Outback Exodus Series

Its 5.30am on the first day of January 2013, the sun is hanging like a big red ball just above the trees with the promise of stifling heat.  Dust motes dance along the rays of light and the world is still and quiet, even the parrots that normally screech and scream at this hour of the day are silent. No traffic on the highway in the distance either, very unusual at this hour of the morning. Something does not feel right with the world this morning. The dogs out the back are silent and cowering in their kennels, no barking to greet the new day, no tail wags and no exuberance. Something is wrong. The silence is unnerving me, the stillness of the morning makes me feel as if I am the only person left alive in the world, something is going to happen, or maybe it already has. I can feel it, the small hairs rising on the back of my neck and down my arms. I just don’t know what is coming. I empty my coffee grounds from my cup onto the ground beside the porch rail where I stand, with a shiver I turn around. I return to the house and turn on the radio and all I receive is static, the television is the same. The phone is dead and the internet has gone down too.  Here I am alone, twenty miles from town and something is wrong. So begins this rollicking tale of survival in the outback of Australia after the biggest disaster known to man. Read on to meet the characters and explore their new lives as they rebuild the world around them. 

We stand on the lookout at the edge of the escarpment looking out across the flood plain to the coast and the village that was my home as a child. The scene before us is much changed from the last time I stood here more than 10 years ago. The earthquake that devastated my outback home has changed the flood plain and the tsunami which must have followed it has thrown up boats and debris several miles from the coast. The highway that bisects the coastal plain is cracked and lifted by the earth quake and there are crevasses sending fissures and lines across the once pristine paddocks that supported the dairy industry that this area was known for. Now all that remains of the great herds of cattle are a few stray head dotted in spots where the grass has survived and the tsunami has not reached. I stand there with tears flowing down my face as I peer out across this wasteland that was once my home. Gavin passes me the binoculars that we had brought from the Police 4 x 4 and I slowly raise them to my eyes to gain a better view of the huddle of houses on the promontory overlooking the sea. I can see the white of the house where my parents have made their home for all their married lives and the house looks undamaged as do many of the other homes up on the hill around it. There is movement in the tiny village of Gordon and this gives me hope that my parents are alive and that our group will find a welcome and safety there.  The outback travellers reach the coast to find the destruction of tsunami and the possiblitity of not finding the welcome they had hoped to find. 

I stand here with tears streaming down my face as I read the small notebooks that belonged to my late mother. The words take me back to a time I can barely remember and her diaries bring those days back to me. The memories she had prior to the birth of my brother and I are now a part of the story of our family, the village of New Gordon and the reasons why we live here as we do. Mum’s diaries contain the story of her epic journey from the Outback to the Coast with so many of the people of Gordon. These diaries were kept up through that journey and for the rest of her life. Every significant thing that happened to Mum and to Gordon is in those diaries. No wonder Mum always wanted me to keep a diary too and trained me to write in it every day. Mum’s diaries and mine now tell of the history of the settlement of Gordon. Moving forward 50 years into the future of Gordon we meet the new generation of the families who settle on the coast after the earthquake. Meet some old and some new friends as we continue the story of Outback Exodus. 

Jenn’s Diary Entry 31 January 2014 Today we saw the settlement come face to face with a shocking incident and I am still reeling from the impact, so are many of the others. We came under attack from a marauding band of thugs from one of the cities. It happened late in the morning, we were at our most vulnerable at the time. Our settlers face the ultimate danger which follows disaster on a great scale. Gangs of roaming thugs who think to take what they haven't worked for. See how they cope with the problems this issue bring forth. 

I am Sloan, some people call me their worst nightmare and others call me their saviour. I am a bit of both. No one calls me friend. This is how I came to be who I am today. 04.00 hrs 01 January 2013 Company Barracks I must be the only person round here that did not celebrate New Year’s. It’s five am, almost time for the guard to change and there is not a sign of another living soul. With the exception of the ever present guard on the gate no one has risen from their cots to get ready for duty. The canteen is deserted as I head to get my first cup of coffee for the day. The urn’s hot, so someone has been around, but there are no signs of them now. No sounds from the kitchen where normally I hear the crash and rattle as the breakfasts are cooked and put on the trays. No chatter from the cooks and no barking of orders from the Sergeant Chef. I wander around the room and settle at a table at the back. Facing both the front and rear doors I sit ever watchful, the training we all have sticks with you for life.  What happens next changes many lives in the course of the year as Sloan takes to the road to revenge the murder of his wife. Read on to learn how he does this.