Outback
Volunteer
Chronicle
Volunteers for Isolated Students Education Newsletter Vol 7 2014
Mike Stock
Secretariat
[email protected]
Colleen Stock
Secretary
[email protected]
George Murdoch
Publicity Officer
[email protected]
Supported by :
Baillieu Myer:
Yugilbar Foundation
Tim Fairfax:
Tim Fairfax Family
Foundation
John Calvert-Jones:
John Calvert-Jones Family
Trust
Aussie Farmers’
Foundation
Northern Territory
Government
Editor:
Kath Breen
David Southern
My early life was spent on lighthouses; South
Solitary Island north east of Coffs Harbour and the
Outer Light at Port Stephens near Nelson Bay. All
my education was done through the Blackfriars
Correspondence School (the forerunner of distance
education in NSW) and my life seems to have come a
full circle.
I completed my undergraduate degree in Arts through the University of New
England and then a second degree a Bachelor of Letters majoring in the poems of
Thomas Hardy. My Masters was done in Canberra in education and educational
leadership.
I came to Canberra with my wife Wendy, as English Master at Belconnen High
School. I elected to stay in Canberra when the ACT split from NSW and was
promoted to Deputy Principal. I was selected for overseas exchange to Seattle and
spent a year with the Edmonds School District. After returning I was made Principal
of a high school and then became Executive Director of Schools where I did a lot of
work in local and International Education.
Rotary International played a large part in our lives. I was President of the Rotary
Club of Belconnen, created RYPEN (Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment) and
restructured RYLA for the national and international stage. Rotary made me a triple
Paul Harris Fellow (the highest award that Rotary can offer) and I was awarded the
Order of Australia for services to Youth through Rotary.
When I retired, joining VISE was a natural progression especially as there was a
great need for experienced educational administrators. Wendy and I spend a good
deal of each year doing remote area photography and we have visited hundreds of
stations over the last few years.
We have travelled the world and have a strong
connection with International Schools around the
globe. Having seen most of the world (except for
Iceland and Antarctica) we are concentrating on
seeing much more of Australia. With the 4WD
and offroad camper we have travelled all the
deserts, the Kimberly, the Pilbara, Cape York,
Outback Queensland (in detail), south-west WA
and north-east Arnhem Land.
VISE fits naturally into all of this and we are
grateful to Mike and Colleen for providing such a
fulfilling retirement.
David Southern
David is one of our two Vice Presidents. He lives in
Canberra and meets regularly with Mike.
Our lives are much richer for the experience!
Lyn French– Why I Live Where I Live!
Lyn has a wealth of experience working with VISE. She taught her children firstly through SDE then via Home
Schooling. She acted for eight years in the position of Local Area Coordinator for the Cairns region and is now
our Working with Children Officer (WWCO). This position is a most onerous and vital one which takes lots of
time and effort.
She is a VISE Treasure.
Living on a remote family owned and operated beef
cattle business since 1869, the French family are proud
cattle producers. Proud to be one of many farmers who
feed our nation.
In 1869 great great grandad’s bullock team rolled into
Gilberton bringing supplies and goods to the gold
miners. He started a butcher shop, then taking up
Gilberton. A true pioneer, little did he know that 7
generations down the track they would be following in
his footsteps doing the same, breeding beef cattle. The
family tradition since 1869 to stay out of debt continues,
while still make a living and have a happy family.
143 years ago they worked the land to the best of their
ability, cutting cost where they could and using tried
and tested methods and learning what is suitable for the
landscape to be sustainable. Today the same is still
happening, 95% of graziers are good land managers, if
they don’t, they will not have good grazing production
for the long term.
Low stocking rate & burning is the key to success at
Gilberton. By being conservative in keeping stocking
rates down you can lift production if done right.
This is a proud family tradition that lives on at
Gilberton. This comes from years of experience handed
down through generations and using practical ideas and
many trials that are suitable for their environment. Over
the past 25 years a huge amount of energy has been put
into the station to
help the future in
maintaining
a
sustainable
ecosystem.
Fencing of major
waterways, creating
corridors for nature
refuges to help
maintain the future
of Gilberton.
People on the land
may not have the
uni degree numbers
and letters behind their name, but they are very talented,
smart people of many skills, skills that provide them to
be good managers.
Statistics tell us Australian farmers produce approx 94%
of our daily domestic food supply, hopefully having
“the year of the farmer” it will reduce the gap of city
peoples understanding of life of people on the land. It
will teach them just how much farmers contribute to
there every day life... People on the land today are still
facing challenges as they make efforts with global
chances and strive to be successful business ,keeping in
the back of there mind to be good land sustainable
managers. People on the land do have huge
responsibility in feeding the world, many city people
have no understanding how important people on the
land are, and they would not eat without us. People are
becoming more aware of just how important farming
families are as they are educated on where there food
comes from. Children from the cities are learning milk
does not come out of a bottle and meat does not from
Woolworths.
Life is hard on the land, but no one makes us live where
we do, we are here because we want to. Some may think
we live in a god forsaken piece of the country , but we
think we have a piece of paradise!!
I am proud to be a Australian Farmer / Grazier and hope
that my family has many more years in being a food
provider for our nation.
Lyn French
The VISE Management Team
President:Pr ofessor David J ames AC
Vice President:Br ian Sansom
Vice President: David Souther n OAM
CEO: Mike Stock AM
Secretary: Colleen Stock OAM
Treasurer: Alan Toohey OAM
Publicity and Recruitment:
George Murdoch OAM
Our lives are much richer for the experience!
‘’
Mum, I won’t never go droving’.
A VISE placement with a Difference
These words spoken, by the young lad in Henry Lawson’s epic short story,
had particular relevance to my first experience of VISE.
The drought was on the land, and the father had taken
his 1000 head of Braham cattle walking for grass,
several hours drive from home, and was having
difficulty finding assistants on the job.
The VISE work was very easy with Doreen
concentrating on the “reading problem” of two children,
and I supervising the other lad. All were excellent
students. This allowed the mother to get on with her
work which included all the necessary jobs in
maintaining the station. Water- run etc.
After about a week the father came home for a short
break, to see his family, read his mail etc, and replenish
his tucker box. It also became clear that my time would
be better spent with the cattle than with the kids; so off I
went on a new adventure.
My job was called “truck driver” which should have
been train driver. The truck was a large 4wd Isuzu
loaded with all manner of gear, including motor bikes,
horse feed, harness, deep freeze, and beds. On back of
the truck was hitched a Land Cruiser ute loaded up with
dog cages, (sufficient for 9 dogs) tools including horse
shoeing gear, the BBQ and more. A large caravan
which was the boss’s camp and all the kitchen gear and
a fridge, was hitched behind the ute. So my salary was
doubled; 2 times zero still equals zero!
The drover’s life has pleasures that the town folk never
know, but you don’t see too much in the wee hours
when the horses for the day must be caught and given
their grain ration. Breakfast etc must all be over before
daybreak as Braham cattle are “toey” and must move at
dawn.
My task then was to “pack up”. This included washing
up, taking down the cattle yard and the horse yard and
stacking all in the allocated space on or under the truck,
take the dogs off their chains and into their cages on the
ute. Last thing to pack was the generator, as the freezer
and fridge rely on it.
Nine o’clock or so catch up to the mob and “boil up”,
i.e. make a cuppa for the drover—rare and much
appreciated. Then it is on to the “dinner camp”
collecting any available scrap of fire wood. Remember
to start the generator to keep the food fresh.
The cattle usually lie down at dinner camp to rest and
the drovers can feed and rest or do odd jobs, and then it
is on to the night camp. This includes constructing the
cattle and horse yards, pegging out and feeding the
dogs, starting the generator, setting the fire and
preparing the evening meal then into bed, no sleeping
pill required.
It was a constant 7 day a week job with many side
issues, but one I wouldn’t swap for quids. At the end of
the VISE term I returned to the homestead quoting to
Doreen, “Mum, I won’t never go droving”.
Keith Rawsthorne
From the Mailbag!
We welcome your
thoughts and comments.
Thanks George from drought
stricken Corfield where
Peter and I are at present.
On Saturday[2 Aug] we will
be at the Real Corfield Cup
hoping to back a winner.
Cheers
Isabel Robertson
Hello gentlemen
We took delivery of a load of
molasses today. Mr C, our
VISE tutor couldn't resist
having Nathan doing a maths
problem in the molasses that
dribbled onto the concrete
base.
Kerry Lloyd
Our lives are much richer for the experience!
VISE 2015 Convention
A Message from George…..
Organisation is moving along well.
Every day we think of something else
that could be incorporated into the
program. This is a problem as I am
keen for friendship and contacts to be
made while we are all together.
Forbes Services Club
Forbes NSW
Monday 16– Friday 20 March
Celebrate 25 years of
VISE Service
to the Outback!
Meet new friends
Learn a trick or two
Share your experiences
Have some fun
Register your interest today with
George Murdoch
An Apology
In our first issue Mike mentioned
the work of Lyn Pettigrew.
This was an error made by Mike
and missed by me because I was
unaware of Win’s name.
Win was one of our very first
Tutors and featured in “Sixty
Minutes” on the work of VISE.
Our apologies to Brian Stuart and
his family who are descendants of
Win’s and it was her work that encouraged Brian to
become a VISE Tutor.
George
Editor’s Note:
This 7th issue of our newsletter will be the
second-last for 2014. George and I feel that
8 issues each year can cover the main months that
volunteers are working.
Keep your articles and photos flowing though as we
will keep them ready for Issue 1 in 2015.
Just a reminder…. 400-450 words in a Word file with
a couple of jpeg photos is just what we are looking
for. Kath Breen
Please send your contributions to:
The aim of the convention is to celebrate 25 years of
service to the outback and to honor the man who
made it all possible.
In a short while I will be sending out a program for
all to read. Your comments will, as usual, be
welcomed.
Attendance at the Convention is still open. We
understand that many people are returning from
placements and have many commitments to family
so if you are still interested we are still interested in
having you along.
George
Oops! Famous last words
"Computers in the future may weigh
no more than 1.5 tons."
-- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless
march of science, 1949
"I think there is a world market for
maybe five computers."
-- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
"I have travelled the length and
breadth of this country
and talked with the best people, and I
can assure you
that data processing is a fad that
won't last out the year."
The editor in charge of business books for Prentice
Hall, 1957
-- "640K ought to be enough for
anybody."
-- Bill Gates, 1981
[email protected]
Our lives are much richer for the experience!
Another Newcomer to VISE Experience
We chose to keep our first VISE placement relatively
close to home, ie in NSW. Fortunately the request
came in for support for two children in western NSW –
an 11 year old girl in Year 5 and an 8 year old boy in
Year 3. Placed just beside Mungo National Park, this
gave us the chance to explore new territory.
Ranger Discovery Tour brilliant. Walking where our
ancestors have walked, listening to stories from the
15,000 year old camp sites, observing bones of ancient
fauna emerging from the dunes and listening to stories
of Mungo Man and Mungo Lady is a memory we will
treasure forever. Renmark proved a fascinating weekend away as did Lake Menindee and
Broken Hill.
Excited we headed off, caravan
in tow. A phone call from
Balranald gave us the radio
Before our time was over we had the
frequency for further contact –
opportunity to participate with 20
we knew we were heading off
students from Broken Hill School of
road. Greeted by running
the Air at a minischool.
children we were off to a great
Held at Fowler’s Gap Research
start. A cottage awaited along
Station over a week the children had
with the warm welcome.
the chance to work with university
Settling in on Sunday afternoon left time for exploring
PhD students acquiring a deeper understanding of
before school tomorrow.
adaptations to life in the desert whilst working and
Not quite knowing what to expect we discovered that playing together. Parents, governesses and tutors also
our host family was also new to VISE tutors. We had the chance to share experiences and work with
picked up the regular school room routine pretty quickly, maybe our teaching background and our experience
with distance learning helped a little. Tony looked after
the Year 2 boy and I supported his older sister.
This gave mum some much needed time to catch up on
other priorities that are forever being postponed. I take
my hat off to
these mums
who run the
school room,
work
the
sheep, provide
smoko, lunch their children in a different environment. Between
and
dinner, ‘lizard hunts’ (led by Tony), craft work, bird catching,
keep up with (led by Uni students) exploring dry creekbeds, dances,
the washing ‘lectures’ and stories, normal school work also got a
and cleaning, look in.
the yards and
Certainly recommended the minischool experience if
gardens and keep a positive outlook no matter what
you ever get the invite! But be prepared to work harder
turns up.
and more flexibly than in the regular school room.
We thought we were getting the hang of things when
The weather was delightful for our visit except the day
an accident changed everything. An older sibling had
we needed to leave – thunderstorms helped us discover
broken her leg in gymnastics at boarding school. Mum
clay and experience caravan challenges we are not
and dad needed to leave … now. Our school room
keen to repeat. Never were we so thankful to see the
commitment grew a little for a couple of days. The
tar….We have not only survived our first VISE
children spent the weekend with relatives giving us a
placement but have thrived in that
time to explore before returning
environment.
home in time for school the next
We are thankful for the opportunity to share
week.
with families in different circumstances to
And what a great part of
our own and now look forward to our next
Australia this is to spend time
placement a little further afield.
in. Mungo National Park is well
Tracy and Tony Provest
worth a visit and the Indigenous
Our lives are much richer for the experience!