Lord Edwin - 3. Lord Chapter 3

“My Lord, it appears that Mr Hammersley here does not believe in the traditions of the royal family and aristocracy,” James said to me when I entered the Bridge saloon, and I saw a nervous paramedic standing nearby, and I turned to face him. “You have been on board my yacht for some time now, and you know that I have a title, so what is this about not paying respect to my cousins just a short time ago?” I asked.

“I am sorry Mr Crawford, but that is how I feel, I do not wish to upset anyone with my views,” the paramedic responded, “I see, and you will address me as my title requires, or as Sir. I am giving you notice to show cause, why I should not dismiss you from my service. “You have until 8 am tomorrow to respond, and a decision will be made at that point,” I said before walking away and heading back downstairs.

“Any problems?” Robert asked me as so as I sat down heavily in a chair in the upper deck saloon. “Yeah, just discovered, we have a crew member who does not approve of the royal family and aristocracy, he has been given until early tomorrow to decide what he wants to do,” I replied.

“Don’t let it worry you too much cousin, there are always those who do not approve of our titles and lifestyle,” Alexander said to me. “Problem is, up until I was in Year 11 at high school, I had no idea how I felt about it until I discovered that I too have noble blood in me, and now here I am socialising with just that, plus having titles of my own and filthy rich,” I replied, and Robert laughed.

“Yes, I remember a nervous teenager telephoning me from Tasmania, just shortly after learning that he was of noble blood… Took you some time to get used to the matter,” he said to me and I nodded my head in agreement, as memories flashed in my mind of that day.

Just after we had finished dinner that evening, Hunter entered the room and quietly informed me that Mr Hamersley had decided to leave my employment and that he had already packed up and left the yacht. “Thanks for letting me know, I see no need for a replacement, for now, so we will not take any more action on this matter,” I replied before Hunter left the dining room.

During dinner, Alexander asked if he could join Robert for a week on board the yacht for a week, which I happily agreed to, saying that family is always welcome. That evening, after some discussions, we decided to accommodate Robert in the 2^nd Master Suite, across the hall from my suite, on the Bridge deck, while Alexander and James Robert would be given VIP cabins on the upper deck.

The following day while Alexander and James Robert were doing some touring around Mackay, Robert arrived on the yacht, and quickly settled into his allocated suite, before heading to the office on the main deck, so he could make some calls and deal with any business before we leave the following morning.

At lunchtime, Robert announced that the supply barge had arrived at Keswick Island, and it was commencing to offload the eight modular cabins, each one is 12 metres long and 4.5 metres wide, 54 metres squared in area and has two bedrooms, a bathroom, separate toilet, kitchen, dining/living room, with a front patio.

The cabins are to be set down four metres apart, with two other modular buildings to be placed in the middle, so there are four cabins on each side of them. One of the middle modules will be a social and recreation hall, which includes two toilets and a laundry at one end, a kitchenette at the other end, while the other one will be an administration centre, with a central reception area, with a meeting room at one end and two offices at the other end.

Each of the cabins and the other two modular buildings is fully furnished and ready for use, once the plumbing and power is connected, with all eight buildings having solar power panels on the roof, as well as gas hot water systems. All sewerage waste was going into four large tanks, that can be emptied when required. As well as the modular buildings, Robert had included a medium-sized tractor, that has a front bucket, as well as multi-purpose attachments in the back, plus two six-seater all-terrain buggies, and two single-seat quad bikes, for the construction crews to use.

With just five men starting the project, they managed to get two of the cabins in place and connected up, so that they had a place to sleep, eat and relax after work each day. Robert had also included a shed, and a 200 KVA diesel generator, as a backup power supply for the worker’s village, as Robert was calling it, which is located behind a hedge row of trees that separate them from the airport runway.

The three double parking bays next to one of the storage sheds, alongside the runway, would be cleared away, so as to make way for the widening of the runway, and already all the small sheds and rubbish laying around behind the tree hedge had been removed from the island, to make way for the worker’s village and a new access road. Within a few days, the village was completed.

With daily deliveries of Blue Quarry Rock arriving each day, there was now a few large piles of rock at each end of the runway, and now with larger Front-End Loaders delivered, the rock began to be placed into position, for the lengthening of the runway, as well as a base for the jetty, with the new boat ramp to be installed when there is an unusually low tide in two weeks’ time.

The boat ramp will consist of three large and very thick concrete slabs, that have steel loops in the sides, to allow for each slab to be secured to each other, with heavy-duty chains. Robert, Alexander and James Robert ended up staying for three weeks on board the yacht, spending that time exploring the beautiful national park on St Bees Island, and swimming on the clear white beaches.

Just three days before their scheduled departure, Robert received an email from the Queensland Government. “Lord Robert Lindsay, Earl of Crawford. Sir, we have had a lot of positive feedback from the residents of Keswick Island, regarding the prompt start of work to upgrade facilities on Keswick Island, as well as learning from our National Park Rangers, that you have begun upgrading the facilities on neighbouring St Bees Island.

With this in mind, we have completed a quick review of your lease contract for both the commercial area of Keswick and the residential area of St Bees Island, and it has been decided to extend the area of your lease on St Bees so that additional facilities can be constructed in a timely manner. All we ask is that all work is done will no harm the National Park in any way and that we are consulted on any changes made.”

Robert announced that he would have some additional cottages installed on St Bees Island, so as to accommodate National Park Staff and Environmental Researchers, with the guest cottage becoming the National Parks Office for the area. Robert also mentioned that he had written back and informed the Minister that he has seen the proposed plans for the development of Keswick Island, and stated that Robert would hate to see such a beautiful island destroyed by development as shown with Magnetic Island, off the coast of Townsville.

Robert said that he has recommended that only one-quarter of the proposed area be developed, to reduce the damage of overpopulating the island. A few days after Robert, Alexander and James Robert had returned to Scotland, I received an email from Robert. “Hello cousin, just wanted to let you know, that I have heard back from the Queensland Minister, and he agrees with my views that the terms of the lease need to be reviewed with development plans to be scaled back.

They have decided to withdraw Sections 1 – Connie Bay and Section 3 – Arthur Bay from the Head Lease agreement, in view of your correct observation of past mistakes, namely on Magnetic Island, so the Head Leaseholder will no longer have any say in developing those two areas. He has also approved for the additional two cottages to be installed on St Bees Island to accommodate National Park and University Research teams, and that day visitors will only be permitted on the island. Regards Lord Robert.”

With the guest now back home in Scotland, I was now able to concentrate on the project, and at Robert’s request, I agreed to assist the two National Park Rangers, who had been sent to monitor activities on the two islands, and they would be staying in the guest cottage until the homestead is completed, then they would move into there, while the Guest cottage, which will now be the Park Rangers Administration, with the two new cottages to accommodate the rangers in one cottage, and visiting scientists in the other.

I was very pleased when I read this email from Robert, as I had researched Magnetic Island, and seen photos of the island from the 1990s compared to now thirty years later, where there is a huge marina and lots of permanent housing, and lots of additional commercial buildings, that has spoilt the surrounds of the island.

When the Park Rangers did arrive, one of the first things they did, was to ask me for assistance, by using the building crew for half a day, to remove all signage and temporary fencing, that was no longer part of the head lease agreement. As much as the security personnel complained of illegal activities, they were ignored, and they were informed that the lease agreement had been modified again, and if they have any issues regarding this, then they should take it up with their employers.