Rex Ellis Was Born in 1942 and Lives with His Wife, Patti, in Their Rammed
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Rex Ellis was born in 1942 and lives with his wife, Patti, in their rammed-earth and native-timber house surrounded by old-growth mallee scrub and located on colourful cliffs overlooking the River Murray. From this semi-desert base he operates short summer safaris by camel, boat or 4WD vehicle, and longer safaris throughout the outback of Australia in the winter. After jackerooing and overseeing on sheep stations for six years, he began his safari business in 1965, operating in many non-tourist areas. In 1971 Rex led the first party of tourists to cross the Simpson Desert. Subsequent trips have been to other deserts and tropical regions, such as Cape York Peninsula, the Gulf country and the Kimberley region. His regular 4WD trips were to the Nullarbor/Great Victoria Desert, Birdsville/Strzelecki Tracks and Flinders Ranges. He purchased the Birdsville Pub in 1973, and for six years used it as a base for trips into the Simpson Desert. Inland boat safaris became a specialty after Rex made the first and only crossing of Lake Eyre by boat during the 1974 floods. Since then he has followed most of the inland’s flooding rivers. In 1976 he pioneered long-haul desert camel expeditions and has crossed all the Australian deserts. When not travelling or writing, he plants native trees and pursues his inter- est in wildlife, in particular, birds. [Author photograph: Lyn Bartlet] Also by Rex Ellis Bush Safari (Rigby and MacMillan) Mulga Madness (Central Queensland University Press) Outback by Camel (Simon & Schuster) Ten Thousand Campfires (Central Queensland University Press) Boats in the Desert (Central Queensland University Press) Map of the Australian Deserts (Adelaide Map Shop) Rex Ellis Wakefield Press 1 The Parade West Kent Town South Australia 5067 www.wakefieldpress.com.au First published 2009 Copyright © Rex Ellis 2009 All rights reserved. This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced without written permission. Enquiries should be addressed to the publisher. Cover design by Stacey Zass Typeset by Wakefield Press Printed and bound by Hyde Park Press, Adelaide National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author: Ellis, Rex, 1942– . Title: Go with the flow/Rex Ellis. ISBN: 978 1 86254 853 4 (pbk.). Subjects: Ellis, Rex, 1942– . Travelers – Australia – Anecdotes. Australia – Description and travel. Australia – Social life and customs. Australia – Environmental conditions. Dewey Number: 919.40494 Contents Map of the Inland River System vi Foreword vii Introduction x Acknowledgements xi 1. Desert Boating – 2007 Inland Floods 1 2. Stoney’s 40th 15 3. Cocklebiddy, the Sydney Show and Kybo Station 20 4. Bush Hats 37 5. The Multilevel Experience 41 6. A Bad Smell 51 7. The Nullarbor Nymph 54 8. The Crystal People 57 9. Wedge-Tailed Eagles and Other Raptors 64 10. Physical Book Launches 72 11. Awards 83 12. Geeb – The Innocent One 89 13. Bureaucracy and the Shiny-Bum Brigade 95 14. Odds and Ends along the Rocky Road of Life 104 15. The Man from Rabbit Flat 121 16. The Difficult Pick-up 130 17. My Love Affair with Peugeots 134 18. Prince Regent River Expedition – Kimberley Coast 138 19. A Great Victoria Desert Camel Expedition 157 20. Outback Tragedy – The Page Family Perish 167 21. A Nullarbor Bushman 174 22. Cooper Creek Boat Safari (2008) 178 23. The Dromedary – Down a Lazy River 187 24. A Final Word 194 Introduction ‘Go with the flow’ is an often-heard term. It is arguably a good course to adopt if you wish a relatively trouble-free life. Whether following inland floods by boat or crossing desert dunes, it is far easier to go with the current, or traverse the dunes where the prevailing winds have created a more gradual slope. As I write this there is a lot of ‘flow’ happening in western Queensland. In an ideal world I would be up there operating a boat trip down the flooding Warrego River – ‘going with the flow’, of course; or maybe later, as the Warrego runs into the Darling, giving life to a previously dead river – a river murdered by Australians. Describing this book would be a difficult task, the subject matter being as diverse as the Land of Oz itself. You could apply ‘go with the flow’ to a few chapters, but certainly not all. Sometimes it takes guts and personal sacrifice, and that is covered here. A thing I hold very dear is the Australian spirit, in all its manifestations, but increasingly it is under siege from both within and outside the country. We undoubtedly live in the best and luckiest country in the world, but many Australians take this for granted, or seem totally unaware of it. No matter what your problems, you are better off having them here than in other parts of the world. There is no better time for Australians to take the lead in tackling many of the world’s problems – particularly environmental. Nature can teach us most things, and if a bird’s nest is not spot on, the bird cannot survive. Our nest is the environment and unless we fix and maintain it, we have no future. Pretty simple equation, really. We should be world leaders in renewable energy, but typically wealthy interests keep the lid on new developments. We could show the world how to excel on limited water. While our governments march to the tune of the banks and multinational corporations, it is exceed- ingly difficult for change to occur. Many problems used to be caused by x ignorance and greed, but these days it is mainly greed. We know many of the answers but greed is the major factor that prevents the solutions from being applied. The classic example is the case of hemp (not mari- juana). We live on a huge desert island with limited water available, yet we grow cotton and rice with their massive requirements of chemicals and water. Much of these crops are grown by wealthy corporations and businessmen. Without a grass roots-led revolution, not a lot will change. Small independent newspapers are a big help, but eventually the public will have to take up the cause and run with it. And they may have to ‘go against the flow’ to do it. Rex Ellis Acknowledgements Front cover painting: Jeff Morgan (Hawker, SA) Back cover photo of Rex with Billycan: Fran Cumming Cartoons: George Aldridge Typing: Nicole Hahn With thanks to ‘Stoney’, ‘Spitta’, Bruce Farrands and Eileen Nelson for their contributions; and, last but not least, to my wife, Patti, who puts up with a lot. xi Chapter 1 Desert Boating – 2007 Inland Floods In February 2007, big rains fell in south-west Queensland resulting in local flooding in the Diamantina and Georgina Rivers. At the time I was sitting on the flooding Hookina Creek in the Flinders Ranges where up to six inches of rain had washed out sections of bitumen road and caused external damage to fencing and roads on surrounding stations. I was bringing a truckload of camels from Arkaroola with a couple of mates, Barry Elliott and Len Cooper. Stranded with us was the manager of Durrie Station on the Diamantina River, Norm Simms, and his family. He was trying to get the kids back to school in Port Augusta. He had phoned Durrie, and heard that over four inches of rain had fallen. I started thinking boat trips – all the Queensland monsoon flood water would be behind the local flooding, guaranteeing me navigable water. I was tickled pink. As soon as I arrived home I began planning trips – one on Eyre Creek, one on the Diamantina, and maybe two down the Warburton River to Lake Eyre when the massive Goyder Lagoon Swamp filled and began running into the Warburton Channel. This chapter describes those trips. As Jimmy Crombe and Don Rowlands headed back to Birdsville in my Oka 4WD, four of us were left at Lake Cuttaburra, over a hundred kilometres north of Birdsville. The road disappeared into the creamy water of the Georgina River system, and we were sitting on our swags surrounded 1 Go With the Flow by the boat and sundry gear. The boys had grilled steaks before they left and as the Oka’s motor receded in the distance, we sat with beers in our hands, anticipating the adventure before us. My offsider was a good mate called ‘Spitta’ (his birth certificate records the name of James Spitzcowsky) from the shores of the Great Australian Bight, Joey Gough from Scotland, and Martin Tucker from Adelaide, one of my regular ‘river runners’ – and, of course, Billycan, my Jack Russell. I had returned to the river to try and complete a route I had attempted some five years earlier – to follow the Eyre Creek through a large series of channels to Lake Muncooney on Eyre Creek in the Simpson Desert. We had been unsuccessful on that occasion, our channels always ending in shallow water. On this occasion, the Mulligan in the north-east Simpson Desert was also running and I had hoped there might be enough water to bulk up the lignum swamp. If it was not deep enough for us to get through, I would return to the point where the vehicles left us and the boys would return and pick us up. We would then spend the rest of the trip on the Diamantina River, south of Birdsville. It was my intention to head north up the river to Glengyle Station and have a yarn to John Cobb, the manager, before heading south and tackling the swamp.