The boreman
Host: Anna Plains Station
Written by Victor Pitt – Bore Runner, Anna Plains Station.
Hi my name is Victor Pitt and I am the boreman on Anna Plains Station. My role involves checking windmills, fixing leaks in pipelines, checking and refuelling diesel motors that pump water to our tanks and troughs throughout the property.
Anna Plains station is a property located on both sides of the Great Northern Highway. My run consists of two areas. The western side where the cattle graze on the marine plain which mainly consists of Buffell grasses and on the eastern side our cattle graze on Pindan country with Spinifex and Ribbon grasses being the main species. In a day I can visit and check up to 75 waters. My average daily distance travelled is approximately 250km.
My job is to take care of the cattle by ensuring there is always an abundant supply of fresh clean water for them. I also am required to clean troughs when required on a routine basis.
My day starts at 5 am when I venture to the camp kitchen. I am usually first in and therefore put the kettle on for the rest of the crew. Making sure my ute is prepared with many different fittings to repair leaks in pipes and fuelled up is a must. Also making sure I have enough food and water is vital, I have been known to be back at dusk, and I do carry a satellite phone for emergency use. Once I have my gear I set off for my day.
Sometimes I am utilised to help bring in the cattle during a muster and often during my run I am fixing fences around tanks. I have been on Anna Plains for three years and enjoy working on my own and get help when required.
Replacing an Old tank with a new tank.
Replacing a float valve in a tank.
July 26, 2013 @ 10:27 am
There is a stillness in The Kimberley, a quiet, a sense of place that you only experience when you sit and just look, it gets under your skin. I get that when we visit Anna Plains. The sun is hot and dry, it’s been an early start and a long morning and yet just in this moment,time stands still, just for a bit. We’re mustering and Mrs Plains and I spend what seems like hours following two old brindle coloured girls out of the bush, down the road to the yards, we don’t speak to each other, not because we don’t have millions of things to say and share about our children, our husbands, our parents, our friends, station and Perth gossip, politics or just the usual B.S. that the two of us go on with but because it’s the right time, the time to just BE in each others company and follow these two old girls. We watch their every move and follow their every step and just hope that they don’t ark up and jump into the bush. They don’t. They’re happy just trotting along with the gentle whir of the motor humming along behind them. Sometimes they just stop too, bit like Mrs Boss and me. They look around, take their breath, sort of sigh and carry on back down the road. I think we’ve just been officially touched by nature. It affects us both. That’s one of life’s special moments right there.
The Kimberley and Anna Plains get’s under your skin, it has a certain smell, maybe it’s the red powdery pindan that get’s in your boots, in your hair and every crevice of your house and your car. The birds sound different, the sky looks bigger-I can breathe. I can be quiet. Our children experience a freedom they will never get in the city.
Maybe it’s the wide, blue skies, huge open spaces and vast sandy beaches with shells as big as an old stockman’s hand or bigger, maybe it’s the way the sun sets over the ocean as we stand around the back of an open tray ute sipping champagne, glasses fully charged or is it the way The sun sits therelike a giant ball on top of a bright orange candle and slowly sinks into the mudflats and then the sea? It’s heralds the end of another wonderful day at Anna Plains station.
July 26, 2013 @ 12:31 pm
250km each day – a much better commute than some would have.
July 26, 2013 @ 2:32 pm
G’day Victor,
Great to hear your story mate, it might seem that you are just doing your daily work routine but for people like me who were brought up in the bush but have lived (too long) on the coast it’s a reminder of rural life and it takes me back to my childhood.
I plan on travelling with my wife and four young kids next year and hoping to volunteer at a few stations so the kids can get a taste of life in the bush. So stories like yours are my inspiration, thanks.
August 8, 2013 @ 5:48 pm
Thank you Phil for your comments. Sorry for the delay in my response but who knows maybe your travels might find me! Happy travelling!