"The Stockmen" ...

...Of the yesteryear..1955 to be exact..I wish it was a little clearer but this is the best I could do..

...I thought I'd join in with the Monos for Monday - only this is a little different isn't it - taken when I was still going to primary school, but went to stay with my sister on one of the sheep stations north of Port Augusta in South Australia, the air was drier there and I flourished..

...These aboriginal stockmen were working on the station and used to call by the back fence each morning, or of an evening..I remember the man in the centre with glasses, he could speak to me, and I often saw him in the station 'store' which held everything good in there - when one is out of it - well, it's good isn't it - and I remember he used to buy 'baccy' - loose tobacco in a packet..

...The little boy was named Max - he was very shy I remember, and he was not much younger than I was it seemed (12) and when I left there during the year, I didn't see them again, but they had a camp down in the gully not far from the house we were living in..babies were born there and people died there, and if anyone died it was very sad as they wailed all night and day...which echoed up to my sleepout outside of the main home.. I do remember that..and that was very different again for a 12yr old..especially on windy nights...and kids think things are scary at night these days!! I grew up very quickly.....

...Yes, I was only just 12 when I first went there and studied Correspondence School like all of the other children on stations out there, and later - I returned home for while, then returned to live with different families within the town for a year, right away from my family and the things I knew and loved..and I didn't see much of my sister unfortunately..

...But I adjusted well, after a few hiccups (healthwise) and enjoyed my year at a big school 20 miles away with about 400 other kids, no air conditioning though in the rooms we were in, just fans..our schoolrooms were Army barrack huts and got pretty hot in there I remember too..Friends were made easily, and most were from UK at that time..

...Amazing how kids cope isn't it..I must have coped ok otherwise I wouldn't have wanted to return later on when I was 16, but on another station property, and later, in between college and city jobs, when I was 20..

...How the years fly...life is so different now isn't it..