Welcome to Meet The Locals Series
(Episodes vary 10-50 minutes)
Join host Aimee Volkofsky as she has a few cups of tea and many yarns with the locals along the Sturt’s Steps Touring Route. One of the best parts of travelling in the Corner Country is meeting the locals. Everyone has a different story to tell, but when you listen to the tales of life in the dusty outback, the passion for the area shines through. ‘Meet the Locals’ is a series of audio interviews with a diverse cast of local residents from Broken Hill to Fort Grey and everywhere in between. (Download the App to listen when you run out of mobile phone coverage).
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Poet, publican, and drover, Barney Davies is Tibooburra’s oldest resident and has the stories of a long and full life to prove it. Barney spent many years droving all over New South Wales, South Australia, and Queensland, and eventually came to be in Tibooburra when his father-in-law bought the Family Hotel in 1962.
Join Aimee Volkofsky as she sits down with Barney for a cuppa, some stories, and maybe even a poem. 22 minutes
Long before Sturt and the explorers that came before and after him, the corner country has been home to many different traditional owner nations. Dr Lorina Barker is a descendant of the Wangkumara and Muruwari people (northwest NSW), Adnyamathanha (Flinders Ranges SA), Kooma and Kunja (southwest QLD), and Kurnu-Baarkandji (northwest NSW). Her life work as an oral historian, filmmaker, poet and artist, pieces together the oral and documented histories of traditional owners in the Tibooburra and Corner Country areas.
Dr Barker tells Aimee Volkofsky how language, culture, and connection to country have remained strong through lives working on the land, and stories and language hidden under the guise of gospel songs. 25 minutes
For more than 20 years John Eggenhuizen been taking people on four-wheel drive tours around Australia, including the Sturt’s Steps track many times.
He shares his tips with Aimee Volkofsky on preparing for long drives, safety tips on dirt roads, and some advice on how to handle an injured animal. 12 minutes
Tibooburra has drawn people to her for many different reasons, and there was a time the promise of gold had miners setting up camps.John Illes’ grandfather immigrated from Germany and found himself making a hard living in the dust of Tibooburra’s minefields, where he raised his family.
John has seen the region change a lot over the years and has graded nearly every road you’ll drive on the sturt’s steps route. Join Aimee Volkofsky and John on a trip down memory lane, to a time when Tibooburra’s streets literally shone with gold specs. 18 minutes
Packsaddle roadhouse is a welcome oasis on the road from Broken Hill to the Corner Country.
Food, drink, accommodation, phone coverage, and the friendly hospitality of Mia Degoumois, husband Arnie, and their staff.
Aimee Volkofsky snatched a moment with Mia between customers to hear about the pub’s history and its connection to Sturt’s expedition. 13 minutes
Australia has the worst native species extinction record on the planet, and many species that have not even been documented. The Wild Deserts Project at Sturt National Park sets out to slow that extinction, working with conservationists and researchers to improve habitats for native species and help build their resilience as they face invasive species and a changing climate.
Reece Pedler and Rebecca West head up the program. Reece speaks with Aimee Volkofsky about the project and raising a young family in one of the most remote parts of the country. 27 minutes
Truck driver, road worker, station hand, fire captain, airstrip keeper, John Ainsworth has done nearly every job that can be done in Tibooburra.
You can catch him most mornings having coffee at the front of the corner country store where he greets locals and visitors with the same cheeky smile.
That’s where Aimee Volkofsky finds him, brimming with that friendly, helpful spirit that makes Tibooburra and the far west such a warm place to be. 26 minutes
Grazier, photographer, keeper of history, and visionary behind the Sturts Steps project, Ruth Sandow is one of the main movers behind tourism in far west NSW.
From the moment she first saw what is now the Milparinka historical precinct, she had a vision its historical significance and tourism potential.
She shares with Aimee Volkofsky some of the history she has become the custodian of, and some of her own family’s stories of life on the land. 49 minutes
Vivienne Fazulla has lived and worked in Tibooburra on and off since the 1970s.
She first came, as many do, as a young traveller, looking for adventure in the Australian outback. She ended up staying on, managing the local health service, and marrying the son of a cameleer.
She has become a keeper of many of the different stories that make up the region’s history. She shares with Aimee Volkofsky how she came to be in Tibooburra, having a life and family with one of the last direct decedents of the cameleers of far western NSW. 28 minutes
John Perry started his working life at seven years old, sharpening knives for his father, a roo shooter and farm hand around Broken Hill and Tibooburra. His life changed when a first learned to ride a bronco, sending him off on a life working with horses and cattle.
While he’s loved his life as a stockman, one turn with a horse left him in hospital and learning to walk again. Aimee Volkofsky joins John at his kitchen table for some stories of a life of hard work and adventure on stations across far west New South Wales and Queensland. 13 minutes
Mark Sutton is a Malyangappa man. He has been a guide to places of cultural and historical significance in the region for many years. He is a deep treasure trove of historical and cultural knowledge, and an enthralling storyteller.
Aimee Volkofsky joins Mark on a drive to Mutawintji National Park, where he shares an introduction to the landscape you’ll travel through when you first head north from Broken Hill. 36 minutes
WARNING: CONTAINS REFERENCES TO VIOLENCE AND ADULT THEMES. PARENTAL SUPERVISION RECOMMENDED
Paul Kemp and his family have had a deep involvement and love for the corner country for many, many generations. He is a Dieri man, Dieri country is just over the border in SA, and Dieri people have lived and worked around the corner country for thousands of years.
Paul shares his family’s story with Aimee Volkofsky, from living in tin humpies in the corner country, to grandfather and father’s time as a soldier in the light horse brigade, and many generations of art making. 52 minutes
Phyllis Ainsworth
Phyllis Ainsworth has lived in the corner country and worked as a boundary rider on the dog fence for more than 15 years. She is one of the many women that run things in the corner country; aside from keeping the fence in working order, she volunteers with the RFS, SES, and Ambulance Service.
Phillis shares with Aimee Volkofsky what she loves about one of the most isolated jobs in the country. 15 minutes
