Outback - 9. OB Chapter 9

With 29 station staff including family and 4 RFDS crew, plus the roadhouse staff, it ended up being quite a good sized party. Once again Daniel seemed to be always happy when he was around or near Bryce. Daniel’s boss noticed this but didn’t want to bother Daniel about it at this time.

The presents mostly consisted of just cheeky birthday cards. Bryce read them out allowed, one card said "Best wishes young man, your present is outside on the trailer, Lots of love from both your mum's.” People followed Bryce out the front, to find a small 4-seater hovercraft on the back of the trailer.

Everyone exclaimed, "Wow,” including Bryce. The fully enclosed air-conditioned cabin was reasonably spacious, and Barrett said he would be able to teach Bryce how to pilot the hovercraft. Together they wheeled the hovercraft off the trailer, and Barrett guided Bryce into the pilot seat, instructing him on how to go about piloting the craft.

After twenty minutes of verbal instruction, the engine was started up, which had the onlookers back off. Slowly the craft lifted up and slowly cruised down the side of the property. Bryce in the hovercraft told Barrett and his wife he would meet them at the track to the vermin proof fence off Wool road in about twenty minutes. They took the back road to the fence access track, to avoid travelling on the highway.

With the hovercraft drifting away, some station vehicles closed off the highway so the RFDS plane could take off, to head to Pondana Station. Once the plane had gone the station staff headed off back to their new homes. After Bryce had familiarised himself with the controls, he was able to keep the craft steady on the access track, and just under twenty minutes later he arrived at the vermin fence, and turned west towards Wool road, where he found two station vehicles waiting for him, even though they had been keeping in touch via two-way radio. It was decided to keep a vehicle at each end of the craft, as they headed north.

Finally, they arrived at the homestead complex an hour later. Bryce parked the craft in the shed at the village, and then went to the main homestead for a late lunch. After lunch, Bryce went back to the office to do some book work, later in the afternoon he asked his two mothers to be in the office at 7pm after dinner. He asked Barrett and Sarah to be available for a video conference at 7pm.

When that time arrived everyone was present, and Bryce thanked everyone for a wonderful surprise party. He added that he only realised that it was his birthday only half an hour before arriving at the roadhouse. Next, he announced that he has been in negotiations with the current owners of both roadhouses to purchase them, but under the Silverton Family Trust.

Although it does not affect Barrett & Sarah financially, he wanted them to known about the purchases, as supplies would be able to be ordered through the roadhouses once again, he thanked everyone for a great day, and calling the video conference to a close.

A few days later, Bryce received a fax from RFDS Kalgoorlie; it was the cover page of the RFDS newsletter. The feature story and photos were of the birthday party at the roadhouse, a note on the cover page said that an email version of the newsletter would be sent in two days.

"The Managing Director of Murchison Pastoral Investments, Mr Bryce Silverton celebrated his 18th birthday with family, the staff of the Station, RFDS and Cocklebiddy Roadhouse, when they threw a surprise party at the roadhouse. On that day, both Cocklebiddy and Caiguna Roadhouses announced the businesses had been sold to the Silverton Family Trust. Mr Silverton has been managing the family businesses for over a year since his father was injured in a mustering accident on the station.

Now he is managing director of the now expanded business, which has grown from 1 to 5 stations totalling 6.4 million acres and 2 roadhouses since he took over, after the sudden death of his adopted father from a freak road accident six months ago. Recently, he reunited with his birth mother, having been adopted soon after birth. Mr Silverton also has 5 younger siblings, who along with their mother now reside on the property.”

The day after the RFDS newsletter was sent out via email, the story was the front-page feature story of the local newspaper, and soon telephone calls coming from the state newspapers plus television stations, but Sue & Natalia were able to screen out those calls, thou they persisted for over a week, requesting an interview with Mr Silverton.

Next, they received a radio call from the RFDS base reporting that they saw a television station crew from the city, chartering a helicopter and fly east from Kalgoorlie about half an hour ago. They also wanted to let the station know an RFDS crew would be staying overnight, Bryce was not at all pleased with this news, and he called Rob and Grant on the radio and asked them to report to the office urgently.

Meanwhile Pat and Betty were called to prepare the village for their regular guests. In Kalgoorlie, the RFDS had called the Police District Superintendent, to inform them there might be trouble at Pondana. The media had been hassling the staff at Pondana, for a story regarding the recent article in the newsletter and the local newspaper, and now a chartered helicopter was on its way over there.

The district superintendent contacted the chartered aircraft company and officially warned them to keep their chartered aircraft away from Pondana Station, or any other property owned by Murchison Pastoral Investments and the Silverton Family Trust. If they ignore the warning, they will be charged with trespassing. The charter company informed the Superintendent, that the helicopter that was chartered is out of radio range.

Bryce, Rob and Grant were in the office when a telephone call from the district superintendent came in. They heard the sound of a helicopter approaching from the west, as Bryce informed the senior police officer that the helicopter had arrived. Bryce transferred the call to his satellite phone, so he could see what was happening without being spotted, as he wanted to keep out of sight of the television crew.

The helicopter landed in the middle of the runway about fifty metres down from the hanger and other village buildings. As the pilot began to wind down the motors, Bryce instructed Rob to go out and inform them that he would not be conducting any interviews, and they are trespassing and they are to leave immediately. Soon after Rob stepped out another aircraft could be heard, and on the radio, Bryce was asked if it was those idiot media, who were blocking the runway, stopping them from landing, as they are low on fuel.

The police officer heard this radio call, and asked for the phone to be passed onto the media person in charge. Meanwhile, Rob was told they were staying till they get an interview. When Grant arrived with the phone and explained to Grant the superintendents request, Rob once again asked the media to leave, as they are blocking the runway. Grant had the phone up so the police could hear the conversation, when they refused; Grant passed the phone to the media producer in charge, saying someone wished to speak to them.

The producer's face went ghost white when she was told who she was speaking to, and being informed that she and her colleagues are now in breach of obstructing an emergency vehicle, endangering lives and trespassing. She, the media company she works for and the charter company can expect a summons to appear in court, that they are to leave immediately so the RFDS plane that is low on fuel can land.

In addition, their media organisation and its representatives are now banned from entering any property owned by the Silverton family or Murchison Pastoral Investments for a period of 30 days, effective immediately. Within 2 minutes of that conversation, the helicopter took off and headed west back to Kalgoorlie. The RFDS plane landed without incident, and the crew was welcomed, shown to their quarters, and settled down to a relaxing evening with friends and a good meal.

Meanwhile at the Kalgoorlie Airport, three police vans were waiting when the helicopter landed at the chartered aircraft company hanger, the pilot was informed by his boss that he was on paid leave till this mess was sorted, meanwhile the media producer, the reporter, the sound crew and the film crew were loaded into the back of the vehicles to be taken back to the police station, charged and any film footage was confiscated for evidence.

Three days later once everything had settled, Bryce travelled north to Rawlinna Homestead, where he had organised a Nullabour Plain Region Pastoralists Conference with the neighbouring stations of MPI - Murchison Pastoral Investments. Rawlinna, Boonderoo, Balgar and Kybo Stations South of the railway line, plus Madura, Mundrubilla, and Moopina Stations to the East of MPI, and Kanadah, Seemore Downs, Kinclaven and Premier Downs Stations North of the railway line. In all, 16 Stations all located between Longitude 124° 30 East and the South Australia Border, with a total pastoral land holding of 23 million acres.

Bryce had spent the past few months quietly discussing the idea of a regional conference with the neighbouring stations. He also invited 10 quest speakers from 5 organisations to attend senior members of the WA Pastoral Board, senior members of the RFDS, senior members of the Isolated Children’s Education Unit of the Education Department and senior members of the WA Agriculture Department.

Everyone was gathered at Rawlinna Station by noon on the first day, since Bryce was the key organiser, he was nominated to chair the conference, he had worked out a timetable of meetings and presentations, with two guest speakers on the first afternoon, one in the evening after a relaxing social dinner and two speakers the following morning.

This would allow the guest speakers to depart the conference at 2pm after group discussions after lunch on the second day. The main business for the Stations would be held after the guest speakers left, with a formal conference dinner on the second day, so everyone can return home early the following day. During the lunch on the second day the senior Agriculture Department speaker, as the most senior government department representative present, stood and gave a brief speech, congratulating Mr Silverton of MPI for a well organised and very unique conference, which he feels has been very informative and rewarding conference for all those present.

He said that he hopes Pastoralists in other regions of the state with take note and organise similar conferences for the Pastoralist in their areas, and he looks forward to hearing feedback from this conference and conferences held in the Nullabour region in the future. One of the discussions during the conference was the continual extra costs for freight of supplies and stock to and from the stations.

Three of the station owners stated that they were seriously considering selling up, as it was just getting too hard. When Bryce heard this, he took serious notice of who stated this, and during a rest break telephoned his mothers for a quick chat. He approached each of the three owners with an offer to buy all three stations for 85% of their value; the remaining 15% would be made into 2% shares of Murchison Pastoral Investments. Bryce also wanted each owner to remain on their stations as managers, with the prospect of relocating to another MPI station for a change later on down the track.

All three owners knew this was a very generous offer, securing the future education for their children, and having a regular income. So before the formal dinner on the second night, Bryce received two definite yeses to his offer and one maybe. This would add another 3.2 million acres to Bryce’s pastoral empire, bringing it to a total of 8.6 million acres. That would increase to 10.2 million if the third station accepts the offer. To allow for the expansion of the company, Bryce's company shares will drop to 59%.

The three stations and their staff that will be added to the company will be Duan & Jo Kaltoon from Boonderoo, Shane & Tania Amson from Madura and James & Zara from Mundrabilla Stations. Plus, the deal includes the two roadhouses, which are owned by the stations with the same name. Arriving home late after three days away, Bryce sat down with his two mothers and discussed the logistics of running such a big pastoral operation. They decided to have a new administration centre built halfway between the homestead and the village. Placing it in a grove of shady trees, allowing for room for expansion of the school, and keep administration totally separate and away from operational areas.

As plans continued on the other stations, James and Zara from Boonderoo, finally accepted the offer to sell, remaining on as managers. Bryce had his lawyers in the city, travel to finalise the three deals. As the deal for Boonderoo was being finalised, Bryce began to modernise the other three new stations. Improving solar and wind generators’ for power, and satellite dishes installed for better teleconferencing and schooling. He also discussed with his three new managers what changes could be made to improve running the stations, and all three said more staff. Bryce agreed to employ one extra station hand for each station, to see how that makes improve.

With 7 extra students to add to the local school network, Bryce also said he would be employing an additional teacher, to assist Pat Clarkeson who has taken over as head teacher from Sarah. Sarah will still assist via video-link from Arubiddy. When the other station owners heard about the sale of the three stations to MPI, they were a bit annoyed that they were not consulted during the conference. Bryce organised a video conference to discuss this and said that it all happened very quickly, and he had only a limited amount of funds for a small number of stations to purchase, but he was favourable of establishing a regional organisation that can share ideas, share costs for transport and other things that may come up in the future.

Bryce suggested that maybe two central depots could be established to collect and send freight to minimise costs for all, the rail depot maybe at Rawlinna and the road depot at Caiguna Roadhouse. He suggested that Wool road between the two depots be sealed, and he was prepared to cover 50% of the costs of sealing the road, if the other 8 station's cover the other 50% cost of the 145-km long road.

He also suggested that in the near future they could look at possible regional meat marketing, and tourism promotion, as ways of improving the futures for all the stations in their region. It was just 7 months later that the two depots were established and the road between them was sealed, Bryce had his new administration centre established, and he added a two-bedroom cottage next to it as his new home.