it is a start.  More ideas are constantly being suggested and some of these are being considered.  As for my book - I am still receiving requests/inquiries from stations wanting to participate which is fantastic.  I have been requested to kick off the station visits themselves in February 2013 - in the hot weather and also the start of the new school year, so I will be able to experience that heat, also see how the School of the Air works these days.  To say I am meeting some of the most wonderful, funny, salt-of-the-earth people through this book, from every aspect, would be an understatement.  I continue interviewing retired pastoralists - what fantastic people.  Remind me so much of my own parents - Mum of course having her own origins in the city, before and moving out to spend so many years in pure isolation, then retirement seeing Dad and her moving back to the city.  Many of the women I am interviewing are from similar background and what interesting people they are.  Some of the men too, which is equally interesting.  I am so enjoying this.  Shortly before the cruise and our move I was approached by someone asking me to write a book about another subject - yes, all a big secret for the moment but I have agreed to do it.  Should be fascinating too and more wonderful people to meet. 

Stay tuned.....

Oops.  Note to self - READ and edit/proof work before publishing.  Yup - I did the unforgivable - wrote my last blog about life on our family station, in a huge hurry then published it  BEFORE editing.  Smacks to self.  This does not normally happen, but it was a personal 'thing' so I didn't worry too much - until I started reading it back recently.  Ouch.  Stay tuned for more goings on in my life - I have just returned from a wonderful cruise - I know it has nothing to do with work but for those of you (the two of you....) who are interested in my actual life - stay tuned.  Next blog - which WILL be edited.....

EDGE OF THE OUTBACK

The following is the reproduction of a piece I wrote many years ago in an effort to give some insight into my world, my passion, my early lift.  Called 'Edge of the Outback' it has been edited/rewritten/proofed many more times than I can count and I am continually adding to it/changing it as time moves on.  It has been sent to every corner of the globe, printed in quite a few international publications and even read over the ABC here in Australia - enjoy.

I offer no apology for the fact that this piece is written in both past and present tense.  Nor for the fact that I have used the imperial measurement system, as opposed to the metric which is used in Australia.  I grew up with the former and it is the way I have always written this piece.

....

Mention the true Australian outback to most people, be they from another nation or Australia and visions of a vast, barren desert, miles upon miles of virtually nothing except a bush here and maybe a tree there are generally conjured up.  Overall not an attractive picture, so most would think.

How wrong can one 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 about 115,000 acres large which is small compared with other stations further up and out.  Our livelihood depended on Merino sheep for their wool and meat and a few head of cattle.  The very barren land still comprises of such vegetation as salt and blue bush, mulga and gum trees among others.  Ours was among the first of the very big sheep stations heading north east of Adelaide.

Peterborough still is the nearest town of any size, being thirty two miles away.  Along with my three elder brothers and our cousins I was educated, until the ripe olf age of eleven, by the School of the Air and correspondence school.

There were times when we had heavy enough rains to isolate us completely but with the technology of today this no longer happens.  In those days (and I am only going back thirty years or so) we had our own generator providing us with thirty two 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 were living on and managing the station until a few years ago.  With improved roads and transport my nephew and niece were able to attend the local primary school in Peterborough.  Both then followed the lead of the generations before them and attended boarding school in Adelaide.  While the station remains in our family it is now managed by an employed couple.

As might be gathered from the information thus far 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 tanks; in fact this was more common than swimming in the dams and even in the creek, which was 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 yummy).  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 dog-proof fence.  However, it seems no-one told the kangaroos this as they cause more damage to the fence than anything else does.  In fact dingoes are plentiful further up north and rarely venture as far south as our station, but we do get the odd stray.  They rip the stock to pieces - not to eat - just for the fun of it.  Rabbits, kangaroos and other pests eat the spear grass and general vegetation, what there is of it, which is food for the stock.

As children, we often rescued orphaned 'joeys' (baby kangaroos), emus, the odd kid (baby goats as most would know), lambs and calves.  Even a carpet python took up temporary residence on our tennis court at one stage.  Also known as the 'Children's Python' these snakes are harmless, so we left it there.  It didn't worry us and we didn't worry it.  It eventually slithered off in search of greener pastures - could still be looking!!!  All these babies were released into the wild once old and strong enough.

Entertainment was and still is a little different out there.  Travelling over one hundred miles (or more - one way) for any kind of social occasion was very much the norm.  Indeed if you weren't prepared to travel your social life did not exist.  'Local' towns held annual race meetings where the interest was on drinking, 'high fashion, drinking, gossip, oh and did I mention drinking?  And then there were the horse races themselves - what horse races????  We actually had race horses at one stage but that was well before my time.

Up to the age of eleven my only real play-mate was my cousin.  Her father, along with my father, co-managed the station for many years.  My cousin and I were eventually sent to different schools in Adelaide and have never really been close since.  She married and remained in South Australia, not far from the station, whereas I married and now live in Western Australia.

We all learned to ride horses and motor bikes and to drive cars (on the station only) almost before we could crawl.  that just seemed to be part of life out there.

At times were were almost completely self-sufficient - raising our own chickens; milk and its bi-products; lamb and mutton; vegetables and fruit.  We even produced bread from our own bread ovens.  In those days we were fortunate enough to have an excellent cook, along with governesses and a 'cowboy'.  Those days are long gone now and we no longer produce any of the above, apart from the meat.  While parts of the sprawling homestead have been modernised for practicality the bread ovens were preserved, along with the old milk separating cellar, although neither is used now.

Like most stations we had a couple of 'outstations'.  In better years one of these housed a family of about fifteen children; the other has been empty as long as I can remember.  (Just an aside:  the eldest two daughters of the first of these outstations have been good enough to write about their lives and a 'Where Are They Now?' summary of their siblings all of which will be included in the book I am currently writing, about stations).  Now both these outstations stand empty and abandoned.

The station 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, shearers' quarters, shearing shed, stables and assorted other buildings, resembles a small village.

Then there were and still are the 'creepy-crawlies'.  The worst and most venomous snake is the Common Brown but we have also had visits from the King Brown, which lives further north.  Another common species is the afore-mentioned Carpet Python.  As for spiders, the harmless Huntsman is easily the most common and they can grow to be enormous - and very scary to a self-confessed arachnophobic like me.  I have suffered from this fear since early childhood.  I used to try to overcome this for the sakes of my daughters - but that backfired.  Now we are all as terrified as each other.  We also have the Redback spider, a cousin to the Funnelweb, although not as venomous.

Among my childhood and teen memories is one relating to a certain 'uncle' who lived on a nearby station and who owned a Tiger Moth aeroplane.  Uncle Ron had a very welcome habit of flying lower over our station 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 in the creek bed (which was nearly always dry) at the front of the homestead, searching for those little parcels and trying to find them before anyone else, including the dogs.  We also had an airstrip, as did and do most stations, only ours has been overgrown by salt and blue bush and hardly usable even in emergencies - in fact it would probably cause an emergency if something tried to land on it these days.


The afore-mentioned creek could be very dangerous but equally exciting in those very rare 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 high of the creek coming down a 'banker' (meaning a usually bone dry creek suddenly filling to overflowing with very, very fast moving water).  I have only witnessed it once but would not have missed it.  Imagine standing anywhere near a creek and suddenly hearing an almighty roar in the distance to begin with but getting louder by the second - looking in that direction and suddenly seeing a huge bank of water rushing along the creek, filling it to overflowing as it travelled, taking all in its path.  These 'bankers' have been known to drag fences, trees, windmills, junk, animals and absolutely anything that gets in the way as far as the water travels.  We used to find items on stations over two hundred miles away.  Some things have never been found.


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, unending desert with very little, if anything to offer - especially when compared with mountains (we have those in the outback too), lush green pastures, rivers, waterfalls, flowers and other flora and fauna.  Yes I concede that the outback could well be considered 'ugly' - but it is not.  It is beautiful if one bothers to take the time to really look and appreciate that beauty.  You do not need a vivid imagination to really see that beauty - there are mountains, beautiful scrubs of trees and wildflowers in abundance.  Just the colours of the hills and valleys at dawn and sunset and after one of those very rare rains, are spectacular in themselves.  I have seen many magnificent 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.


The fauna of the outback is as impressive as that of the lusher areas   As 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 only found in certain areas of Australia. Other fauna includes hundreds of different sorts of lizards, snakes (both of which are reptiles), along with many other creatures, some harmful, some not.  Emus, eagles, eaglehawks, budgeridgars, galahs, sulpher-crested cockatoos, rosellas, emus, cockatiels, wild canaries to name just a few.  There are also hundreds of species of gound-living birdlife.


Like every other nation Australia has limitless features of interest for the tourist but I just feel that the outback, which really does have so much to offer, is so often overlooked.  After all it is the backbone of a nation, does make up most of that nation but still so often goes by unnoticed and desperately misunderstood.


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


As is gradually becoming known the book that I am currently writing is also devoted to the sheep and cattle stations of our outback.

OK - I admit it - I am completely and absolutely addicted to writing.   Letters (I have over 200 penpals around the world) - yes, my family, personal friends, acquaintances and anyone and everyone else who knows me all think I am mad - but that's life.  I have always had a yearning to write stories as well - fiction was the idea originally but having tried that and failing miserably, no thanks - will leave that to the experts.  Like so many others, I have spent a good part of my life wanting, but not knowing how to start writing and getting books published.  Well, this all changed a few years ago when I woke one birthday (not telling which one) and had an epiphany (love that word - think it's right but not sure but sounds good) - I did realise I needed to get my deceased father's book published and 'out there' - somehow - quickly.  For some weird reason I suddenly felt a very urgent need to get this done - so I got stuck into good old faithful Google and eventually found - something.  I'm actually not sure what it was now but whatever it was, it did help point me in the right direction.  And I succeeded - I had it self-published and it was released - exactly a week after my mother died.  'The Sawers From Pitcairn':   https://www.abcpublishing.info/.  Oops.  Oh well, I did my absolute best and am told she died happy, knowing that the book was about to be released.  And that kinda whetted my appetite - I'd discovered how to have books published - there was no stopping me now.  But not fiction.  Never fiction.  So I turned my efforts to my second book:  'Bullseye' which is a compilation of some thirty six case histories of bullying written and submitted by victims of this horrible phenomena from around Australia and one from the UK.  All have been reproduced as closely as possible to the originals submitted by their authors which does mean that some do, perhaps, present more of a challenge to read, than others do.  As they are all ad lib I acted on legal instruciton at the time not to edit, proof nor change them in any way.  This is mentioned in the introduction.   However, it does appear that a couple of the people who reviewed the book decided either to ignore or not to read the explanation at all and simply returned it to me without explanation.  This did not bother me - just proved that these people are rather ignorant in themselves.   Anyway I am a writer and as such, I write - I tend to rave on for ages and pages and like mosf of the rest of the world, I have lots'n'lots'n'lots to rave on about....but until next time...stay tuned....same station...

FIGHTING BULLYING AND THE BOOK ON STATIONS

Fight against bullying is progressing with victims now starting to realise they can come forward to vent, remaining completely anonymous.  Some nasty stories out there too and regardless of what the Government is trying to tell me, programmes/strategies etc that are currently in place are NOT working.  We need action and that's what we are aiming for.  Meanwhile the research for my current book on the sheep and cattle stations of this great nation is progressing brilliantly.  Am meeting some wonderful people, all sharing my own background and their humour is equal to none.  
Stay tuned.

I have just been emailed two horrific stories about cyber-bullying and a couple of other forms - and a third where I am encouraging the victim to open up and tell me more.  It is becoming increasingly evident that 'all' that the governments are doing is not working and action really does need to be taken - before any more serious reactions are taken by victims.   As most MPs across Australia now have my email details on hand victims are gradually starting to gain the confidence to come forward and email their experiences to me - it will all help toward our ultimate goal - to introduce legislation to drastically reduce bullying in schools nationwide, make the schools more accountable (accountable at all....) with the eventual aim of making it illegal.  We do know this will not stop bullying but should at least deter some of the perpetrators when they realise that their actions will result in legal repercussions.  Please come forward victims and tell us....all stories are welcome, particularly cyber-bullying.