Author: Kaye

Sliding Doors

My interest in old photos of Ivanhoe was sparked by a lovely lady called Olive Huntly, who showed me some photos of Ivanhoe dust storms over the years. When word of mouth spread and people discovered that I had an interest in the town’s history,  suddenly everyone wanted to share photos and stories with me. It was a rewarding and welcoming experience.

Sadly, Olive has passed on but I wanted to share a story she told me about how a young girl from Victoria came to be raising a family in outback NSW.

It seems that at 17, Olive was running late and missed her train. While she was waiting for the next train, she noticed a newspaper on the bench where she was sitting and started to read it.

Her eyes were drawn to an ad for a governess in Mossgiel – a town that she, as a city girl, had never heard of.

Olive successfully applied for the job, became a governess and eventually fell in love and married a station owner, settling down and raising a  family on Barwonnie Station. Although she sometimes couldn’t help but wonder how different her life would have been if she hadn’t missed that train, there were no regrets. She loved the back country and never left.

Perhaps we can all take something from Olive’s story.

Married to a Country Cop

Yesterday I was chatting with the staff at Ivanhoe Central School (population around 40), where I teach casually. In fact, with five or six kids in the class, ‘sickies’ are few and far between so I actually teach very casually – which is great because it has allowed us to go on quite a few sorties ‘back and beyond’.

We were discussing the fact that there was, as yet, no one to replace Nigel.  Even worse, Jackson is leaving the following month and there’s no one to replace him either. We surmised that apart from obvious reasons like having teenage children, who would rather leave home than leave their friends, the lack of interest in special remote policing was probably due to a lack of knowledge and understanding of what’s involved.

So for all those police officers and their partners, who might be considering life in a special remote location, here are some of my own thoughts as the ‘copper’s wife’.

Continue reading “Married to a Country Cop”

Goodbye Farewell Adieu

So here we sit, surrounded by cardboard cartons, sipping Champagne (Kaye) and drinking beer (Nigel) and pondering the last two and a half years that was Ivanhoe.  We’re leaving here tomorrow with mixed emotions and although it was always meant to be a stepping-stone to get to Paradise Beach, there are many people, places and events that we’ll miss.

Continue reading “Goodbye Farewell Adieu”

Going Bush Again!

Well for those of you who said, ‘Why on earth would you go to Enngonia?’ (that was the censored version) let me just fill you in on our little piece of Paradise beside the Warrego River.

On arrival, it became obvious that, following the previous cop’s departure, a family of squatters had moved in and taken up residence – in the loo. Yes! I’m talking large green 4-legged squatters – requiring a bit of persuasion (plus plastic bags) to encourage them back into the yard.

P1000540 Continue reading “Going Bush Again!”

First month in Enngonia

Hi to all from sunny Enngonia. It amazes me that we live so close to the Queensland border and yet my fingers are frozen!  When we first arrived, the fireplace had quite a workout thanks to some free Gidgee wood from one of the local station owners but sadly that wood has now run out. Sunny skies don’t necessarily equate to warm temperatures and it’s actually  bloody freezing, causing us to retract all the nasty, scoffing remarks about never being seen dead in a Snuggie and admit that in fact, we’re both sorry we don’t own one.

I’m sitting on the lounge, typing rather awkwardly at Nigel’s laptop, which is on the coffee table – not the most ergonomic of positions but unfortunately my desk top computer is broken and beggars can’t be choosers.

It seems that there are gremlins in our meter box (not to mention frogs) because in the space of a week we’ve lost our clock radio, microwave, washing machine and now, computer.

P1040519 Continue reading “First month in Enngonia”

An unfamiliar crisis

The idea of waking up each morning with nothing specific to do might be   appealing to some but it’s taken me pretty much a full month to come to terms with this lack of purpose and direction. While Nigel has been getting to know the locals and the local area, giving talks at the school and generally, doing what police do, I’ve been having a crisis of sorts, wondering what to do when you’re a casual high school teacher in a town with no high school students. Relax, I hear you say, read a book, go for a walk, watch TV…….. if you know me at all, you’ll know that’s easier said than done! Continue reading “An unfamiliar crisis”

Merry Belated Christmas

I hope everyone enjoyed a lovely Christmas break and a relaxing start to 2013. We had a great holiday at Paradise Beach, catching up with friends and family for early celebrations before coming home to very high temperatures and quite a few bush fires.

With temperatures in the 40s, Nigel did very well to survive a couple of hours in a Santa suit for the school’s presentation day and apart from one non-believer (“Thanks Nigel”) his first stint at undercover work went pretty well.

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Update. Welcome to Enngonia

Enngonia is 97 kilometres north of Bourke and around 40 kilometres south of the Queensland border. Our residence is on the Mitchell Highway and, this time of year, we get to jealously watch the grey nomads venturing up the road to Mount Isa and beyond. As our bedroom is at the front of the house, we also get to listen to the trucks driving past at speeds in excess of the 50kph speed signs either end of town (every truckie knows when the boys have knocked off work).

Continue reading “Update. Welcome to Enngonia”