ORDINARY FOLK

Ordinary folk from around the globe embarked on an extraordinary journey ... to a time long gone, to the romance of stockmen and campfires and the aloneness of life on the long Outback paddock - and they loved every second of it.

Last month a brave experiment came its successful conclusion. The Great Australian Cattle Drive - which was supposed to be a one-off event for the 2002 Year of the Outback celebrations - rolled into the Outback SA town of Marree with hundreds of happy customers in tow. Cattle Drive, Mark 2, proved the public can't get enough of the romance of being part of a driver's camp. And now the event is set to be a regular on the Outback calendar.

In opening up the Aussie Outback to a range of city people, many of whom were international visitors, the scene was reminiscent of the spoof City Slickers, where urban professionals get into all sorts of strife when they decide to take to the open ranges for a week. But the difference with fantasy and reality of this cattle drive is the level of care and excellence shown by professional drovers in charge of their keen but inexperienced riders.

Shane Oldfield, boss drover, said he was generally touched by the level of commitment and willingness to learn during the trip, which began in Birdsville in April and wended its way down the famous Track over the next two months, changing camp eight times and swapping the visitor crews after five to seven bights on the road.

"I've had an enormous sense of gratification on this trip," says Shane, who was also on the first Cattle Drive back in 2002. "It not only gives people from the coast a real taste of what it's like on the land - especially during the drought - but is also allows them to experience the freedom of the bush. It's not a stark, harsh reality, admittedly, but it's a halfway mark to understanding some of the difficulties people on the land are facing right now. And that's halfway to an understanding they'd never have experienced otherwise."

And it's not just the tourists who have benefited from the Drive - Shane says it also vies young people from the region a chance to learn skills they might not have picked up.

"It's about keeping the droving spirit alive," he says. "We've got a reasonably young droving crew this time and they're loving it. They're learning off the older people, exchanging skills and ideas, and they're becoming better people because of it. That's not just in a sense of learning droving skills, but also in learning people skills, communication skills, coming out of their shell."

The Oldfield name is synonymous with the cattle drive. Shane's uncle, Eric Oldfield, was one of the driving forces in getting the original event up and running, and remains an "ambassador" on this drive. It was Eric and close friend, Keith Rasheed, who runs the popular Wilpena Pound Resort, who came up with the idea "over a bottle of rum".

"Eric and the Oldfield boys came down to visit and we started talking about what we could do to help promote the Outback," says Keith. "The longer the night went on, the more we thought a cattle drive would be a great idea. Next morning, sore heads and all, it still seemed a good idea, so I half jokingly said I was going to put an ad in the paper calling for stockmen and a horse trailer. They all just looked at me and said 'that's us'! Then I knew we were serious, so I started things moving."

'Starting things' meant tackling the South Australian Government for support, which they readily agreed to. "The first Cattle Drive was such an amazing experience. Even though we'd planned it as a one-off, none of us could let go. It changed everyone's lives - tourists, stockmen and locals. It sounds clichéd, but it really was a very spiritual experience for everyone. It moved us all."

Keith and Eric got to talking again and decided to tackle the event as a regular thing. "I got into the ear of the then federal tourism minister Joe Hockey and convinced him that this was the best marketing Australia could do to show off the Outback. Joe got right behind us, as did Tourism SA. And so, after a lot of blood, sweat and tears, here we are again - and it's been as amazing as the first drive, although different. It's like making a movie and following up with a sequel. No matter how good it is, it's never as magical as the first."

Shane has to agree, even though he says this Drive has introduced him to a whole new group of people he has come to admire. "On the first drive, we were all knocked out by the impact on people," he says. "One woman really drove it home. She'd been diagnosed with breast cancer before coming on the drive and was determined to live each second to the fullest. About six months later, I got a letter from her saying her condition was terminal and she asked if I could send her any footage of the Drive, because it was the thing she wanted to relive and remember as she became more and more ill. I don't mind admitting that it made me cry."

From city slickers to stockmen

People from every walk of life joined the cattle drive. On our leg, we had former CEOs, ex-farmers, a neuro surgeon, a Qantas pilot, a group doing some "corporate binding" and two amazing women doing a "Thelma and Louise".

Jenny Gibson and Barb Chalmers decided to pack up decided to pack up their respective belongings in Canberra, chuck it all in storage and hit the road. The cattle drive sounded like a good start to their new adventure.

"Barb and I decided life was too short to just sit around," says Jenny, "So we went out and got our truck-driving license. We're heading over to the West to try to get work as drivers on the mines. But who knows where we'll end up?"

Barb said the cattle drive was the perfect first stop. "It's just been wonderful - we've met some amazing people and being out on the land drives home just how important it is to follow your dreams."

Tom and David O'Brien, a father and son team, said the experience was uplifting for them - but being ex-cattle station owners "it was a bit slow at times," says David, who used to run his father's family property at Dysart in central Queensland prior to moving to the city. "But slowness aside, it's great. It's a different way for people to see this country and tap into the nostalgia of the Outback."

Tom agrees that the Drive gave people the opportunity to see the land from a perspective few would otherwise ever experience. "It's a great thing for the Outback and it shows a really creative flair for promoting Outback culture. It's about keeping the spirit of the bush alive and that's very important. And in some ways, it's showing how the country work ethic is more honourable than the corporate world."

One work group was attending the Drive as part of a "corporate bonding" exercise. It got a bit messy when one of the younger members of the IT company decided it was a good idea to take calls on his sat-phone, on horseback, in the middle of nowhere, in the peace and solitude of the Outback.

While some guests thought lynching was a good idea, a quiet word after day two seemed to keep the phone off the hook for the rest of the trip.

 

By Julie McGlone reproduced from Friday Magazine a Rural Press Limited Publication July 2005

 

 

 

 

 

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