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Stories Kevin and Margaret Johnston, Nambour To date we have spent a number of months each year in the cooler months on grazing properties and farms between Dalby and west of Charleville. Kevin has mustered cattle and sheep, painted a kitchen, tiled bathrooms and even used a bulldozer to clear irrigation channels, while Margaret has cleaned house, developed rose gardens, rejuvenated house and vegetable gardens, pruned orchards, entertained youngsters and provided very important company for the women. If there is just one aspect of volunteering which hits home, it is the absolute isolation for the girls. Sure, they have the telephone and most times a twice weekly mail service, but popping out for coffee means taking lunch to your husband at the cattle yards, and rather than putting on your makeup, it's insect repellant you are applying to keep the flies at bay! We feel the benefits flow on from the physical efforts of the volunteers, in the form of lasting friendships we have formed with the families who were strangers on arrival and firm friends as we left a few weeks later. The strength of these relationships has confirmed for us the importance of lending a hand and making a difference. From Sydney to Outback SA and Back Again: A Corporate Volunteering Experience Just a note to let you know that the Bronco Branding event, supported by our 9 Hartmann willing volunteers went off very well last week. Among the interesting things we were asked to do was moving a bar (the whole structure) on a 1950's Toyota Truck, cleaning toilet blocks, erecting a flagpole (Gary's specialty) and serving I-don't-know-how-many 4X Gold and Bundy Rum and coke. We also moved the donkey successfully (I'll leave that to you to figure out)... More »» Bob & Betty Anne Jeffery Story Halfway through our twelve months around Australia trip with our caravan, we responded to a request from Outback Links to help on a sheep station south of Tambo. Jenny (who is one half of the workforce on the Tambo property) had fallen from a ladder injuring her shoulder, making it difficult for her to carry out her daily tasks of checking water holes, cleaning troughs, mustering, feeding orphaned lambs and her domestic chores ... More »» Outback Links reaches into the Kimberley, Western Australia My wife and I had the privilege of visiting Charnley River Cattle Station on behalf of Outback Links ... More »» Myrl and Trevor’s Story – New experiences at Fitzroy Crossing We have had our caravan parked under a metal carport with an adjacent ablution block. The ablution block has a flush toilet and a shower which is provided with hot water by a donkey ... More »» Arnold & Edna - VOLUNTEERING ANOTHER WAY: Arnold read an appeal advertisement in Frontier News wanting volunteers
for Outback Links, a new initiative of the Uniting Church Frontier Services
lending a hand to people in the outback who are doing it tough, and especially
during this drought. He and Edna made an application and July 2006 they
headed for St George ... More »» Ferg recounts some experiences: In Johnny’s first few weeks of station work he was thrown from his horse, trampled by a cow in the yards and knocked over and concussed in the back of the cattle truck. He was having the time of his life. We met Johnny when he came to visit his aunt, Sally, our host on the first station we visited. He’d recently started work on a nearby station and the barely-suppressed delight with which he related his stories was worth the price of admission. So who are we and how did we come to be entertained
by a trainee rouseabout somewhere in outback Queensland? ... More
»» Helen paints some pictures: I was sorry not to have photographs to illustrate the type of things we did in our placement with Outback Links. I thought I might try and paint you some "word pictures' ... More »» How did we link? – A story from Lyn & Murray Nash: When we first heard of Outback links in 2005, it sounded like something we could tackle, so we registered as volunteers. The list of needs that Noela circulated early this year all seemed so remote, however once we’d sorted out other commitments and happenings, we said we could do 2 to 3 weeks somewhere in Queensland in May. After talking over a couple of options with Noela, we accepted placement at a sheep/cattle station in western Queensland where 5 years of drought and family circumstances had made things pretty difficult and the property needed to be sold. They needed help to repair and paint, to clean out an old building and to progress Distance Pre-school work with a 4 year-old ... More »» Marie – from her off road caravan writes: Many years ago I was part of the catering team preparing for a Northern Synod meeting in Darwin. As we went to stack the supplied refrigerator we were confronted by a Kangaroo - fur & all - minus head & feet ... More »» Anne from Tasmania: |