Outback - 3. OB Chapter 3

Within three weeks the muster had been completed, the cattle had been drafted, sorted and the non-breeding cattle were trucked out to market or live export. With the main muster completed for the year, all the extra staff were paid and they were off to their next mustering contract, leaving just the permanent staff remaining, Jake had returned from his walkabout, but this time he had brought with him, his two younger brothers, Chris -19 and Mark -17.

Their mother has fallen ill and cannot look after the growing teenagers. The two, were regularly getting into fights, which was causing a lot of heartache. Jake had agreed to take responsibility of the boys, making sure they worked hard. Although Bas was not planning to employ extra staff, they were a welcome addition, taking on some of the duties that he did each day.

Chris started as a trainee station hand, while Mark started as stable hand and grounds man, looking after all the horses, pets and maintaining all the gardens. Both boys would share a cottage so they had their own space.

Meanwhile Bas had a discussion with Mike & Sue about the airfield, & how it really needed up grading. Looking at the finances of the station, there was plenty of money available to extend the length of the runway from 1200 metres to 1800 metres, plus fully seal it & install lighting for night landings.

Also upgrading the hanger to include a maintenance workshop, a fuel storage shed, and a weather station to be added near the wind sock. This project would bring in a team of 14 workers, & it would take approximately 4 months to complete.

Meanwhile, Sue, leaving Bas totally in charge of the station, with Barrett assisting, remained in the city to look after her husband. Mike finally came out of the coma after 6 weeks. While the airfield was being upgraded, Bas with the help of Barrett, who had a helicopter licence, Jake, Chris & Mark started a project to roundup all the feral camels. Barrett, spotting from the helicopter, and Bas, Jake, Chris and Mark in mustering buggies, rounded up the feral camels.

In total there was 14 males, 23 females & 19 juveniles, Bas had them brought to a paddock near the stables, to try to tame them a bit, before deciding what to do with them. This meant addition feeding duties for Chris and Mark who had been placed in charge of looking after them.

Both boys had settled into their new jobs and environment very well, even Jake was impressed with their changes in attitude. They worked hard, learnt new skills, and were given the opportunity to go horse riding on their day off, often they would campout down by the hot springs, a favourite spot for most of the staff on their 1 & 1⁄2 days off.

As Mike was slowly recovering from his accident, it became very clear that he would no longer be able to run the station, as he continued to have severe headaches and memory loss. Sue and Bas spoke regularly by telephone, with Bas reassuring her, saying not to worry, that he had everything under control, and just concentrate on getting Mike home soon.

Christmas came and went, as did New Years, the airfield upgrade had been completed. The RFDS visited to inspect the changes to the runway. Unknown to Bas, one of those visitors on the RFDS plane was an official from the Air Transport Safety Authority, who, two weeks after the visit, sent a letter and certificate of airport standards, classifying the runways suitable for medium size aircraft, that hold a maximum of 50 passengers.

The letter stated that all mapping and navigation equipment at airports and on aircraft will be update to list this new airport, as it was situated close to many domestic flight paths. With this news in hand, Bas began planning for more changes for the station. Firstly, a village would be established near the airfield, to accommodate RFDS personnel, when the need to make overnight stops arose.

This would consist of 8 large transportable cabins, each one having two double size rooms, with a bathroom in-between, one room is the bedroom the other is a small lounge with kitchenette, to make tea, coffee, toast or snack, with a sink, microwave, toaster and kettle, cutlery, crockery and utensils.

With 4 cabins on each side, and well-spaced apart, raised decking in-between provided an airy social meeting place, with tables and chairs, at one end of the decking, another transportable provides a social lounge with satellite television, and comfortable lounge seats for up to 8 people.

Attached to the social lounge were two medium sized rooms, the first is a library, with a good mixture of novels and books neatly displayed in book shelves against two walls, plus a reading table with two chairs in the centre and a large lounge against the back wall. The second room was an office, with a large desk, with a large modern computer, filing cabinet and book shelf against one wall, a long narrow desk with a single chair against the back wall, which has two maps, one of the station, the other is a regional district map same as those used by the RFDS.

On the narrow table sat a RFDS emergency radio, an HF radio for aircraft, and a VHF radio for station communication, also there is a computer, printer and a Fax machine and telephone. The first time the RFDS called requesting an overnight stop, the crew of four, where very impressed with the facilities available to them, each cabin had continental breakfast baskets, fresh fruit, milk and fruit juice in the fridge, bread in the freezer, plus a healthy frozen dinner there too. All the beds were made with fresh linen, towels included, and hotel style small soaps, shampoo and conditioner.

Sarah Alson made sure that all the cabins were clean and ready for the guests, who were due to arrive just on dusk. Bas made sure the runway lights were on for their arrival. Bas assisted the pilot with refuelling the plane, before they settled for a relaxing evening, as Sarah had prepared a big meal for the guests, as well as the station staff and residents. Sarah had taken on a lot more responsibilities since Sue was in the city.

To look after feeding and housekeeping of the increasing station population, Bas was considering employing two

more staff. To fix the accommodation problem, Bas installed a two bedroom transportable cabin behind the cabin where Jake and Toby live, so three brothers’ where together, and this left the cottage free to accommodate a husband and wife team. After a lot of advertising and many applicants, Bas and Barrett shortened the list from 32 down to 6 couples.

Together they held interviews via video link, and the right candidates were selected. They would arrive on the station in 6-days time. Derick and Betty Finch, both qualified chefs, plus Betty had been a housekeeping manager for a number of hotels in the UK.

They have twin sons, Kurt and Liam aged 11, who would join the station school with Barrett & Sarah's two children. As it was getting close to mustering season again, Jake and his brothers had decided to stay on the station. Both Barrett and Bas were pleased with his announcement.

Two weeks before mustering, Bas received a call from Mike and Sue, announcing that Mathew and family were moving to the station to help during the muster. They said that Bas and Barrett would remain in charge, as Mike was pleased with the advancements and success with the station. Bas told them that Uncle Matthew was not required, that it would be better if they didn’t come, Bas was informed that the decision had already been made, and the would be arriving as early as in two-days’ time.

Bas was furious that he was not consulted with this, and told his adopted parent this up-front, before slamming the telephone down hard in their ears. The next day Bas informed Barrett of the decision made by his parents, and informed him that for the duration of their stay, he would be living at the RFDS village, which is at the east end of the airfield, 3 kilometres from the homestead, far enough away to be able to stay out of the way of his uncle and his family.

Bas asked Barrett to assist with moving the station office over to the village. All that would remain in the old office, would be the furniture. Bas would control the station administration from the new place. Once this was done, Bas moved all of his belongings to the village leaving his bedroom with just the basic furniture. Later in the day Bas called all staff to the recreation shed for a meeting, where he informed them of the impending arrival of his uncle Matthew and family, for the duration of the muster.

He told them, due to a previous conflict with that family he moved to the village, as has the station administration office. Mike and Sue stated that Bas remains in charge with Barrett in support, and that if there are any problems all staff are to speak directly to Barrett or himself. Bas suggested using the code word - "back paddock" if you need to speak to Barrett or myself if there are any issues.