Desert Vets - 9. DV Ch 9 - Happily Life Goes On

The following morning, I attended court, having a closer view of the film crew for the first time, and after the Police Prosecutor read out the charges and read out my statement, I was asked if I wanted to make any further statement. I said to the magistrate that I apologised for any stress or fright caused by the release of the cattle from the yards, by one of my staff.

I continued by stating, that the purpose of the quarantine station was to locate and remove any harmful diseases from cattle that may affect any other stock in the state as well as the human population, and speaking as the former District Veterinary Officer, and local senior Veterinarian, I recalled to those in the court, when the first outbreak of Leptospirosis in the area, had resulted in a stockman from a station north of town becoming very ill from the disease, and was rushed to hospital.

The four members of the film crew were given a suspended sentence of eighteen months, and fined $3,000 each, while the film company that they work for was fined $50,000 and ordered to pay any compensation to the Quarantine Station, including legal costs and also the court costs.

As half expected, the headlines on the front page of the state’s main newspaper the next morning read, “Heavy Fines for Trespassing on Quarantine Station up north,” another story linked to the main story located on page three ready, “Film crew cry foul, after stampede charge by Cattle.”

I laughed at this and didn’t even bother to read the article, as I prepared for another day of work at the Vet hospital. Marcus had convinced me that as head of the organisation, I needed to spend a bit more time at the base, and Auggie agreed with him on this and so all major surgery would be my main task, as well as administration and doing the occasional trip out to a cattle station.

Marcus was happy to take on the more active role of dealing with the quarantine station, and the majority of visits to the many cattle stations in the region, which includes the stations owned by the family. Marcus and I decided to remain living on the families property just on the edge of town, as it was convenient for both of us, and it was good to be seeing the family on a more regular basis.

The transition for the staff relocating to Marble Bar went well, and Jess and her two staff are liking being there, especially with them living in a nice old homestead, which given them plenty of space. I suggested to Rhodes that he do a university degree in Agricultural Science, specialising and in Animal Science, and surprisingly Rhodes liked the idea and agreed to look into commencing at the start of the next semester.

With the expansion of the business, now covering such a larger area, I soon found myself spending a lot more time at the Vet Hospital, with seeing patients as well as doing any required surgeries, and Christian spent most of his time working with me, and would occasionally get out with Marcus or Auggie, if there was a need for a second vet for a big job out on a station.

Marcus suggested that maybe we should do a house swap with Auggie, so that he moves into the cottage just out of town and we move into my former home at the back of the Vet hospital, which I thought was a great idea, as I missed spending time with my two native pets, even though I made an effort to go and see them every second day, and they always came running up to me, happy to see me again, and I did enjoy relaxing in the four environment garden that can be seen from the verandah of the main house.

Just over a month later, Marcus and I had finished work for the day, and we had just completed relocating to my former home, between the vet hospital and the aircraft hangar, and we were both happy, as we watched the approaching seasonal storm, with the build-up season now in full swing, as the skies from the setting sun and the approaching storm gave a mixture of grey rolling clouds, and the varied colours of the northern sunset, which is always a spectacular sight to watch.