Outback Corporation - 18. OBC Chapter 18

Over the next few weeks, work at Howick Estate had been full on, the old house and the older shed were pulled down and removed, a new high fence had been built from the north boundary to the south boundary, creating a 980-acre western paddock, that is 1.35 km’s wide, along Orleans Bay Road, that will become a hospitality project in the near future.

This new 3-metre high fence separates Orleans Bay Road from the rest of the property, with a large gate and padlocks to keep intruders out, the fence includes a 1 metre deep stone and concrete underground wall, to stop any digging underneath the fence, and the top one metre of the fence is electrified, while electric wires run along the rest of the fence and gate, at half metre spaces.

The boundary fence to the south, and the north boundary were also upgraded to include higher fencing, and some electric wires on the south side of the fence.

Further east, the airfield was extended to 1750 metres, was given a solid gravel base, that was compacted down hard, before being sealed, electric lighting was also installed for night landings. Just south of there, where the large shed is, a small village of cabins, and facilities were built, to accommodate 12 people in 6 twin bedroom cabins, plus a lounge, dining and recreation building, with all the comforts of home.

Shortly after the runway was completed, on a fine late Friday morning, I left my cousins to look after my sons, while Declan, Dad and I flew to Kalgoorlie, for a meeting with the RFDS, and Declan taxied directly to the RFDS base, to avoid any possible unwanted interest, especially from the media. Dad had called the Perth office and spoke to Operations Manager, to organised a low-profile meeting to be held at the Kalgoorlie base, which gave them the view that the Cattle Station Barons were travelling from the station.

“Ladies and Gentlemen” Dad began as he surveyed the six-other people gathered in the room, those being the WA State Operations General Deputy Manager, two Operations Board Members, the Operations Manager of Kalgoorlie Base, and two of the Doctors based at Kalgoorlie.

“As most of you will already know, my name is Bryce Silverton, the young man to my left is Managing Director of the two Silverton companies, Kyle Silverton, my son. To my right is Mr Declan Grovedale, our chief pilot, we have come today to make an announcement, we are fully aware of the public requests for the request to have a RFDS base located at Esperance Airport.

We have already had confidential low-key discussions and negotiations, with the Esperance City Council, and we have a memorandum of understanding from them, for the establishment of such a base. We, that is my son and I, as representatives of the shareholders of the two Silverton companies, hereby offer you the RFDS of Western Australia, finances for establishing a RFDS base at Esperance.

Furthermore, once a contract has been signed, we will finance the purchase of the two planes, fully fitted and ready for service, to be permanently based at Esperance, so the service can cover all of the South Coast from Albany to Eucla, in Western Australia, and anywhere where the planes are needed in the southern half of the state. We will also fund the maintenance costs of those two new planes for a period of two years.

Be warned that it is a gift with conditions, so don’t try to get anything past us. We do not want any public recognition for the establishment of this new base, or for the purchase of the planes, and this will be included in the contract, for now I ask that nothing be said to anyone outside this room, until after the contract is signed” Dad announced.

“That is very generous of you Mr Silverton, do you have the contract with you today?” the only lady in the group asked, who we knew to be the board member, and that was my cue to retrieve the contract out of my briefcase, and I handed it to the lady.

“Ma’am, we are very serious with the matter regarding media involvement, as you may be aware, we have had run-ins with them on a number of times, once included, when they refused to get their plane out of the way to allow the RFDS plane to land at our main Station airfield.

The RFDS will always be welcome to stop by for an overnight rest break at our Pondanah Station RFDS Village, and at our soon to be announce new RFDS village, on the new property of ours East of Esperance, we ask that your lawyers look at the contract and if happy, have it signed in 6 days” I added.

“That is a very short space of time, the board has to look at it then hand it to the lawyers for their approval, we will need more time” the board member said in reply. “You will find, that the process will go a lot faster, if you send it straight to your lawyers, and get them to make recommendations to the board, what my son and I have said, is what we offer, with six days for the contract to be signed, if not the offer is withdrawn, and it will not be offered again, that is all we have to say to you all today” my dad said, sounding a little annoyed, as we stood up and left the room.

Declan had already silently exited the room and building, to make preparations for the return flight home, and he had the plane ready by the time we stepped out onto the apron, once inside the plane with the door secured, we taxied a little bit then came to a stop, as Declan requested permission to take off, with Esperance as our next destination.

Within an hour we had safely landed on the newly sealed runway at Howick Estate, and when we arrived at the homestead, I was pleasantly surprised to see my cousins and my boys all there waiting for us, and the smell of a BBQ cooking food, made my mouth water, as we all headed inside for a big lunch. “By the way, I had a call from the Esperance Council, they are having a general public meeting, with the main subject being establishing a RFDS Base at Esperance” one of my cousins informed me as we sat down to eat.

“Did they tell you when it will be held?” my dad asked, “Yes, they did Uncle Baz, Tuesday week, so 11 days’ time” my cousin replied. “Perfect timing, we should hear back from the RFDS by that time” I commented, before I continued to eat.

After lunch, while the boys were having a nap, Declan, Dad and I sat down to chat. “I had a chat to Chris last night, we seem to be having a wetter season than usual, and a lot of the dry creeks are now flowing streams, making it hard to get around to check the stock. He has been using the hovercraft a lot more so as to be able to get through to check the stock” I informed my Dad.

“When we flew into Kalgoorlie, I noticed a bit of water at the bottom of the Super Pit, with those steep walls, I wouldn’t be too surprised if they have a major land slide” Declan added. “Yes, the company that owns it, has been saying it is not a problem, that the water will be drained, and it will be back to normal business” my Dad said.

“You know, we do get on rare occasions, earth tremors, and with one of those and the soggy ground, I think Declan may be right about the risk of a land slide” I said. “So now, if they do not sign the contract, we have already purchased two King Air B200 aircraft, ready for service, what are we going to do with them?” Dad asked.

“Well we could always establish a Care Flight base down here, since we are still in a remote area” I suggested, and both Dad and Declan smiled and nodded their heads in agreement, “Ok, I will look into it, and we will make a decision once we have heard back from the RFDS” Dad said to us. Six days later, this time deciding to take my boys with me to give my cousins a few days off, we climbed into the aircraft, and stowed away our weekend luggage, as we would be spending a couple of days in Kalgoorlie.

I had driven over with the boys to Dad and Declan’s farm the day before, so we could have any early start, and get to Kalgoorlie before the next storm arrives, as Kalgoorlie had been getting a lot of rain in the past week. We had booked into a motel family suite for me and the boys, and Dad and Declan had a room next door.

Once we had organized our hire vehicle, with child booster seats included, we went directly to the motel on the western end of the city and checked in early, which we had arranged, and leaving Declan to mind the boys, Dad and I went back to the airport, to attend our meeting with the RFDS.

When we arrived, we were ushered into the conference room, where we saw the video link screen was on, and a few minutes later the Kalgoorlie Operations manager entered the room, and sat down, before activating the video link, where three faces appeared.

“Mr Silverton, senior and junior, we will make this brief, we are not happy with your terms in the contract, and unless you are willing to negotiate a compromise on three of the items, in regards to media promotion, keeping the planes based in the Great Southern and managing the establishment of the base in Esperance, when there are other locations that would be more suitable, like Carnarvon for instance… if not, then we cannot sign the contract” the board member on the video link screen said.

“That is your final decision?” Dad asked, “Yes, sir that is our decision” another board member responded, and I stood up first, closely followed by Dad, who headed straight for the door, while I stopped for a moment, “Just so you are aware, the people of the Esperance region have been campaigning for a RFDS service for many years now, and they will not be happy, when they are informed of your decision to decline our very costly donation, Good day to you all” I said as I headed for the door.

“One moment if you please, those two King Air B200 aircraft that arrived yesterday, are they the aircraft you have already purchased?” the local operations manager asked, “As a matter of fact yes, they are, and since they are not going to be used here in Western Australia, we will probably send one to Tennant Creek, in the NT and the other to Coober Pedy in SA, but this your loss and their gain, goodbye” I said and I walked out the door, an followed Dad out of the building.

Once back at the motel, Dad made a phone call, I was not sure who to, but I decided to listen in. “Hello George, it is Bryce calling from Western Australia, just letting you know that our proposal has been declined, so the ball is now in your court” I heard Dad say, and I watched him as he listened to the other end of the onversation.

“…Really, well that is good news, and so fast too… yes the aircraft have arrived at Kalgoorlie, so they are ready to go, all they need is for the paint job, to identify it as a Care Flight aircraft and you are ready for action in the region… yes he is here listening to one end of the conversation, I should have put it on loud speaker, too late now. Well thanks for the good news, I will see you in two days’ time, bye for now”, I heard Dad say before ending the call.

Dad was all smiles as he took a deep breath and faced me, “The Care Flight organisation have viewed the same contract that we gave the RFDS, and they are happy with it and have signed it, two executives from Sydney will be over in a few days’ time, along with two crews to man both planes, and fly them down to Esperance on Tuesday afternoon” Dad announced to me.

After lunch, we went to the tourist mine, on the northern edge of Kalgoorlie, but it was closed due to the amount of rain they have had in the past week, so instead we went to the cinema to watch a movie, and the three older boys pigged out on popcorn and sodas, while the younger three enjoyed their snacks and juice drinks that we brought with us.

Once back at the motel, the boys went to have their usual afternoon snooze, and while they were sleeping, Declan, Dad and I discussed plans for the next few days, with tomorrow being the free day for all of us, and with all the wet weather, there wasn’t really much we could do.

Dad suggested that we go for a drive north to the little community of Kookynie, a ghost town with only a few residents remaining, a far cry from back in 1907, when the population was well over 3,700 and a total of eleven hotels plus a brewery. Today, it has just one hotel, for the few locals and the tourists that call in, to check out the small town and the Kookynie waterhole, known as the Niagara Dam.

Located 67 kilometres north east of the town of Menzies and 198 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie, it would make an ideal day trip, to keep the boys entertained, and we would organise a picnic lunch to have on the banks of the dam.

The Care Flight Crews and executives, would be arriving in Kalgoorlie at 2pm, from Perth, on the prospector train, on Saturday, and we had arranged accommodation for the six flight crew and two executives at the same motel, so we would have to keep the boys entertained for half of Saturday as well, and once the meeting and handover of the aircraft are complete, we would fly back home to the farms east of Esperance.

The day trip to Kookynie, was a wonderful day, the boys enjoyed swimming in the dam, and having a picnic lunch under the gun trees, plus we took a good look around the old ghost town, before heading back to Kalgoorlie. When we arrived back at the motel, we were pleasantly surprised to see two smiling faces waiting at our door, “Can we help you?” I asked cautiously, hoping that they were not the media, “well if you are donating two Care Flight aircraft to our organisation, then you can” came the surprise response, and introductions were made.

We apologised for not being around, because we had taken my sons on a day trip, and that we were not expecting them till tomorrow afternoon. “We decided to catch a flight here today, instead of waiting till early tomorrow” one of the men announced, and I turned to Declan, “Would you mind looking after the boys while Dad and I take the Care Flight executives for a late afternoon tea, and sort out all of the paper work” I asked and Declan just smiled and took the boys into suite, to get them to have a short sleep before dinner time.

We found the conference room in the motel complex, and asked for its use for about an hour, which they said was fine, and the four of us settled down at a hastily set up round table with table cloth, chairs, some water carafes and glasses. After some social chat, we got down to business, where Dad and I agreed to organising 3 two-bedroom apartments for accommodation for the crew members, and that the Silverton family would pay for the rental costs for two years.

We also agreed to pay the rental fees for the use of an aircraft hangar, that has space for two aircraft, plus it has an administration office and a staff/crew lounge area, that includes toilets, showers and changerooms, and storage lockers. We informed the executives that the family owns a cattle station property with a sealed airfield, 370 km’s ESE of Kalgoorlie, and a farming property, 375 km’s ESE of Kalgoorlie, that is only 80 km’s ESE of Esperance, and that both accommodation facilities, for flight crews to overnight rest.