Two Years in Australia’s Wild West: And How It “Grew Me Up”

By D Alexander Stahl

The Outback—so called because it is literally out the back of all major cities in Australia—has been the setting of many of Australia’s exported culturally defining stories and cinematography. Cattle stations or ranches in the Outback provide ample settings for tales to be dreamed up and shared through poem, song, and story.

Two Years in Australia’s Wild West explores one man’s journey into this famed landscape. In this entertaining memoir, author, D. Alexander Steel shares the often harsh, and sometimes amusing, ways life can take us to unexpected but necessary places. Travel from Adelaide to the extreme and wild western edges of the Australian continent via sometimes humorous, sometimes serious vignettes.

This book examines a young man’s coming of age and discusses the myriad ways God intervenes to help us grow into the people we’re meant to become. Through tales of brotherhood, family, and friends, be reminded that we each have a role in God’s grand design; it might just take a bit of wandering to find the way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Nov 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9781973678113

D Alexander Stahl

D. Alexander Stahl is passionate about the people and spirituality of the Australian Outback. Having spent much of his career there, the land left a deep imprint on his life. He currently lives in Encounter Bay, South Australia.

Book preview

TWO YEARS IN

AUSTRALIA’S

WILD WEST

AND HOW IT GREW ME UP

D ALEXANDER STAHL

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Copyright © 2019 D Alexander Stahl.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-9736-7812-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-7813-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-7811-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019917143

WestBow Press rev. date: 11/5/2019

PREFACE

Australia’s outback and the proverbial walkabout have been appropriated into some romantic notion of finding oneself in the midst of isolation from everything but nature. This story is quite the opposite. While the romance of leaving the hustle-and-bustle of the big smoke and urban life might lend itself to one of those stories, I didn’t isolate myself to find myself; others saw me and then helped me to see myself. This is a story of community, friendship, and family.

I suppose there is something romantic about the idea that in order to find community, I had to go to a place traditionally known for its isolation. Desert covers so much of this island-continent I call home, and those stark expanses are the habitat of some of the most unique flora and fauna in the world. But the land also has a history that can be shared from continent to continent. These are themes and things I have become passionate about.

Western Australia’s Western Desert is a place of beauty. Travellers have likened it to other places in Australia, generally the opposite end of the same desert, but to me, there is no place like it. In the time I was there, I began to see subtle differences that are indeed unique to each local point—flora or geography, take your pick.

The outback—so called because it is literally out the back of all major cities in Australia—has been the setting of many of Australia’s exported culturally defining stories and cinematography. Books abound about this and that happened on a station. Cattle stations or ranches in the outback provide ample settings for tales to be dreamed up and shared through poem, song, and story. But this is my own journey from one point to another, full of growth, awareness, understanding, and growing up.

It has been said that adolescence is tough. Anyone who has had anything outside of an exemplary life at that point can attest to that. However, the strangeness of moving from teen-hood to adulthood hits us all in so many ways. This book is a reflection of a time in my life when I can only consider myself to have been naive. The journey is as much about that as it is about those who were key in expanding my understanding and comprehension and in helping me find my own place in the world.

I’d come from a relatively modest background, but at that time, I was not only trying to navigate an expanded universe but come to terms with what it meant to be all grown up. Going from secondary to tertiary education was one thing, but needing to come to terms with a whole new revelation of reality almost hit me out of the ballpark.

The journey that is the subject of this book was and continues to be a high point in my life. That’s when I transitioned from naivety—at war within myself and grappling with my own identity—to being comfortable in my own skin and certain of who I was and where I fit in life.

You can imagine my gratitude to those who took the time to see a person in me. All of them left their mark and influenced me to find a way of being my own self. They set me on a journey towards becoming who I’m created to be. These accounts are predominantly of my connections with indigenous people and the profound impact they have had on my life.

The indigenous people of Australia have a complex and varied set of cultures that cannot easily be translated into a pan-indigenous cultural expression or simplified for tourists. But the cultures represented herein are widely acknowledged as some of Australia’s most remote and yet most widespread, covering much of the continent of Australia.

While culture is important, it is individuals who provide the wealth in this growth experience. A single sapphire might be valuable, but how much more are a hundred together? It is my wish that you will gain some treasure from these stories as you journey with me through the pages of this book.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This is my experience of a lifetime, my adventure, my story. It tells of the beginning of a life of love and learning. And it starts in Australia’s wild, wild west.

Many thanks to the mob of people who helped me know who I was, including the desert denizens of Western and South Australia; Andrew Taylor, Marj Johanson, and the many others who encouraged me and helped me get this together; and my wife and children, for their patience and encouragement in this process, from writing to publication.

Note: In an attempt to maintain the authenticity of my experience, I’ve attempted to write conversations in accent. This is in no way intended to demean the dignity or intelligence of any individual.

CONTENTS

Beginnings: Flight from Adelaide

Pencils, Airplanes, and the Taxi Driver

Home Is Where You Hang Your Hat

A Family, a Story, a Love

Do You Love Me, Brother?

Learning, Growing, and the Usual Mistakes

Fear First Names

So Who Am I Again?

Story Time!

The Simple Things of Life

Taking Less for Granted

The Wild West

Communication Breakdown

The Even Wilder West

Tjukurrpa Has No Beginning and No End—It Just Is

BEGINNINGS: FLIGHT FROM ADELAIDE

I woke up with a start, my mind quickly trying to adjust to my surroundings. Having recently finished a double degree in my field, I had taken a job in a place almost at the centre of Western Australia. And there I was, lying on the couch in my