A heartfelt memoir of an outback life

Australia’s wild frontier was once the huge cattle properties that spanned our outback.

Toni Tapp Coutts has written about her lifestyle previously in A Sunburnt Country, and now My Outback Life extends on her life experience of living on a remote cattle property.

Turn left at Daly Waters and keep on going until you reach the Cape Crawford Roadhouse, more famously known as the Heartbreak Hotel. There are three diamond mines in Australia, and one of them is situated in this far-flung location.

Toni’s husband Shaun took a position as head stockman on Macarthur River Station in the big river country of the Gulf. The couple met when Shaun worked on Toni’s family property at Killarney and planned to spend their lives working on remote cattle properties because they loved the lifestyle. They arrived with two young children, and stayed for fourteen years, with Shaun moving into the position of manager during that time.

People living in remote locations usually relish the opportunity to get together with their neighbours at social events, as a break from the monotony of everyday life. Toni involved herself extensively in the community, helping with fundraising, becoming the local Avon lady, and enjoying herself competing in camp drafting events. She helped organise picnic gatherings at Bessie Springs, the closest waterhole, and Christmas parties for the children from cattle stations in the area.

She made many friends through her role of publicity officer for the Isolated Children’s Parents Association, and later bought and managed a general store in the township of Boorroloola. Meanwhile, she had work to do on the cattle property because after her husband was made manager, her level of responsibility rose also. 

Part of her duties included running the station store, running accounts for the purchasers and restocking by phone and fax from stores in Mt Isa. Toni also enjoyed gardening and took pride in having the entrance to the station looking inviting, with sweeping green lawns, flowering shrubs and shade trees forming a welcoming vista.

Boorroloola is now a tourist destination, popular with fishermen and grey nomads taking a look at the Gulf country. The Gulf has changed too, having become more of a mining community than a pastoral community as it once was. Macarthur River is now a mine and is one of the world’s largest silver, lead and zinc mines. It began underground but has now expanded into an open cut mine. A natural bay near Bing Bong Station has been developed into a purpose built port, with a bitumen road installed all the way to the port so that the ore can be transported out by ship.

At the start of the big changes, Toni and her family decided to leave the Gulf and move to Katherine. Toni bought a dress shop in Katherine to provide the family with a wage during the changeover period. This began a new stage of life for Toni, as she got involved in managing the shop, once again throwing herself into Katherine community life. When Toni moved there, the problem of alcohol abuse within the Aboriginal community was very evident, with many people living quite openly on the streets of Katherine.

Toni ran for council in 1996 and was elected effortlessly because of her strong community connections. She has spent a total of twelve years as a councillor and has enjoyed seeing her community grow.

I loved this book, more so because I felt drawn to this lifestyle myself but did not have the connections or opportunity to pursue it. I must say that it is easier to read about it than it would have been to live it, but in some ways, I still feel envious.

If you want a taste of a big life, then pick up a copy of this book. You can’t go wrong.

My Outback Life: Adventures in the Gulf Country by Toni Tapp Coutts (published by Hachette Australia) is available now from Dymocks. Click here to learn more.