First the Pub, Then the hospital -

‘Tom Steadman went droving with Tom Matheson, shifting sheep from Bidgemia to Landor. On the way they saw lots of kangaroos, among them an albino; they had heard that the zoo was offering 5 pounds for a white kangaroo.

“If only we could wound it just enough to catch it”, one of them said.

5 pounds those days was a fortune to them both. They took their rifles and went in search of the ‘roos but they [the roos] must have had a sixth sense as they had cleared out and were not to be found. By mistake one of the rifles had been left loaded. Tom was walking back to camp carrying a billy can of water , when he looked up and saw Matheson rubbing his hand.

“What’s the matter”, Tom shouted to his companion.

“Look at your own hand”, Matheson replied.

Tom looked down and there was blood everywhere. The rifle had discharged. A freak accident. The spent bullet had burnt Matheson’s hand and then, from a distance of thirty yards, it had gone through Tom’s hand. The two men went over to the outcamp to where Dick Cane was working, and Dick drove Tom to the homestead. From there with Toby Metcalf and Phil Dorter, they journeyed to Meekatharra for medical attention…

...All went well until six miles from Meekatharra when they broke the drive shaft and had to finish the journey on foot, with Tom nursing his injured hand. When they eventually limped into Meekatharra, their first port of call was not the hospital, but the nearest pub.’

Tom’s wound was eventually treated but the doctor told him he was not to go back to work and had to stay in town to be treated as an outpatient of the hospital.

That meant boarding in a local hotel and the cost of that was almost the same as Tom’s weekly wage. One day a letter came for Tom and when he opened it he found 20 pounds inside. His workmates had held a tarpaulin muster* and sent him the money they collected.

This was the spirit of the outback, where mates helped each other out in hard times.

* A tarpaulin muster is when a sheet is laid on the ground and everyone throws some money on it as a donation.

From: Winning the Gascoyne by Rhonda McDonald. Hesperian Press. 1991.

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