Outback Corporation - 20. OBC Chapter 20

The café lady’s mouth dropped open, in surprise and shock, obviously because she knew of the name, “Err, I am sorry about being so forward to you earlier Mr Silverton, please accept my apologies” the lady said to me and I just chuckled. “It is alright, you weren’t to know who I am, and since there are no photos of me since I was 14, no one really knows” I replied.

“The plane is refuelled and a flight plan to Rawlinna has been lodged, we are ready to go, once you have everything loaded onboard” Declan said to me, as we walked over to the vehicle. Dad and I each grabbed two boxes, and followed Declan to the plane, with Ms Hunter following with the last two boxes.

Once in the galley area, I began to open the boxes, while Declan and Dad moved into the cockpit, to prepare for departure, and Ms Hunter began to explain what she had packed. “It’s Darcy, not Ms Hunter” she said after I had called her by her formal name, then you better call me Kyle” I responded with a smile, as we found a place for everything, and Darcy explained to me how to use the coffee machine that is on the plane.

“If you are coming with us Ms Hunter, you better take a seat and belt up, and boss can you deal with the door please” we heard Declan say over the PA system. “Oh yes please, I would lover to come, did you say Rawlinna, isn’t that in the middle of nowhere east of here” Darcy replied, as she made sure everything was closed, and took a seat.

Once I has secured the door, I went up to the cabin to let Declan know that everything is secured, and we are ready to go, with one extra crew member, before taking a seat opposite Darcy. When we were in the air, I heard Darcy gasp in shock, “Oh my goodness, what a disaster, those poor people caught up inside all of that” she said as she looked at the Super Pit from the air.

Once we had levelled off, we unbuckled, and Darcy got to work in the galley, and she asked me to ask what the flight crew want for a drink and snack. Returning with their orders, I smiled broadly, “you have made their day, they are glad that you came along” I said to Darcy, as we made their drink orders, and some home made biscuit slices to go with them.

Once I had returned to the galley, I found it empty, and Darcy was sitting down again. “If you ever want an on-call job, as a flight steward, just say the word, and you have the job” I said to her, as I sat down next to her. “Is it true that you own over 19 million acres of station country, and that you have sons?” Darcy asked me.

“Yes, to both questions, but it is the family that owns the two companies, I am just the big boss that runs it all, the man you were introduced as Bryce, Declan’s husband, is actually my father. He took over the station business when his father was killed in an accident. Dad retired from the station, and left me to take over, soon after I had finished my high school education, and he travelled to Canada for a holiday, where he met Declan, and his family, and they have been married for about ten years now.

Declan has 5 sons from his first marriage, of which only 3 of them are here in Australia, the older two are back in BC, Canada. Dad has 5 half brothers and sisters, who live and manage different parts of the business around the state, and for me I am a widower, with 6 sons, including two set of twins, we have recently relocated from the main homestead and station, to be closer to civilisation for my boys, and that is why we happen to be in the area when the emergency disaster happened” I replied.

“Wow, that is amazing, I have read about you in the media from time to time, and I hear that you did real good organising the School Rodeo and Gymkhana some time back, it must be awesome living on a cattle station, in the middle of nowhere” Darcy said in reply. “It is ok I guess, once you get use to the heat, droughts, floods and all the bloody flies” I said which made Darcy laugh.

“I am a country girl of sorts, my parents own a 3,00-acre cattle farm and winery North of Adelaide, so I have been riding horses since I was little, and I always enjoy the wide-open areas of the countryside.

I was married once too, he was my high school sweetheart, I knew he was bisexual, and that didn’t worry me, but unfortunately after 2 years, he decided that he was more interested in men, so we separated, but we never got around to getting divorced, as we are still best friends” Darcy said to me.

“If you have possibly seen on the news, Rawlinna is a railway siding, 400 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie, and it is where the Indian Pacific train will be stopping, and offloading passengers, that is why we are flying there, to collect some of the passengers. If you are free for the next few days, I would appreciate you working for me, till we have all the passengers and train staff back to civilisation” I said to Darcy.

“Oh yes please, that would be wonderful, I will call my boss and get her to fill in for me for tomorrow morning and Monday, and Sunday is my day off” Darcy replied. “That’s good to hear, now it is a 55-minute flight each way according to our chief pilot, so I guess we will be busy on the return flight this evening, if we can take off before sunset, as Rawlinna has no runway lighting.

I wish they had stopped at Forrest, which is 165 km’s further east, they have a sealed runway with lights there, I am sure Declan would have preferred it too” I commented, as I looked out the window, to see the open Nullarbor plane below us. About half an hour later, Dad came out of the cockpit, with empty plates and cups in hand, which he placed in the sink, before sitting down next to us.

“We won’t be able to get loaded and take off again before dark, so we can either stay overnight here, or we could…” Yes, let’s head home, it will be nice to drop in on everyone” I said interrupting Dad, who chuckled and made his way back to the cockpit.

“Slight change of plans, as you heard from my dad, we can’t leave Rawlinna tonight, as they have no airfield lights, so we are going to divert to 60 km’s south, to Pondanah Station, which does have airfield lighting, and more comfortable accommodation. Pondanah is where Dad was brought up, and where I grew up from the age of six.

We will get the ladies at the station, to get you some spare clothing for you, and there are plenty of supplies there, including spare toothbrushes, and lady’s sanitary needs, we should be there in about twenty minutes” I announced to Darcy, as we felt the plane change directions.

We had Darcy settled into a spare room in the main homestead, where I would also be camping the night, while Dad and Declan would be staying in the RFDS village, close to the plane. Chris was thrilled to have us visiting us. After dinner, Dad, Chris, Daniel and I sat down to have a company staff meeting, and to let them know what was happening with the disaster happening in Kalgoorlie.

At sunrise the next morning, we were all up having a very early breakfast, and just twenty minutes after leaving the station, we had landed at Rawlinna, with our arrival bringing a lot of attention from the passengers on the train. Great Southern Rail, has organised a list of passengers who wasn’t to get to Kalgoorlie first, and they were the first 14 passengers that we loaded into the plane, although not all their luggage would be travelling with them, ass it was too much.

Shortly after taking off from Rawlinna, we saw another plane approaching the airfield, as we turned west towards Kalgoorlie, arriving there shortly after 8am. Once we had offloaded the passengers and their luggage at the main terminal, we taxied to the RFDS terminal, where the Café and another load of snacks and drinks ready to be loaded onboard, and we took off again just before 9am, to make the next round trip.

We ended up doing a total of 6 round trips that day, with Declan and Dad grabbing a quick rest break at the RFDS terminal, while the plane was being reloaded with supplies and fuel, and there were three other planes doing the same transport trips as us during the day. Once the plane was secured for the day, we paid Darcy for all her hard work, and we returned to the motel, and rested for the rest of the afternoon.

At dinner time, in the motel restaurant, we caught up with the flight crews of the Care Flight group, and they informed us, that both planes had done a total of three return flight to Perth, and along with the two Kalgoorlie based and two Perth based RFDS planes, they had managed to get al the critically injured to Perth.

The following day, we headed back home at Howick Estate, where my boys were pleased to see me again, and we loaded up my vehicle and made our way back to the farm an hour to the west by vehicle, where I was pleased to be home. Dad said he would start organising the hanger and admin space and the accommodation with the local shire council, and that he was planning to make an appearance at the community meeting on Tuesday evening, and asked me to collect him and Declan from the airport, half an hour before the meeting was due to begin.

As was arranged, the two new Care Flight planes did two low passes over the town, before landing at the airport, where they would wait until they caught a taxi into town. When the meeting began, Declan, Dad and myself sat in the back row of seats, close to the centre aisle, and the flight crews and executives of Care Flight next to us, with jackets on, hiding their uniforms.

“Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen of the Esperance region, it is good to see such a great turnout this evening. As you know we have been campaigning with the RFDS to have a base located at the Esperance Airport.

They have been stalling a lot recently, and not taking us seriously with our request, even after the huge disaster that has taken place in Kalgoorlie, over the past few days, so we are here tonight to put together ideas to ramp up our campaign to get a base here.

“There is no point trying to go any further, they will not set up a base here in Esperance” I called out from the back of the hall. “Who was that, and why do you say they won’t?” the meeting chairperson responded, “That would be me” I said as I stood up.

“Last week, the RFDS refused an offer from a large company in the region, to have two planes based at Esperance, even when this company offered to purchase the two planes, pay for maintenance for two years and fund the setting up of the base at the airport” I replied, and I sat down. “How and how you know of this young man, and the Shire Council not knowing about it” the meeting chairperson state, this is when Dad stood up, “He would know this because he is my son, and he is the Managing director of the said company, you may not know my son, as we have kept him out of the media, but some of you may know who I am” Dad said.

“Oh! And who may you be, then sir?” one of the shire councillors asked, “Bryce Silverton of Murchison Pastoral Investments” my dad said with a big grin, and suddenly there was a lot of chatter in the hall, and the meeting chairperson banged a gavel to get some silence. “Mr Silverton, it is an honour to have you and your son here with us tonight, can you please clarify what your son has just said earlier” the chairperson said, once there was silence again, “Certainly, my son and I, on behalf of the other shareholders of the company, offered to purchase two aircraft, fully fitted out for emergency medical flights, plus two years of maintenance finance, plus the assistance to set up the base at the Esperance Airport.

This was on the condition that the two planes be used in this region only, from Albany to Eucla, and North to Kalgoorlie, with emergency transfers to Perth. A day before the disaster in Kalgoorlie, we were informed by the RFDS executives, that our offer had ben declined, as they felt the two planes could be better used in the northern regions of the state” Dad announced.

There was more discussion amongst everyone gathered in the hall, and silenced was called once again, before I stood up again, “Mr Shire President, and shire Councillors, we have already purposed the two planes, and they were put through their first tests over the past two days, assisting the RFDS to transport all the critically injured patients from the Kalgoorlie open mine disaster, to Perth.

“You may have noticed two planes fly low over the town this afternoon, those were our planes, and we have an organisation that is prepare to accept our offer, and set up a base here in Esperance, may I introduce two Executives from head office in Sydney, of Care Flight Australia, and two Care Flight Crews” I announced.