Outback Corporation - 1. OBC Chapter 1

After returning to the station, I spent the first 3 days sleeping, and lounging around the compound. On the fourth day, I went to the homestead for an early breakfast where I found Dad, enjoying the usual full cooked breakfast. He smiled as I sat down while he finished chewing his mouthful of food. Once his mouth of food had been consumed, Dad wished me a good morning and he poured a glass of orange juice for me, before taking another mouthful of food.

I waited for Dad to finish his breakfast; I could see in his face that he wanted to tell me something and that he was wanting to string me along a bit. Dad knew very well, I really hated him making me to wait till he was ready. After two glasses of juice, a cup of tea and ten minutes, Dad had finally finished his breakfast. At this point I was getting really annoyed with him. Just as I was sure he was about to say something, Uncle Chris walked in smiling.

“Ah good, there you are, sit down please, is Daniel around?” Dad said, just as Daniel walked in, taking a seat next to Chris, giving a nod of his head as a morning greeting, unsure what this small meeting was about.

“I have asked the three of you here this morning as I have a big announcement to make” Dad started to say and he looked at the three of us carefully before he continued. “I have lived on this station all my life, and started working part time after school lessons and on weekends since I was 15 years old, that makes it almost twenty years, and I have decided that I need to have some time off.

So as of tomorrow, and for the next 6 months at least, with the guidance and support of your Uncle Chris and Uncle Daniel, and the support of all the senior staff, you my dear son, will be taking over as Managing Director of Murchison Pastoral Investments & Western Desert Pastoral Co, plus as a Director of Nullarbor College of Station Training – NCoST and Nullarbor Plains Region Pastoral Association – NPRPA,” Dad announced.

He grinned and strolled out of the room to head towards the administration office. Leaving the three of us stunned and our mouths still wide open.

Once I had come out of my surprised daze at what dad had just announced, I followed dad to the administration building where he was working on some paperwork. “What exactly did you mean by what you just said back in the homestead” I asked dad as he kept working, not looking up when I walked into the office and speaking.

Finally, he stopped what he was doing and looked into my eyes. “Son, in the very short years that I have had the privilege to get to know you, I have seen you grow into a very intelligent and responsible young man, and I know that you have the skills and know how to do this.”

Sighing, he continued, “Son I am exhausted and I need to get away, now you are home and have had the experience and training, I know you are capable of handling the responsibilities. So as of tomorrow, you become the head of the two companies, you will have all the support from the staff, as well as the company legal team back in the city.

They have helped me to organise all this, as I will not be in contact for some time. I need to get some total rest from everything to do with the business, just know that I love you very much and I know that you are capable of doing this”.

There was a long silence in the office, which was eventually broken by the crackle of the two-way radio, “Shed to Admin, Chris here, are we doing a windmill & pump run today? Over” without thinking Kes picked up the mike of the radio as it was right next to him on top of the filing cabinet. “Chris this is Kes, if you are doing the run, I would like to come with you, please organise for an overnight run, pack everything that we need and I will be with you shortly, over” Kes said and as he put the mike down he saw a big grin on his father’s face.

“Son you just proved to me in that short moment that you are capable, now go and do what you must do, know that I love you very much and that I will speak to you and see you when I have had some time to rest and relax”, Dad said as he stood up.

I rushed to his open arms and gave him a long hug. “I love you too dad, and I will make you proud” I said as I stepped back from the hug, shook my dad’s hand for the last time for goodness knows how long, grabbed my hat and walked out without looking back, as I didn’t want my dad to see the tears streaming down my face.

I made my way to the homestead to see if cook had heard the radio comment, and if food was being organised. Sure enough, when I walked into the kitchen, after wiping away my tears, the cook was finishing off packing the esky and food box, including a couple of thermos’s and plenty of food for two for a number of days. “Do you know something that I don’t cook?” I asked her, and she just smiled as she placed the last item in the esky and closed the lid. I took the esky and box to the front veranda to pick them up as we leave, and I went back to my quarters to pack my swag for the overnight trip.

When my personal packing was done, I made my way over to the shed, where I found Daniel with Chris, finishing packing the last of the supplies needed for the overnight trip. I couldn’t help but start laughing, realising that the cook had presumed right that Daniel would be joining us, and after calming down, I explained to them both the reason why I was laughing, and they joined in the laughter. Once we had settled down from the humour, we jumped into the Ute and went past the homestead to collect the food, before we made our way out along the north run of the property.

For the next four hours, we bounced around in the Ute, travelling between the water bores in the northern section of the property, checking that each one was operating correctly, plus we cleaned and refilled all the water troughs. Finally, Chris stopped the Ute under a large shady gum tree, jumped out, and began to rummage through the esky for the lunch food; meanwhile Daniel and I went in search of some wood to make a small fire to boil the billy for a cup of tea.

Lunch was eaten mostly in silence, as I thought of dad, and wondering what he would be doing while he was away from the station. The meal finished, we loaded up the Ute, and made sure the fire had been put out, we piled back into the Ute and continued out travelling for another four hours.

As the day was coming to a close, we stopped at a water point near the far north boundary of the station, collected some fresh water to restock what we had used during the day, and made our way to a camp site that is used on occasions during long water runs. Located just 200 metres away from the water trough, on a slight hill, the camp site had a wonderful view of the surrounding area. A small tin shed with a lean-too had been built a long time ago and is used as a shelter for workers, in case of wild weather.

In the shed is a table, with two kerosene lanterns, four chairs, in the corner is a pot belly stove, also there is an old book shelf with a couple dozen novels, magazines, plus some cooking and eating utensils. An old broken-down fridge in the corner, used as a secure storage box for dry and canned food to keep animals and bugs away, and an old Kalgoorlie safe where the fresh food could be kept fresh and cool.

Out under the lean-too, there are four steel bed frames with thin kapok mattresses, and a wooden box between each bed; and above each bed was a mosquito net. Not too far away, further away from the water trough is a smaller shed, which has only 5-foot-high walls, with a roof two-feet above that, and this was the relocatable long drop toilet shed, also known as a thunder box, which can be picked up and placed in a new location, once a new hole has been dug, and the old hole filled in.

Swags had been rolled out on the beds, the food stored away and the lanterns had been refilled and lit, Daniel and Chris went to collect some firewood for the pot belly stove, while I began to work on what we were having for dinner. I stopped to answer the Sat Phone when it rang, knowing that it would be Dad calling to check in on us.

We chatted for a few minutes and as we wound down the conversations, I told Dad that I wished that he didn’t have to leave while I was out bush on a water run, Dad replied, “I’ll be gone by the time you get back. Don’t worry Kes, just follow what you’ve learn during you schooling and time on the station and all will be fine. Take care.”

When I hung up, I had tears streaming down my face, Daniel and Chris appeared and gave me a big group hug and pat on the back, telling me that they would be with me all the way, and that all I had to do was ask, if I had any troubles or questions to ask.

When I had settled down a bit I noticed that the pot belly stove was running and ready for preparing dinner, so I got myself busy placing the alfoil wrapped corn cobs and potatoes in the fire to cook before grabbing the heavy frying pan and getting it hot, before starting to cook the steaks that were in the esky.

While I was busy preparing dinner, Chris and Daniel went outside to talk and I could hear the faint chatter of their voices, and it felt comforting knowing that they were close by. When I had three large meals served on the plates, Chris and Daniel walked in and sat at the table, with Chris having a bottle of red wine in his hand and Daniel placed three plastic wine glasses on the table. I smiled at them both and sat down on one side, while they sat opposite me.

As we ate our meals and the conversation went from just casual chat to business, I asked Daniel and Chris for updates on what had been happening at each property in the company, how the staff are going, what projects are happening on each property, what was the situation regarding maintenance of all station vehicles, are the safety protocols that dad put into place still been followed, and a lot more other things that I needed to know so I could understand at what stage the business was at and what were the priority needs on each of the stations.

This discussion ended up being a full blown senior staff meeting and lasted for nearly two hours, also discussing what to do about the falling number of students at NCoST, and as it was inevitable that it would possibly close, it was Daniel’s suggestion that maybe I should approach my old school in Albany and the other private school in Esperance for possible solutions, when suddenly I began to start to yawn, Chris decided that it was time to close this meeting and get to bed, as we still had a busy day ahead of us.

Since I had cooked the meal, Chris and Daniel agreed to wash the pans and dishes, while I grabbed one of the lanterns and went to use the thunder box. I gave an enormous shriek when I opened the door to the thunder box and discovered a snake curled up on the lid of the toilet, and slowly backed away.

Chris soon appeared and looked through the door do see what had spooked me, when he saw the snake, he grabbed a long stick with a “Y” at the end, be carefully scooped up the snake and carried it well away from the thunderbox, releasing it into some bushes. Chris assured me that it was a harmless tree python, and that there was nothing else in or around the toilet, and he made his way back to the shed. Once I had completed my business, I climbed into my swag and fell asleep almost straight away.