Part 11 Farming -- possible selling of BC operation
Now some 18 months later Jim is thinking of selling his BC operation as he has an offer on an even larger spread here of 1500 sq miles that is doing well. The manager/owner on this site is about 70 years of age and understandably desires to retire once a replacement is found for him and he prepared to assist for up to three months.
Jim calls a meeting of all managers including his BC manager, with his BC Manager he gets here about two weeks ahead of the meeting so he can visit all our stations. Brian the person from BC operation says I sure like the way you work out here I am very impressed. At one point Jim asks would you like the opportunity to move this way from what I have seen the answer is yes, ok thanks for that info.
Oh bye the way how is your assistant manger working out, actually surprisingly well because at first he was a little oh dam I cannot think how word this sorry. Jim says I think you had meant; he had to eat humble pie -- that is a good description. Now he is married and I believe he has two kids what sort of age are they. Frankly, I do not know as his wife never joined him and he does not seem to visit her either - Hum interesting.
Well the next day both John and Keith flew into base station and that evening was purely social. Ian soon joined us and we all had a great evening in a relaxed environment.
The next morning after a good breakfast we all assemble in the boardroom, Jim outlined the improvements that have taken place and he thanks everyone that has helped achieve this.
Do any of you have any ideas for further improvements in our overall operation, Keith asked who was it that started getting the kids to wear Hi-Vis shirts, John says it was actually Ken who had his whole crew including the kids as from my point of view it is the kids school uniform.
Jim then added when John and Roger were at Tara they went into the schoolhouse and were spotted by the teacher in Alice Springs as that schoolroom has a wide-angle camera that shows the whole classroom. The first thing we knew was the teacher telling the rest of the kids Tara has visitors, just standby and we will put Tara on the air and we gave the kids something to talk about and Jim here has a copy of that. Broadcast you might have warned me of your intention just hang on as I have to find the disk. The disk was played and the consensus you two did good work there thanks for sharing it.
Jim now says the news; I am seriously thinking of buying another station and this will our largest spread. If I go ahead, I will sell off my BC Operation, now I will use my own manager and assistant manager who will look after all maintenance. This means if our BC managers are interested, we will bring them into our operation as assistant managers to learn our ways of operation the same way as John and his brother Roger did some years ago.
Your thoughts please gentlemen, the general information wanted was what type of activities are taking place, is it mainly grazing or grain. What is the water situation and how many families living on the station?
Those are items have to examine relating to the families, but I am told the water situation is good, some good wells plus the normal roof catchment. Well guys I think is time for some socializing. It was Brian from BC that got a lot of questioning, he was telling the difference of handling various jobs was totally different and appears to be much more effective here, so tell us Brian how long have you been the manager there approx ten years. Interesting was the general comment.
Jim says we have time for another round before Nancy puts dinner on the table if anyone would like it. John got into discussion with Brian and said it was the best thing my brother and I every did, we have no ties in BC after our Dad passed away.
So Brian do you have any ties back in BC no nothing in Canada but I do have a sister in UK and we communicate about five or six times a year and that's it for me. Well we had a great Dinner and finished up with some liquor that made a good meal even better.
The next morning Jim talks to each manager there privately before they returned to there home base. Just Brian is left; well Brian what do you think would you be prepared to work as an assistant manager during shall we call it training period that could be as long as 4 months and then you could have your own station to manage.
Now be honest your assistant manager does he do any maintenance or welding no he does not and frankly he would not adapt to your ways of working -- fair enough.
Now here's a question for you, as you realize the stations are much larger land wise to what you have in BC. Now we at times all go "Bush" in other words we have a waterproof sleeping bag that also carries other items and is complete with a bug screen it also has a built in air mattress and we join up with different crews who sleep out in the same way. So would you be prepared to do that at least once a month, Brian's comment is well I have never done that but would like to see the response from the crew. I tell you what I'll get something setup because there is a lot of different work going on at Tara, let me talk to John out there and see what he says.
A long story but Brian goes to Tara and met by John and Roger, Brian is lent some suitable clothing including Hi-Vis gear and he gets changed, Brian is shown on the map roughly where they will go and what he will see. I assume you have your camera good, I'll get you a zip-lock bag for that to keep the dust out. Roger says to his brother shall we hit the tracks yes I think so, I have already got the Esky loaded in the Ute I figured we would take the crew cab one make a little more seating space with our guest, the first place we hit is the cattle area, the crew is out there somewhere so we drive under a group of trees for shade and point out various things to Brian. We have been here about 30 minutes when John's radio comes to life Tara John is that you over by our camp Tara cattle out
Sure is Tara cattle, we have a bloke here from Canada and we are showing him around, are a prospective conversion. We will see you guys later, I get my field glasses out and scan over the cattle then I spot the crew. Well Brian your thoughts and can you see the crew there are three of them and they are riding horses. Basically they will take a ride once or twice a day and check the cattle out making sure none of them have got stuck. I had spotted two of the rider coming in around the back of us the other one heading straight for us. Suddenly Brian felt a hand on his shoulder and a voice asking how are you doing mate, it scared the hell out of Brian and then he is laughing. There was lots of talk about the cattle; Brian was brought into the conversation at all times.
Roger gets up and collects some fire wood with a member of the crew, they get two good armfuls and the fire is lit and the kettle is put on. It does not take long before it is boiling so tea all around. John gets a large flask of water and tops the pot up. Once there is some hot ashes some spuds are put in the ash to start cooking. A good meal is had by all and everyone was in bed by about 8:30 pm. Brian was looking at the sky prior to falling asleep.
The next day they visit two different areas where ploughing is taking place at the second area as they pull in Rogers radio goes asking if he is near area 7, he answers yes I am what's the problem an oil leak I cannot seem to stop. Where about's are you? bottom end of the slope. OK I'll be there in a few minutes to look things over. I quickly slide under the machine and soon spot the problem, one of the oil pan bolts has come loose. I dig out my tools and say to Brian come with me please. This an awkward spot as you need thin fingers get the socket wrench on that bolt but don't over tighten it otherwise you will either strip the thread or break the bolt. The leak is stopped and oil levels checked out OK.
Brian watches the operation and John moves onto the fencing crew, then he heads up to there favorite high spot where there is a group of trees and John says welcome to our private camping spot. This is where we both on occasions come for peace a quiet.
So Brian I know this is very different from BC because that is where we both grew up on a farm. I know you have only been here a few days but would you be able to adapt to our way of doing things and life.
That's good question and difficult to answer, however I can certainly see many benefits of going bush as you call it and the thing I found interesting was the sky last night. I do not think I have every seen the stars as bright and clear before. But that is away from the job, the other interesting thing was the way the crew tells you they have a problem and it is tackled right there.
You thought nothing of sliding under that machine checking things out and fixing it on the spot. That is very different from BC, Well Brian although I'm the Assistant Manager I'm responsible for all maintenance of equipment so things are done on site as downtime cost money. I also have a welding ticket; John can best explain how we two worked when we had the family farm. You will also find all stations in this country have a fair number of Aboriginal employee's. They are very caring in regards to the animals on site and some have become excellent equipment operators.
While this is all going on Jim has been in discussion with both Ian & Tony about there other mate out on the west coast if he would be interested in taking over the maintenance side on one of our stations.
Brian and company spent another night out, however this time they washed there meal down with some beer and during the conversation that evening we never supply beer to anyone of the crew and it's for safety reasons, however we try to have a crew BBQ once a year at which time beer is supplied in limited quantities mainly because the Aboriginal crew tend to go over board and get well and truly pissed.
So Brian what do you think so far as you have seen, well I have to be honest it is very different however this "Going Bush" for me has been a great eye opener; you know this setup better than the BC one. There is no dressing up, however I do wear a lot of the time Carhartt overalls because they were comfortable and did not fall down either.
We both laughed and John said that is what our Dad dressed us in when we were kids all the time and it was our school dress as well. We had a good evening and hit the swags about 8:30 pm I know I slept right though time about 5:30 am and need a good pee. So once up I got the fire going and the kettle on and started getting some breakfast going as we had some bacon and eggs. I guess my noise disturb the others and they were soon there after they had dug out the plates.
After all the food was eaten Roger said, you're a quick learner Brian congratulations that was very good -- thanks.
After packing up they went to one other area where they were building a couple of dams, and then on back to base. As we pulled up in front of the office Jim was there hi guys how did you make out. Real good says John but I leave it to Brian to really make his comments. My comments are I want to move out here and I realize I must come as an assistant for a period in order to gain the required experience of how things are run and I sure like the idea because the stations are big and going out and meeting the various crew members on there job site. It is a good way to get to know them in a relaxed mode. Well put says Roger.
Well Brian I hate to rush you but you have a plane to catch in two days time early morning out of Sydney so I suggest you get cleaned up and changed and we will take you to Base station and from there we will get a flight to Sydney and on to BC. I'm traveling with you all the way said Jim.
While Brian was away Jim asked John & Roger would he be suitable, the answer was yes, thanks for your assistance in this matter -- no problems hope it all works out the way you want it. Brian is back so you have everything yes thanks; John says I take you both to the landing strip. Within 15 minutes Brian & Jim are off and away.
Over the next couple of months Ian manages to make contact with Tony's help there mate that was working on the gas system on the west coast and Tony finds that Allan is in the same situation as he was as was looking for work. Allan wanted to know where he was working and what the working conditions were like. Tony said he was on maintenance work and it involved both millwright work and welding. Some work was actually out in the bush, plus work in the shop my job title is assistant manger/maintenance. Now I know they are wanting another person and if you are interested you need to contact Jim Fielder. Now you may not get an answer however he always answers all messages left on his machine. Tell him I suggested you make the contact. An alternative way is via email jim@fielder.com and tell him about your self and take it from there.
All this information is passed on to Jim by email so that he has prior warning, as a result of this Jim contacts John and Roger and says I'm tied up here in BC would you please check this person out on the information supplied is OK and if you wish bring him to Tara for up to 2 weeks give the all the information also take him to see Ian & Tony let them have two or three days together as they all knew each other. If you two feel Allan would be suitable take him on, but hopefully I will be back to see him.
About three days later John and Roger get letter forwarded from Jim re -- Allan; I have told him that I'm in Canada but you and Roger will see you on my behalf. When we both read this letter, and our general comment was phew this is quiet a responsibility
Allan comes and visits, and we do a tour and at the same time go bush, this was not planned but a call come in as a piece of the equipment had broken and required some welding the time was 4:00pm so we took the welding truck and a Ute plus an extra swag and fire proof coveralls.
The end result of going bush was an eye opener for Allan but he handled himself well as he did the welding. The other thing was the comment that Allan made regarding the connection you have with the Aboriginal employees.
Well on the way back to Tara office Allan said I sure like the clean fresh air as a lot of the work I had been doing was in a shop nice for lousy weather but I prefer to use a tent over and welding outside if it raining hard, Roger John's comment well if it is really raining you will not be welding as here we get very heavy rain amounting to several inches per hour. So have you done any millwright type of work? Yes I have but not for sometime and that was my fist ticket I got from TAFF then a couple of years later my welding ticket. That is great so I know you have only been here four days what do you thing of our operation so far. So far I like everything I see, well tomorrow I'm going to take you to base station to meet up with my brother who is acting manager there.
We will fly there if the wind is correct it will take us about 5 - 5½ hours, in the mean time I have already told Roger by email of my plans and want his assessment on Allan. However please make sure Tony is out on a job some where. Allan spends several days here and we are in all agreement that this is our man. We email Jim and advise him, a reply come back very quickly offer him the job as assistant manager and say think about it and give us an answer by to-morrow. All being well I will be stopping bye to meet up with you all for dinner tomorrow evening, please let Nancy know.
The next morning after breakfast, Allan loaded his gear into the plane, John get there and does routine aircraft check and within 30 minutes they are board and John start up does the final instrument check and they take off for base station the flight time was 5? hours.
Roger and Ian have a long chat with Allan, then Tony returned and see's Allan and his first word hay Allan come her you ugly bugger it is sure great to see you again, how long has been. I recon it must be at least six years.
Roger takes Allan into the shop and they discuss a couple of projects that are under way. Roger suggests that tomorrow subject to no early calls that you and I work on this equipment, should there be a call then we both will go out on that call and deal with the problem. Well Allan proves himself out; we hear a plane landing and Roger say that sounds like Jim flying in. Jim is the man who makes the final decision on who is hired, Jim joins us and I introduce Allan from the west coast.
Are you Tony and Allan all knew each other back in BC I believe, so why don't you now go and talk with your friends while we go to the office as I need to talk to John & Roger. We will all meet up in the dining room at 5:15pm.
They walk over to the office and Jim, OK John you are recommending we hire Allan and you are satisfied with is abilities, yes we are they tell Jim. Those present all shake hands on the agreement, Jim says I will make Allan an offer in private at our happy hour.
We all go to get scrubbed up and Roger throws his gear into the washing machine, calls out hey John give us your coveralls. Washing is underway, Roger says hey I need my back scrubbing, John says you need a haircut the same as me but not time right now.
We head over to the dinning room and can see Jim in deep conversation with Allan, Jim calls out help yourself you two know where every thing is, while we are doing this Nancy come through and sees John and says good to see you and hope everything is OK -- sure is Nancy thanks. Jim and Allan join us as Ian and Tony come into the room.
Jim makes sure everyone has a full glass and then says I would like to welcome Allan here to this ugly family. He will be joining us in roughly two-week's time you have the floor Allan. I'm lost for words and all I can say this has been the strangest interview I have had for a job because I really didn't realize what was going on. Thank you all and I will try to be an upstanding member of this family.