Great Australian Outback Yarns by Bill Marsh

Author:Bill Marsh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABC Books
Published: 2021-10-22T00:00:00+00:00

Rhythm of Life

(Nurses Stories)

I work in these remote communities mainly because of the experience and lifestyle. The thing is, you get to go to places where most other people can’t go and you do meet some amazing characters. In between remote placements, I work in a midwifery group practice in Ceduna. So one week I’d be in Ceduna, delivering babies and getting my fix of healthy women and a regular job schedule; the next I’d be out amongst the chaos of a remote community. That was the rhythm of life and by doing that I’d manage about eighteen weeks’ holiday a year.

I only do six-week stints. I find that by week four I’m getting toward my limit and by week six I’ve reached it. It takes a certain character to be able to live in those type of communities, and because you give so much, you come out feeling exhausted. I remember idealistic me, going out to my first remote placement with the belief that I was going to make a difference and change the world. But, nah, it didn’t happen, and I doubt it ever will. What frustrates me is that you’re only giving bandaid treatment. In a number of these communities there’s an element of people not wanting to help themselves. Like, if you refer someone to a larger town for treatment it’d be, ‘Right, I’ve got you an appointment on this day. I’ve booked you a seat on the plane. I’ve got you all organised.’ Then they don’t turn up. And that really bothers me because it’s a huge waste of resources and funds; just the airfares are expensive.

A much more enjoyable experience was at Numbulwar, in East Arnhem Land. Numbulwar’s a small coastal community of around two hundred. To get there you fly to Nhulunbuy, then it’s a couple of hundred k’s south, down on the Rose River. While I was at Numbulwar I befriended two policemen. One was from Darwin, the other from Katherine. They’d schedule their days off with mine so that we’d go fishing. So Numbulwar’s where I caught my first-ever barramundi. There was also trevally and queenies. We got some crab pots, and so we caught mud crabs. Any excess from our fishing exploits we’d give to the Elders or the frail ones in the community.

We had four nurses, three Aboriginal health workers and two drivers. I worked primarily as a midwife and if you wanted to speak to a doctor you’d liaise with Darwin. The accommodation was the basic compound-type. All the windows were barred, and like in most places, there was some sort of weaponry, like a block of wood or an axe, beside the bed, just in case. The front and back porches of my place were supposed to be caged in and locked, but I didn’t see the point. My back door wouldn’t lock so I didn’t bother about locking the front. My thinking was that if someone came in the back door and the front was locked, I’d be trapped.

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