Beating the Odds

 Today I want to begin to tell you a story about two young PK’s (that’s Preacher’s kids if you’re not familiar with the title).  Their names are Aeneus and Jeannie Gunn and they’d been married a few weeks when he took her and travelled through the Australian Outback, thousands of miles north to became the sole station manager of a very large cattle property called “The Elsey”. The year was 1902. 

When I say “large”, I mean a 5334 square kilometer property.  That’s 2059 square miles for us non-metric folks. That’s 1,393,600 acres (That’s one million, three hundred thousand and change), which is about on par with several properties that still exist in Australia today.  One property that operates to this day, and borders on the one I’m talking about, is Brunette Downs, and has 110,000 cattle and 50 employees.

The history of this property began in the 1880’s with its “acquisition”  by a certain Abraham Wallace.  He lived there with his wife, and 13 children, only one of whom survived infancy.  He had driven 2700 cattle from the Brisbane area (where we live) to the property.  That’s just a mere 3,537 km, (2174 miles). It took him 18 months and he wrote that only about 100 cows died during the trek. Another 900 or so were left behind, either wandered off, or had calves and couldn’t keep up. They became what’s known today as “scrub bulls’, numbering in the tens of thousands, completely feral and sharing the land with the kangaroos, water buffalo, “banteng" sorta of like cow-buffalos, Brumby horses and any other mammal that doesn’t mind living on…..nothing. After a number of years, unfortunately, Abraham died under somewhat mysterious circumstances and the station was managed by a series of other people, who apparently didn’t make any mark.  

Enter 1902 and the afore-mentioned lovely young couple. They lived happily for a year and a bit before Aeneus contracted cerebral malaria and died.  Jeannie had done well to establish herself as a capable woman (albeit the only white woman in the northern territory), winning the respect of the Aboriginal hands as well as the tough ol’ English and Scot cowboys.  But because she wasn’t up to the task of continuing as station manager (Among other things, the times dictated that she still wear long heavy dresses and ride side saddle), she reluctantly returned alone to her hometown of Melbourne.  She never remarried but remained faithful to God and her country, opened a school, worked with war veterans and prospered well into her 90’s.  She died in the 1960’s after the successful publication of several books about life in the Outback, enlightening and softening people’s attitude to the mysterious northern country.   I’m struggling thru “We of the Never Never” for the second time now (1900’s English) and am enjoying it immensely.

So why am I sharing this story with you? Two reasons: 

First, I think we (and by that, I mean “I”) need to remember this Covid thing is not that bad.  People have survived in much worse circumstances, especially when their lives are centered around God.  

And… because we’re hoping to VISIT the Gunn homestead next week!  We opted out of the horseback option, as well as the car. Our friends have driven it, but it’s about a 36-hour drive in the best of conditions, which frequently are anything BUT best. Also, the “Wet” is coming soon. No one can predict it very accurately, but when it arrives, the air becomes unbearably hot and humid, while the roads become impassable. So the plan is to drive only as far as Brisbane, leave the car at the airport and fly to Darwin. Even though the rest of the country remains in lockdown, flights to that part of the country are still running on schedule,.  Our daughter Nicki, a flight attendant, flies every day  mostly for the sake of accessing the active mines that dot northern Queensland.  Anyway, after we regroup in Darwin, hopefully ’seeing the sights’ if there are any, we’ll pick up a self-contained motor home, fill up all the spaces with food and water, and watch the map closely to make sure we stay on the approved roads and out of the forbidden tribal lands or worse yet, the dangerous 4WD only bogs.  

We have a narrow window of opportunity here, since school holidays begin next week, and most of our home groups are taking a break. Besides that, this is just about the only travel option that’s available. We’re free to roam as much as we please, but have to stay in the states of Queensland and Northern Territories. But, at 1,853 million square miles,(each), we shouldn’t get bored.  There’s only been 24 cases of Covid recorded up there, so the Aussie attitude of “She’ll be right, Mate” applies. Oh, and the ‘rest of the story’ as Paul Harvey used to say… in the year 2000, the “uninhabitable land”, known as the Elsey station, was returned to its original owners, the Mangarrayi Aboriginals. They, being clever, have opened it to tourism, which is perhaps much more lucrative than running cattle.  

Stay tuned! God is faithful,  Oh, and remember the little ONE surviving child of Abraham Wallace?  She grew up and today there are 14 of her legacy living throughout Australia.  

Marsha

For some additional light reading.  mtwilson.com.au/documentation/historical-society/historical-society-papers/59-historical-paper-no-4-elsey-station-the-wallace-connection/file