Lord Edwin - 4. Lord Chapter 4

Sure enough, the following day, the media had got wind of what was happening, and it was big news. “Keswick Residents Celebrate a win” was the front-page headline, and “Chinese Development Company Cries Foul” was the headline on an article two pages in. Thankfully there was very little mentioned about the current projects happening on Keswick and St Bees Islands, so I wouldn’t be hounded by the media, well for now anyway.

When one of the Rangers asked to speak to me, via a message from Samantha, who as Chief Bosun for the yacht, was providing a ferry service for the Rangers, between St Bees and Keswick Island on a daily basis, I agreed to the meeting for later that afternoon.

Just half an hour before they were due to arrive, I received a call from Samantha, after been summoned to the bridge by James. “Sir, the Head Ranger, Mr Jackson, has taken it on his own to invite two of the Keswick Island residents to join the rangers with this meeting, and I just wanted to let you know, over” Samantha said over the radio.

“I see. What is your estimated time of return to the yacht please Samantha, over,” I replied, “Twenty minutes sir, just waiting for the two residents to arrive, over,” Samantha answered. “Is Mr Jackson there, can I speak to him please?” I asked. “This is Hayden Jackson speaking, is this the Airport Developer?” came a new voice. “Sorry sir, I believe they are in the dark in regards to who you are exactly, over,” Samantha added.

“That is understood Samantha… Mr Jackson. Yes, I am the developer for the Keswick Island Airport and Marina Project as well as the St Bees Island Improvements Project. I did not approve of you asking two residents to join us for this meeting, and as such I am reluctant to allow this meeting to go ahead. Please inform the two residents that they will not be joining us for this meeting, and that another time will be set to meet them, once we have had our initial meeting, over,” I said over the radio.

“Who exactly are you, this is starting to sound very suspicious?” Mr Jackson said, “Sir, we are on our way now, without the residents, we will see you shortly, over,” Samantha said over the radio, with the sound of the dinghy engine revving up in the background.

While waiting for the Dinghy to arrive, a fax was coming in, “Sir, it is from the Earl addressed to you,” Gretchen announced as she handed over the two-page document, and I sat down on the lounge to take some time to read what Robert had sent to me.

“Great news, I have just acquired the abandoned resort at Brampton Island, which is 1,135 acres in area. It has been abandoned since 2011, and is in disrepair. Once the work is completed on Keswick and St Bees, I plan to have that work crew start work at Brampton. Regards Lord Robert.”

“Wow, that is very interesting… It appears that my cousin has gone into Tourism in a big way, as he has just bought the abandoned Brampton Island resort, and plans to start fixing it up when the Keswick and St Bees projects are completed,” I informed the officers on the bridge.

“The dingy is nearly here sir,” James said formally, as he pointed out to the point of the island where the dinghy was coming from, and we so James and I headed down stairs with Hunter joining us on the way down and we took a seat in the aft deck outside lounge, facing forward towards the saloon.

“This is some yacht, I wonder who owns this monstrosity,” we heard one voice say, after the dingy reached the swim platform and was secured. “You will soon find out Mr Lennard, please follow me gentlemen,” we heard Samantha respond, as they came up the stairs, and I stood up, as did James and Hunter.

“Gentlemen, this is my employer, and your host, Lord Edwin Crawford, Baron of Fordell and Baronet of Wigan. My Lord, Captain James Hackney and Mr Hunter James, may I present Mr Hayden Jackson and Mr Paul Lennard of the Queensland Department of Parks and Wildlife, Mackay Region,” Samantha announced.

“Lord? As in Aristocracy, my gosh! I this an honour My Lord,” Paul Lennard said before giving a deep bow, and I smiled at this. “Sir, I was unaware that this was a project involving Royalty,” Hayden Jackson said, giving a small bow of his head. “Please lets go into the saloon and take a seat where it is cooler,” I suggested, as Hunter lead the way inside.

“Not Royalty Mr Jackson, Nobility. A big difference, most Noble men and women are not related to royalty, just linked to them by title and position in most cases. For, I was brought up and educated in Launceston, Tasmania, and I was 16 before I knew that I was of Noble blood, and first met my cousin, the Earl of Crawford, from Scotland, who is the real instigator of these projects.

Because I am Australian-born and bred, he asked me to represent him with the operational side of the projects, since he had to return home to Scotland. This yacht is my mobile home when I am away from Tasmania. Hunter here is my minder, and Captain James consults with me in regards to projects that we have in progress, including a new one, once the improvements here on St Bees and the upgrades on Keswick are completed,” I said to our guests.

“Sir, I understand now why you did not approve of the residents joining us, and I now recall that you have been in the media a fair bit over the past few years, and prefer to stay out of it as much as possible, after your last skirmish with them up at Cape York, from what I remember,” Mr Jackson said to me.

“Yes, that is correct, they can be a big nuisance, and yes, I try and avoid them if I can, which this yacht helps me to achieve most of the time,” I replied. “Sir, we have spoken to the majority of the permanent residents on the island, in the past three days since we returned to Keswick, and they wanted to express their thanks for you doing something to improve things on the island, which the state government has failed to do until now.

They also would like to know exactly what improvement will be happening on the island, since Hayden and I have made some changes to access the island, removing all of those illegal fences and signs. For us, we wish to thank you for providing us with the daily transport from the St Bees Cottage to Keswick Island each day, and the manual work assistance from your workers,” Paul said to me.

“Well, how about we schedule a meeting with all the residents on the island for next week, maybe we can use the small terminal building down at the airport, and have it in the morning before it gets too hot and humid. I just ask that you keep my identity quiet from them for now, until I arrive there for that meeting.

I have been doing some research and have learnt that the ferry service between Mackay and Keswick is only twice a week with a limited number of seats available. I plan to provide a permanent ferry service, with an Austal 47 Catamaran Ferry, that can carry a maximum of 360 passengers and ten vehicles, with 8 crew and a cruising speed of 32 knots. The travel time from Mackay to Keswick will be just 40 minutes, and to Brampton Island a further 20 minutes, and returning to Mackay in just under an hour later, twice a day, three days a week,” I announced.

“Wow, a round trip, that would be spectacular and would be helpful for us too, as we will be able to get to Brampton a lot easier, when need is,” Hayden commented. “That is my objective, to make transport to Queensland’s spectacular islands much simpler for all,” I responded smiling. “If you are going to offer a twice-a-day service, may I suggest an 8 am and a 2 pm departure time from Mackay, that way you will get a better use out of the service, in the way of patronage,” Hayden suggested?

“Yes, I think that is achievable, but the ferry will need to have an hour or so break between each stop, to allow passengers who want to just do the round trip only, to be able to have a look around on both islands. Also, we will need to have some system in place, for those who plan to travel on the ferry to stay on Keswick, making sure they have accommodation booked,” I commented.

“Yes sir, I agree with that. This is wonderful that finally, something is been done to improve things in Keswick, I am sure that the residents will be very pleased,” Paul added. At the end of the meeting, we had a late afternoon tea, before Samantha transported the two National Park Rangers back to their cottage on the other side of the island.

Time passed very quickly over the next week, with regular rumbling coming from the Head Lease developers, as well as intimidation coming from the security team from those developers, attempting to cause trouble, and make it difficult for the building team.

As a result, I had security cameras and additional lighting installed around the village, to keep the trouble makers out of the village at night, but we kept the place reasonable open so that the residents could come down and check out the changes happening to the Airport region.

When the day of the community meeting arrived, Hunter and I travelled with Hayden and Paul on the Dinghy to Keswick Island, landing at the old boat ramp, halfway along the side of the runway, and we walked down the beach to the terminal building, which is just a steel framed shed, with a reception foyer with seating for twenty people, toilets and an office.

Some additional chairs were brought from the other buildings, as I had asked the senior project supervisor and his assistant to join us for this meeting. When we entered, all the seats were filled and a lot more people were standing along the wall. A table and three chairs had been placed at the front, not far from the main entry door to the terminal. “Good morning, and welcome everyone, even those from the opposing development team I see have come today, welcome to you as well.

As many of you know, my name is Hayden Jackson, Head National Parks Ranger for this region, and this is my colleague, Paul Lennard. Also, with us today is a representative for the Scottish Development company that has been given the task of making improvements to the airport, and a few other areas. May I introduce, Lord Edwin Crawford, Baron of Fordell and Baronet of Wigan, which I believe are in Scotland,” Hayden said.

I was not expecting it, but some of the audience stood and bowed and curtsied, and eventually, most of the crowd followed, but as expected the representatives from the Chinese development company remained seated. Once everyone else was seated, I stood up to speak. “Thank you for that courtesy, although it was not expected. Although I represent my cousin, the Earl of Crawford in Scotland, I am a born, and educated Tasmanian.