Bird’s Eye View

BIRDS EYE VIEW by Carol Messenger

BECAUSE WE ARE WEST AUSTRALIANS AND THAT'S WHAT WE DO

Prophetic words from a man that not only talks the talk but walks the walk. West Australian truckie, Peter ‘Warby’ Warburton from Warby’s Transport was the man behind the recent ‘Wooroloo Hay Run’ that assisted stock owners provide food for their animals following the devastating bushfires that swept through the areas to the East and North East of Perth in February.

I am sure that everyone is aware of the Hay runs to assist drought affected farmers in the Eastern states - well Peter has been involved in a couple of those too - delivering two loads to Cobar in NSW and two loads from Esperance to Meekathara for our own drought affected farmers. So when those stock owners affected by the Wooroloo fires lost so much to the fires it seemed only natural to him to step up again and help out in the way he knew best.

Peter and his cousin Evan from Mooterdine Transport got onto SnapChat and WhatsApp and put the call out for help. Within a short time the offers came flooding in from local farmers and hay exporters from Newdegate, Kojonup, Wandering, Pumphreys Bridge, Cuballing, Narrogin, Williams, Bridgetown, Wagin, Northam and Lake Grace pledging to donate much needed hay.

In total, 621 bales of fodder that needed 14 B doubles loaded to the brim resulted with local farmers and transport companies putting up their hands to load it and transport to those in need. Behind the scenes, the LRTAWA and Farmers across Borders helped to organise this mammoth task.

To the cheers at the ‘send-off’ the trucks left Pingelly on Sunday 7th February to travel up through Brookton, Beverley and up to the Lakes where the BP provided the drivers with coffee and muffins before they continued on with their police escort into the fire region near Wooroloo.

So many people stepped up to help during the fires, personally and many businesses and for this hay run the good people at Wandering Café provided lunch for the transporters and the Peterson family and Karen and Dusty from EASE WA helped to organise the local distribution of the hay.

Luckily most of the fuel for the trucks was donated, but for the drivers who gave up their weekend and used their trucks – we give you a huge thumbs up and thank you.

I cannot imagine the pain and devastation of coming home to find nothing except a pile of ash. Absolutely everything – belongings, keepsakes and memories all reduced to nothing. On top of that – trying to find somewhere to house your family, clothe and feed them. This area had a huge amount of stock, many horses and the anxiety for those whose stock had either perished or were missing, or owners were not able to check on them is unimaginable. For those who survived, then came the worry of feeding them.

Thanks to Peter, Evan and the other 12 drivers they have been given a reprieve. In Peter’s words, “It's only a band aid solution – but that band aid solution will give fire affected farmers around two weeks of feed for their stock. Two weeks of one less worry and two weeks to try and find a more permanent solution”.

There were many heroes that came to light in this terrible bushfire that resulted in the loss of 86 homes, countless sheds, vehicles, livestock, pets and thousands and thousands of acres of pasture. The fire fighters, emergency workers and the charity support staff come to mind but Warby’s band of merry men rank up there with the best of them.

Peter shrugs off any thanks - he says, “Because we are West Australians and that's what we do”.

Image: Cameron Winsor