Ocean Research - 1. IOR Chapter 1

After five years of university studies, I have finally graduated, and I was the top student in my year to top it off, which made my parents very proud of me, as I am the very first to break the family tradition of finishing school at the age of sixteen and heading home to the station to work.

Instead, I completed my high school education, at the same Grammar School that my ancestors - five generations back have done, since the year the school moved to its current location, in the year 1901, before continuing on with five years of University studies for a double degree in Science.

I wanted to know more about my ancestors, but every time I asked, there are other more important things to do on the station, and going through old family memories are best left as they are. That statement, was always the same, and it made me even more determined to find out as much as I could, and now that I have finished my studies, I had a bit of free time before I am due back at home on the station.

Home is Warambie Station, located, 36 kilometres South-East of Roebourne in the Pilbara in Western Australia, some of the harshest and driest lands in the state, where the average temperatures can reach the high 40’s in Summer and the mid to low 10’s in Winter, with an average of 310 mm of rain annually.

The place is beautiful when it has rained, with the red hills turn green, and water is plentiful, but the area can also be extremely dangerous. Apart from snakes and scorpions, the harsh environment is just as dangerous, if not prepared when going out to remote locations.

My brother and I were taught young, that we must always carry water, snacks and a first aid kit with us at all times when travelling around the station. This had been made aware to us, by the story of how our first ancestor to the region, Anton Kipling, who had died at the age of 56 when he fell off his horse while mustering, in 1909 at a time when there was no emergency help available.

His son, Flynn Anton, who was 52 at the time, when he died on the station, from a snake bite while mustering, and it was too late by the time help was on its way. His widow, our Matriarch of the family and my Great-Great-Grandmother, died of natural causes at the age of 92 when I was just 7 years old.

Great Granny Kiri as I remember calling her, always sat with me at bedtime and told me a traditional story about her homelands in New Zealand, and I never grew tired of listening to the stories, and that is how I knew that we had some Maori blood in our veins, as well as Welsh, as my mother and grandmother, both have Welsh descendants, and have inherited beautiful singing voices.

I was not sure about my father’s side of the family, as he never wanted to talk about it, and my mother and grandmother and even great grandmother never knew the full story and didn’t want to tell me any of it in case it was not true, as we were always brought up, too tell the truth, and if we are not sure if it is true, then don’t say anything at all.

All I know is that my grandfather was a senior stockman on neighbouring Pyramid Station, where the family has worked and lived since 1896 when our first ancestor to come to the region lost his wife, who died of Tetanus when their son was just eight years old.

Once our Grandfather married the daughter of the Warambie Station owner, in 1949, he and the whole family moved to Warambie, where the family has owned and managed the station since. At the time there was my Great - Great Grandmother Kiri, Great - Grandparents, Kipling A and Julia, and my grandparents Flynn K and Angela.

I wanted to know the whole story, but that was not possible with none of the family willing to tell me any of the family history which I thought was sad. The year after I started university studies, our Great Grandmother Julia passed away, and the following year Grandfather Flynn passed away.

Now just three generations of the family remain, with our Grandmother Angela, being the Matriarch of the family, and at 67 years old she is still strong-willed and has a sharp mind, and will probably last another 15 years, just like Great Granny Kiri did.

With 3 weeks before Christmas, I managed to convince my family to let me stay in the city for a week, before returning to the station, and I arranged to stay with a university friend, who lives in the western suburbs of Perth. I was disappointed that after spending five days visiting the State Library, I was only able to find a little bit of information, mainly from shipping information, and brief mentions of the family during the goldrush period.

I decided that I might as well start heading towards home, which is a 1,550-kilometre journey to just Roebourne, then another 35 kilometres to the station, which will take me approximately 2 days to complete the road journey, in my Colorado, which I had bought just over two years ago, having saved all of the money that I had earned from work on the station, plus the part-time work while at university and a little inheritance money from our grandfather after he passed away three years ago.

It is my dream vehicle, and I have added a number of extras, including a bull bar, roof rack, and extra battery, front electric winch, driver side rollout awning, and a rooftop tent on the back. Loaded in the back, under the liftable tent, I have two extra spare tyres, bog tracks, snatch strap, sand shovel, a 3kva inverter generator, fold up camp table and two chairs.

I also have a 20 litre jerry can of petrol fuel for the generator, two-20 jerry cans of diesel fuel for the vehicle, two 20 litre containers of fresh-water, and two fire extinguishers, and in a crate I have a small barbecue and gas bottle, while strapped into the front passenger seat of the vehicle, I have a car fridge/freezer, with cold drinks and food to last me for a day.

Behind the back-passenger seats, I have one more fire extinguisher and my large first aid kit, in case of any emergency that I need to deal with. After saying thanks and farewell to my friend in Perth, I began the journey north, starting at 7 am on a Sunday morning, following the coastal route, with the City of Geraldton to be my first brief stop for more fuel, with the journey expected to take 4 ½ hours.

I decided that I would try and make as fewer stops as possible, so I made sure to eat a good-sized breakfast and bought some snacks to eat for the journey, the day before. My planned overnight stop is at Wooramel River Station, where I had booked a camping site for the night, and is just 75 minutes South of Carnarvon, where I will top up with fuel and food supplies, as it is the last town before I reach Roebourne.

Over the years when at home, I would stay in touch with one of the former indigenous stockmen that used to work on the station, until he retired at the age of 65, at the same time when I started boarding school. Jimmy was a local Murujuga man, and since I was 8 years old, he has taught me his native Ngarluma Language.

Thanks to him I had grown an interest in Aboriginal traditional customs and culture, and by the time I headed off to boarding school, I was very fluent in the language, and I visited the local Aboriginal Corporation every time that our family headed into town for shopping, and every year when I came home during the Christmas break, I would call in to say hello to the elders, with most haven known me through Jimmy, and where I could keep in practice with their language.

Before leaving Perth I had sent an email to the Aboriginal Corp, to let them know that I would be calling in to see them, on my way home, and when I checked my emails while stopped at Carnarvon, I was pleased to see a reply email, saying that I would be welcomed to visit them the next day.

When I did arrive in Karratha in the late afternoon, it was after the close of business, so I had missed my visit, so instead of continuing on towards home, I booked into the south end caravan park to camp for the night, in hope to call into the corporation office first thing on Tuesday morning.

When I arrived at the head office of the corporation, about half an hour after it opened, the lady in reception smiled when she saw me. “Hello Kipling, my how you have grown into a handsome young man,” she said to me, which made me blush, as she quickly rounded the reception desk and pulled me into a warm hug.

“Will you stop embarrassing the poor lad and let him follow me?” I voice said from nearby, and a saw a smiling Tom, one of the senior staff of the corporation standing near a door, and after being released I greeted him in the Ngarluma language, before following him into the conference room, where I had been many times before, and where a group of people are gathered, and looking around, I realised that they are all board directors.

“Am I in trouble or something?” I asked in the Ngarluma language when I saw who was in the room, and some of the directors chuckled at my comment, “No young man, please come and sit down, and we will be speaking in English while you are here,” one of the men said.

“Now tell us young Kipling Ashburton, have you finished your university studies, I believe it was in Marine Science?” I was asked. “Yes sir, I actually have a double degree in Science, one in Marine Science the other in Paramedical Science, plus I have a Certificate 3 in Marine Operations and a Certificate in Open Water Diving,” I replied.

“I see, Marine Operations, what exactly is that?” I was asked, “It is a Master’s ticket, to operate vessels no bigger than 24 metres in near coastal locations,” I explained, “That is good to know, and what are your plans for the future?” I was asked by another member of the group.

“Well, I am not sure exactly, I was going to wait until after the Christmas and New Year Break, before starting to look for work,” I replied. “We are all aware of your interest in local aboriginal culture, and it is obviously aware of your fluency in our language, and we have a proposal to put to you.

With the assistance of the City of Karratha, we have secured the use of the Gilbraith & Co building in Cossack, which you may know is the ghost town in the banks of the river, and just over 50 kilometres East of here, and we would like to add a new research facility to the district, under the management of our Corporation, with you as our Senior Researcher., with a starting annual wage of $34,642.

We are interested to know about the Green Turtle and all other marine life population and the health of the Pilbara coastal region within our traditional land and sea boundaries, from the mouth of the Maitland River located 32 km’s west of Karratha, to the mouth of the Balla-Balla River, just South-East of Depuch Island, 108 kilometres to the East of Karratha, and 57 kilometres from Cossack, including all coastal islands,” one of the Corporation Directors announced to me.

“Well sir, this is quite an unexpected surprise, and I would need to think about it, maybe while I am home on the station?” I responded, “that is fine, we were expecting you to say something like that. As well as the building in Cossack, we also own West and East Moore Islands, which has a former fishing lodge, which has a total of 4 twin and two family airconditioned rooms, and a caretaker’s unit.

The island has a generator and desalination plant to provide power and fresh water, and at the moment we have a caretaker couple who are minding the island for the corporation, plus a communal ablutions block and a kitchen dining/lounge building, but we no longer accept fishing guests, who used to come to the island for nine months of the year, with it closed during the Summer months.

It was and still is an A-class reserve, but the state government handed over management of the island to us less than two years ago, it is available for your use at any time, as it is very close to Depuch Island, if you take up the job?” I was informed. “Well that does make it an attractive offer, allow me to think on it over Christmas, and I will let you know before the New Year,” I replied.

“Good, we look forward to when you get back to us, here is a proposal of the venture, for you to look at,” I was informed, and after thanking them for the opportunity and ensured that I would get back to them before New Year’s, I headed out of the building and grabbed my laptop computer from my vehicle, before I headed over to the shopping centre nearby.

While having a sandwich and a drink at a small café I did an online search for possible suitable small vessels, that I could use for my research. I also needed to buy my own set of scuba gear, but I was not sure a second-hand vessel was worth, so I may not be able to buy one outright and may have to ask my parents for a loan.

I was surprised when I found a 20-metre barge that caught my attention, as its location in Port Hedland, which is close by, the only downside is that it the cost, $295,000. Forgetting about the cost, for now, I started to read the general information about the barge.

Barge For sale, $295k, Length: 20 Metres, Width: 6 Metres, Draft: 1.2 Metres, Dry Weight: 25 Tons, Pilot Cabin, Marine and 2-Way Radios, Galley & Bathroom, 200 HP Diesel Engine & Small Generator, 380 Litre Fuel Tank, Bilge Pump, 4 End & 4 Side Bollards, 9 Water Tight Compartments. Licensed and Seaworthy for Near Coastal conditions.

It sounded just perfect for what I needed, so I called the contact number, but received a recorded message, so I gave my name and mobile number, and mentioned that I was interested in purchasing the 20-metre barge for marine research purposes. Once back on the road, I was now heading for home, having called the station to let them know that I was on my way, and I would be there in about an hour.

One thing that I was always grateful of, was that the homestead is just a kilometre of the Wittenoom Road, which is a well-graded gravel road, and from there it is just 5 kilometres to the bitumen highway, so it is very easy travelling, while it is 18 kilometres of gravel roads to get to the Pyramid Homestead, which is also owned by the family, and where I usually end up working during the holidays, while Dad and Flynn work on Warambie Station.

For a few years now we have had a station manager and his wife working for us on Pyramid Station, and they take good care of me when I am staying and working there.

I was welcomed home by the number of stock and pet dogs that we own, plus the few owned by our stockmen, and the noise soon brought mum to the front door to see who has arrived, and she dashed down the two steps and towards my vehicle when she saw that it was me.