| Station life was hard and
made harder by the isolation. The hub of any station was the homestead.
Whether or not there was a 'Missus' to run the essential backup services
for all who lived on the big properties, someone had to be responsible
for the feeding, such medical care as could be given, and the provision
of a place for the management to operate.
Sometimes these functions
would have been performed by the owner's or manager's wife, sometimes by
paid help. Many station cooks were male, and the boss was often the provider
of health and welfare for the station hands.
The station supplies for
Burke Shire were usually landed at the Burketown wharf. Initially Burns
Philp had much of the trade but was replaced in the 1880s by Clifton Aplin
and Company. Camel or horse transport was used to take wool into Burketown
and carry supplies on the return journey.
For many properties the great
distance and the transport problems meant that orders had to go in for
twelve months. Typical was an order for one station in 1888, which included
2 tons of flour, l ton of common salt (meat had to be salted), 22 bags
of raw sugar, 6 x 1/2 chest of tea (56 pounds), l dozen pipes and two boxes
of tobacco, large amounts of bicarbonate of soda and tartaric acid for
making baking powder for 'rising' for damper, one of the bushman's staple
foods. The tartaric acid was used, and still is used in preserving.
Spices were also brought
in large quantities to help vary the cooking. Fresh meat was, of course,
never in short supply and could be supplemented with game. Dried fruits
were important, as some stations had not much in the way of fresh fruit
and vegetables, though quite a number employed gardeners.
Office supplies had to be
ordered: one interesting item listed was a copying press for making copies
of ink written letters, by pressure.
This was done by writing
the letter in good quality ink in a letter book with special absorbent
paper. It was then placed in the press with a sheet of paper under the
freshly written page and pressure was applied to force the ink through
to make a positive copy.
Replenishing the medicine
chest was very important and a variety of drugs were in common use. Laudanum
for pain, chlorodyne for diarrhoea, drugs that are not available today
because they are considered too dangerous to be used by the medically untrained:
'fever mixture', Epsom salts and eye lotion were ordered, simple remedies
for the most common ailments.
Popular proprietary lines
of the day such as Holloway Ointment and Holloway Pills for the treatment
of 'inveterate ulcers, bad legs, sore breasts, sore hands, gout and
rheumatism' were kept on hand. These all purpose, internal and external
applications were supplied in very attractive little ceramic pots of various
shapes and sizes. Packaging was important even in those days.
For these runs, so far away
from medical services, serious illness or accidents had to be borne with
stoicism and such home nursing as might be provided by the more experienced
bush people, and maybe from the knowledge of the Aboriginal people. The
later development of the Royal Flying Doctor Service was a dramatic improvement,
but in the early days there were often no other options than death.
The order would also a list
a great deal of tackle and tools needed for the next twelve months of property
maintenance; axe and hatchet handles, nails, horseshoes, leather for saddlery
repairs, buckles, gun powder and shot, tar, needles and flat iron, are
just a few of the items.
Running a station was a very
large operation. It still is but with the aid of modern transport and freezers
life has become a little easier.
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