Travelling Vets - 23. TV Chapter 23

As well as the building projects that we have been working on, I also have been working on expanding the facilities at the Stock Quarantine Station, so now that the WA Agriculture Department Quarantine yards on the outskirts of town on Drovers Road, are no longer required, and they were permanently closed, with work begun to demolish all the yarding and sheds that are located there.

I was looking at other possible options for investment in the district and during our monthly management meeting, with Jessica now here in person instead of attending via video conference, we had concluded our business and were just socially chatting when Auggie asked, “So, what are you two scheming now, with you selling Limestone, and us not having Marble Bar Practice anymore?” which had me smiling.

“You tell us, what else would you like to see in our district that would benefit the community as a whole or just bring more tourists to the area,” I responded. “Why not another guest village, maybe somewhere closer to the border, and maybe you can promote the Finch Reserve,” Jessica suggested. “Not sure that is possible on leased crown land, but we can definitely look into it,” Marcus replied.

“What about another school, I am sure that there is always a need for better education facilities, and I know that with just one District Highschool and one religious primary school, there is a need for one,” Jessica suggested. “I actually agree with you on that point, it was difficult for all of my siblings, having to travel away to Boarding school after ben educated remotely for the first six years,” I replied.

A week later after many drafts, I sent an email to all the cattle stations in the region, on both sides of the border, to get the views of the parents of children that currently live at cattle stations and remote communities in the area, and I leaned back and wondered how long I would have to wait for any responses.

“To Dr J Kendrick, Limestone Vet Services, Kununurra. Dear Sir, thank you for the email that you sent yesterday evening. This subject has been greatly on the minds of myself and my husband. We know of you well, as your partner has visited our station several times while you and your husband were away overseas, and we know of your family's long history in the pastoral industry in our region.

We are managers at Rosewood Station, just inside the NT border, and as you probably know, we are just over 100 kilometres south-southeast of Kununurra, which is the nearest main town to us. If you were able to establish an independent school nearer to us, we would be happy to send our children there…”

“Well, that is a nice response,” I commented after reading the email, “What is Dear?” Marcus asked me, I have my first reply from the email I sent to all the stations in the region on both sides of the border. Rosewood is just inside the NT, a bit over 100 km to the south,” I replied, as Marcus came over to the table and read the email over my shoulder, just as a notification arrived with two more emails, then it dinged again.

“Looks like you are going to be busy dear,” Marcus replied, as he sat down to eat his breakfast. “Yep, looks like,” I replied, as I opened the second email, which was like the first one, and so were the others that kept arriving, one after the other all morning.

Bunda Station which is just west of Inverway, Kirkimbie Station which is just northwest of Bunda Station, also in the NT, Spring Creek Station, which is in WA and south of Rosewood Station, Argyle Downs Station, which is in WA, west and a bit south of Rosewood Station, as well as Lissadell and Texas Downs Stations in WA. “The big question is, once we get the school built, we will need good quality staff to run it, and that is going to be the tricky bit of this project.

When I arrived at work, I stopped by my office and started to make a list, a Pros and Cons list of going ahead with his idea, and after half an hour, I had 75% more in the Cons list than in the Pros list, which wasn’t a good start. Leaving it aside for the meantime, I headed off to work to worry about my patients for the day, which ended up being quite busy.

When I returned to the office at the end of the day, I found three additional different people had been added to the list, which had gone from twenty-six entries to seventy-three entries, and once again it was approximately 75% against and 25 % for the project.

“I think I am being encouraged not to go ahead with this project, as apart from your additions to the list two others have contributed as well, and you all make very valid points,” I said to Marcus when he arrived home about an hour after I had. “I do have an alternative suggestion, but it is more of an investment instead of a profit-making venture,” Marcus said before kissing me on the cheek and sitting down next to me.

“Go on, I am listening,” I replied, “Well, as you well know, your family owns two stations on the Buntine Highway, what about if you invest in improving the Duncan Road, between the Buntine and Victoria Highways, that way not only your family but also the Pastoral Stations and Indigenous Community will benefit as well,” Marcus suggested.

“You do know that it is a distance of about 260 kilometres?” I asked, “I do, but wouldn’t it be great to be able to travel that whole distance about half of the time,” Marcus responded. “Yes, I must admit, that it would be far better, to travel for just 4 to 5 hours instead of a whole day, but I would like to re-align the road from where it crosses the border just south of Rosewood Station, so it follows along the border for the rest of the way south” I replied.

“Will that shorten the distance of Duncan Road?” Marcus asked me, “It sure will, by about 100 kilometres in all,” I replied, “Wow, that is a big difference, but will that mean a lot of extra work, like surveying, and building bridges and things like that?” Marcus asked, “Yes, but I think it will be worth it in the long run, and once built we can up the road into the care of the State and Territory Governments to maintain,” I responded.

“Something that big will be too much for you to be able to pay for by yourself?” Marcus commented, “Yes, and that is why I will be putting the idea to the big Pastoral Corporations to assist with paying for it,” I replied. Later that evening, I sent an email to all the stations that I had sent emails to before.

I informed them that the enormity of the project of building and running the remote school was going to be too difficult to do, and instead, that I was going to approach two of the larger Pastoral corporations, as well as the WA and NT Governments and the Federal Government, to ask them to assist to pay for the sealing of the Duncan Road from Buntine Highway, all the way north to the Victoria Highway.

Over the next few months, we continued to keep busy, with the boys settling in well to attending the local school, and when Marcus or I are not able to collect them at the end of the school day, one of the staff at work would, or if in town Mum would happily mind them at our place.

When I received a letter from the Federal Government, informing me of a planned teleconference in one week, between the Departments of Transport - Federal, Territory and State, plus the CEOs of not two but four Pastoral Corporations, to discuss my proposal for sealing Duncan Highway, I was shocked that this could be a real possibility of happening, and I informed Mum of this happening, and she was very supportive of the proposal.

When the meeting happened, I suggested that we consider re-aligning the road to run along the NT / WA border from the south end of Rosewood Station onward south, to shorten the distance by 100 kilometres, and this brought a heap of discussion on the idea but was eventually dismissed because of all the additional expense with surveying, building bridges, and laying the new road.

In the end, it was agreed that the proposal to seal the Duncan Road for the distance of 260 kilometres from the Victoria Highway down to the Buntine Highway, for $450,000 per kilometre, at a total of about $118 million, and with the gravel road already in place, it just needed some minor repairs and levelling, plus, adding so new stone and concrete work to some of the creek crossings, before sealing the whole road, and that it would be done as soon as practical and depending on weather conditions.

The Federal Government agreed to pay $48 million, while the WA and NT Governments agreed to pay $22 Million each, plus three of the Pastoral Corporations agreed to pay $7 million each, leaving a shortfall of $5 million, which I agreed to pay. When Mum asked me a few days later about the meeting, I gave her all the details of what was discussed.

This included that I would be paying a hefty amount to cover the shortfall of money for the project, but Mum insisted that the family company pay $4 million, so I would only pay $1 million, which I was pleased and thankful to hear.