John Davis (Bush Poet)
John Davis tells his true story of how the RFDS was absolutely the life saving organisation for me
The following is a true story of how the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia (RFDS) was absolutely the life saving organisation for me in the far north western corner of NSW. No doubt there are many other tales but I am very conversant with this particular story as I am the person that was in need of help.
Salisbury Downs is aprox 85 km south east of Tibooburra and at the time of this story was owned by my father and I worked there as a station hand. When he drew the block in a land ballot in 1948 there was very little in the way of improvements and infrastructure. The fencing was in a very dilapidated state and the few old buildings that used to be the homestead in very poor condition indeed, however, that was where we had to live until a shearing shed and shearers quarters was built.
When the quarters were not being used for shearers we moved in but had to go back to camp in the old house while shearing was in progress, then after shearing we would move back into the quarters.
About mid 1955 while we were living in the shearer’s huts my father had to go away to town on business and I was left at the place with my mother and young sister with instructions to keep a good check on the sheep for flystrike. There was a Land rover there and I was told that if it rained to any reasonable extent I was not to use the Rover but to carry the work out on horseback.
Well it rained about two and a half inches [which is 60\70 mm] and that Mulga crabhole country is very near impassable for a while after that much rain so when the rain had finished I got a horse and left the huts at about 4am in the morning as it was 20km to the paddock that I had to check. I had medium stomach pain during the night which was persisting but I went off nevertheless.
The pain increased during the day and I was having alternating bouts of being hot and cold but by 2pm I had finished my inspection and was on my way home and by the time I got home at about 6pm I was feeling very bad indeed.
I had not been able to eat my sandwiches for lunch and did not want any dinner and told my mother who said that all she thought was wrong with me could be cured with a good dose of castor oil or Epsom salts which she proceeded to prepare and I made her angry by refusing to take her remedy as I felt that there was much more wrong than she thought.
Next morning I was worse, I was starting to wonder how sick you had to be to die and my mother became alarmed when she came to my room and saw my condition, she got straight onto the Royal Flying Doctor Service via the station transceiver and the Doctor diagnosed severe acute appendicitis with instructions that I was not to be allowed to move under my own steam.
The roads were almost impassable and the nearest all weather strip was at Bootra 28km away but Harold Green the owner of Bootra set out with three vehicles, two four wheel drive jeeps and his personal family car with sister Myra Blanch on board but after several hours of bogs collected me and got me to the Bootra homestead where the Royal Flying Doctor Pilot, Jack Jenkins, was waiting to fly us to Broken Hill. I got myself into trouble with Sister Blanch as she told me I was not to move while she prepared the bed on the plane and they got a stretcher to carry me to the plane but with the arrogance of youth when she wasn’t looking I got out of the car and walked to the plane a distance of about fifty metres.
She told me in no uncertain terms that she was in charge of my well being and my condition was so serious that a foolish act could easily be my complete undoing. You can bet your sweet life I did every thing just the way she told me after that. Myra Blanch was a wonderful lady well liked and respected and very competent.
We landed in Broken Hill just before dark and I was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and taken straight to surgery where Dr. Gregory removed a ruptured appendix and I spent four weeks recovering.
If it was not for the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia (RFDS) and staff and Harold Green I may not have been here fifty two years later to tell the story.
About John Davis
John Davis was born in Broken Hill in 1937 and was educated at North Broken Hill Primary School then Black Friars correspondence and finished at Yanco Agricultural High in the Riverina.
John has spent more than half his life in outback Australia, mainly in the western division of New South Wales where he experienced life in the outback with the people who worked the land and lived in this beautiful but sometimes harsh landscape.
John has also worked with cattle on large stations in the Northern Territory Barkley Tablelands and the Queensland Gulf country. He has managed grazing properties including his own property but reluctantly had to retire in his mid sixties, due to ill health.
John recounts, that during his life, he has been interested in poetry, in particular bush poetry and prose. It was during his last teen years when he was working on stations in arid zones of New South Wales, John gained a great deal of enjoyment and amusement from reading Lawson’s prose writings.
It was only in John’s retirement years and after raising a family that he has had time to record his life’s experiences through his poems and short stories. With the support and encouragement from his friends and family he is recording his experiences over the last sixty years in ‘A Bushman’s Tales’ for the enjoyment of all who come across his work.
John is a member of the South Australian Bush Poets and Australian Bush Poets Associations and has been successful in competitions held Australia-wide for Bush Poetry. John said he is now working on his second book as there are many more tales to be told.
A Bushman’s Tales ‘The Way I See It’ by John Davis, a memorable selection of poems and stories. Published by Voyager Paper & Publishing Pty. Ltd. 50c Keoghs Road, Kangaroo Valley NSW 2577.
Bush Poet John Davis has offered his support throughout 2008 with a generous offer of $5.00 for each and every one of the sales of his book 'A Bushman's Tales'. Mention RFDS and $5.00 from each book sold will be donated to RFDS. John Davis contact details are, 37 George Avenue, Kings Point NSW 2539. Cost $22.00 including postage and handling.