INLAND AUSTRALIA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 71, Issue 237, 6 October 1928, Page 7

INLAND AUSTRALIA

NURSING IN THE DESERT HARD BUT INTERESTING. Some two years ago a New Zealand girl and an Australian girl, both nurses, ' decided to follow their profession in I more unusual surroundings and under ' harder conditions than those they had found in to»vns and citi 3. So they vol- ! unteered for service with the Australian Inland Mission, and being accepted, set out one afternoon for Birdsville, where they were to be stationed, full of J ’ie spirit of adventure and preconceived ideas of the life they were going t lead. Adventure they had in plenty’ both on the trip and duringtheir stay t the Birdsville Hospital, but their ideas of real western conditions were quickly supplanted one by one as the days drew on. The Trip Out. After some thirty-six hours train travelling from Brisbane, the girls arrived at Quilpie, at about 1 o’clock in the morning. After a few hours’ sleep they set out on a two-ton truck, tightly packed with corned meat, onions, and mail, besides the six passengers, who included an aboriginal bridegroom and bride, honeymoon bent, and sitting on the extreme top of the load. In this vehicle they travelled to Windorah, taking two days, and after a stay there of another two days the two girls set out on the last stage of their journey in a car ‘ 1 consisting mainly of fencing wire and greenhidc, ” as the New Zealand nurse, now back in Wellington, described it to a Post reporter, the other day. From then on the tale was one of punctures, lost ways, engine trouble, thirst, combined pushing, rei 'acing gaskets with blotting paper, and general diser for' and delay in the extreme heat. Ninety miles from their destination the engine jibbed completely’, and although the whole day was spent in overhauling, night found them still in the same spot. They tried to attract the attention of the Betoota settlement, twenty miles back, by lighting big patches of lygnum bush, and even climbed a tree to light an eagle-hawk’s nest, but all without avail. So they slept out in the sandy desert beside the car, having for their meals black tea made out of liquid mud. corned beef, bread a week old, and pickled cabbage, all off a newspaper. One passenger, however, did not sleep. Although he had spent an entire day working on the engine in t? broiling sun, he set off at th ht unknown to the others, walked back to Betoota for help, and brought out a settler with another car in the morning, the party returning vrith him, and later making a less eventful journey on to Birdsville, completing the six hundred odd miles twelve days after leaving Quilpie! This tr” : ng journey was not exactly the kind of introduction to a new sphere of work which most people would have cherished, hut the two nurses took it in the right spirit, and were soon settled at the hospital, which was set right in the desert (they had expend hush, hut there was not a tree in sight) and 450 miles away from telephone nr doctor, medicines taking six weeks to get. Minor complaints mostly were dealt with, both

whites and aboriginals coming many miles for treatment, for there were only eight families actually living in the settlement. Camels with Supplies. While the girls had expected a certain amount of riding, they did not sec many horses. Camels were the only animals they mounted, and these they l«arnt to ride quite, well. A string of sixty or seventy of the b sts were used to bring up supplies to • 0 settlement three or four times a year from Maree, 450 miles away. Camels in Arabia seem quit© appropriate, but one does not somehow connect them with Australia. The Birdsville Races. With rainfalling only at four or fiveyear intervals, water is rather a problem in these desert settlements, and at Birdsville, 100 gallons, carted, cost ten shillings. It had to 1 cleared with Epsom salts before it was fit to use! When the water hob ; failed, digging was resorted to. When the rain did come, however, there was general rejoicing, although the younger children were very frightened, never having seen raindrops before. We in New Zealand almost pray for fine weather for race days, but at Birdsville, far inland in Australia, rain alone governs the racing dates. When it rains the horses can be fed up; a couple of booki. ; arrive at the settlement; peeople come in motor cars after perhaps two days’ journey, to watch the preliminaries and place their bets. There is a racecourse with the necessary judge’s box and a weighing machine (rough, but serving the purpose), and excitement is intense although there are never more than two or three horses in a race! Still Australians will be Australians even in the desert. Tinned Diet. With the temperature r ,r > in the shade in summer the girls found the keeping of fo ' something of a problem, even though everything was tinned. Only twice all the time they wore at the hospital, did they taste anything fresh beyond potatoes and onions. They made their own breed because what e term ”a half loaf” cost Is 6d, and goat’s flesh was the main meat dish, although even that got poor in the drought. Any beef had immediately to be salted, tied into bag and liung-in a draught. When taken for use it would be hard and black and had to be soaked and boiled in several waters, making it dull and fibrous by the time it reached the table. Lemonade, like beer, cost five shillings a bottle. Butter, al o tinned, was less trouble, and by putting it in a covered kerosene tin with water in it and keeping it in a draught it could be kept quite / 'r: ■ even in hot weather. Letters arrived fortnightly, which was fairly good service, and with the general inconvenience, never ceasing fly pests, and occasional sandstorms, the girls always welcomed mail from more civilised parts. Who wouldn’t? Dying presented as much a problem as living, for only the most primitive conditions prevailed for burial at Birdsville. A coffin could be made locally for a child, but for adults a haver-, sack had to serve. The two nurses stayed fifteen months at their inland station before returning again to towns and cities. Theirs

was a trip of difficulties and hardships, as well as interest, but surely many will envy then their adventure away from concentrated civilisation with its rush and hurry, security, and co .vcnicnce.