Macca's Meanderings

BAYULU - No 3 Since arriving here in Fitzroy Crossing I have got to know an 81 year old man living over the road. His name is Dave. He came to this area as a young man in 1962. He was the first person to conduct aerial mustering in this area. This was in a light fixed wing aircraft before small helicopters suitable for mustering were developed. He then went onto run/own a air charter business here at Fitzroy Crossing for much of his life. Naturally the topic of our conversations may have been aviation related on the odd ocassion.  Anyway, former managers of Bayulu Store Ed and Raylene who are also good friends of Dave's invited us to visit them at Liveringa Station. They manage the store at the nearby community of Looma and also are caretakers of the heritage listed original Liveringa Station homestead. Last Sunday we accepted the invitation. We were on the road by 6am to drive around 200 kms west back towards Broome. Below is the old Riveringa Homestead on its elevated si...

BAYULU - No2 Since the last post I have been very busy at the Bayulu Store. Primarily this is due to the fact that I am covering for two people and we also had the funeral of a significant elder which brought many visitors from around the western half of the Kimberleys. Even though north Queensland received a good wet season this year the Northern Territory and northern WA had a very poor wet season. Many stations are already de-stocking. The photo below shows the bridge over the Fitzroy River just near the town of Fitzroy Crossing. At this time of the year there should be still a good flow in the river however as you can see below, sadly that is not the case. Longer term residents are saying it is the driest they can remember. The photo below is from a couple of years ago when the Fitzroy River was in flood. The town of Fitzroy Crossing can be seen on the left surrounded by water. The Great Northern Highway can be seen coming from the town to the Fitzroy River where th...

BAYULU - No 1 Greetings from Fitzroy Crossing in WA. Recently we received a call from a friend of a friend in Broome who does recruiting for remote indigenous communities in the Kimberleys, WA. He was looking for a relief store manger at Bayulu Community near Fitzroy Crossing - and ASAP, as the current manger had just experienced a death in their immediate family. It was decided that Bryan would go to WA and Nancy would stay in Maleny.  As there were no direct flights from Brisbane to Broome Bryan had to travel via Sydney. A combination of the kind weather and the flight path into Sydney provided a great view of the Sydney CBD and the harbour. The flight from Sydney to Broome took us over Lake Eyre - which currently has water flowing into it as a result of the recent above average wet season in north Queensland. A little further on the passengers seated on the left side of the aircraft got a great view of the Uluru and Katatjuta. I missed that sight. Coming ...