A day in a life of A Station Kid!
Host: Yarrie Station
Written by Breanna Dorrington – Little Terror & Great Adventurer, Yarrie Station.
Hello, I’m Breanna Dorrington, but everyone calls me ‘Kid’, because I am the youngest at Yarrie Station.
I’m 12 years old and I’ll be telling you what its like for me to live in the bush.
Obviously there isn’t a school bus I can get on, or a school just around the block, so I do my school work through Port Hedland School of the Air.
My school day starts at 7.30 in the morning, and I can finish by lunch time if I try really hard.
I have heaps of activities to do for school, and my Mum is my home tutor.
We have what we call setwork (or sets) to complete in certain time frames, and they are Language and Maths.
Language sets need to be completed in two weeks, and each set has a different theme. For example, the one I am working on now is called ‘Life’s a Drama’ and I am doing lots of fun stuff about plays and acting. I get to watch movies with this set which is awesome, because normally I have to do lots of writing.
Maths is my favourite subject because there isn’t as much writing, and I have an online section to do each day which is very cool because I get to use the computer.
I also need to spend half an hour every day on my handwriting, spelling, and mental maths, and a new programme I have started doing is an online memory game.
My teacher is Miss Boswell and she’s from New Zealand and she’s really nice.
We have online lessons every day for an hour with my teacher and the rest of my class mates (there are seven of us).
Mum said when she did school of the air when she was a kid, they did their lessons by radio, and that they couldn’t see their teacher like we can see ours now. I also have history and music lessons once a week as well.
My teacher comes out to visit me once a term, and spends two days with me doing really cool stuff, like art and T&E.
Every term we have at least one school camp, sometimes on a station where one of the students live, and a big one at the end of the year where we all go to Perth and catch up with all of the school of the air kids from Western Australia.
Now to get to the fun stuff . . .
After school finishes I just want to be me, a little terror and great adventurer.
I love to practise cracking the stock whip, which I have been doing since I was six years old, my favourite trick is cracking two whips at once (which I only mastered a couple of months ago). Although everyone gets sick of the noise, so I have to go for a long walk if everyone is home. The jack russels (or rascals as we call them) love the noise and get very excited, and I normally have to stop once they show up in case I hit them.
I am always on the look out for what the crew are up to as well, because sometimes they are doing cool stuff, and if I have finished my school work, I can go to work with them.
Annabelle, Ann, Janelle and Kelsie look after me like I am one of their own, and I know they will pull me into line if I am naughty . . . so I make sure I am not.
I love it when Kelsie is shoeing horses, because she keeps Banjo in for me, and I can gallivant around in the yards. I also help by brushing any manes and tails that are knotty.
I also like taking Banjo to the cattle yards with Ann when they are processing cattle, because I can help with the weaners and ride at the same time.
Oh, and the best thing ever . . . I was able to spend this school holidays out at stock camp because I was ahead with my school work.
I was so excited because I was able to go mustering all day on a horse, help process cattle in the yards, have my shower in the river and camp under the stars every night. I also was put in charge of the lollies to hand out to the crew when they needed a pick me up.
Janelle takes me mustering and is teaching me to ride properly. When I am with her I have to always stay with her, and I am not allowed to fall behind, or I might get lost. Janelle is also a nurse, so mum knows she will take good care of me while I am with her.
I am saving all my pocket money so I can go to New Zealand and visit her when I am old enough, because she is going to teach me how to play polo cross.
Janelle also gets me to help her near the cattle crush when they are processing cattle. I am still too little to help push up the cattle when they are sorting them, but I am really quick passing tags and stuff to her. We always talk and joke around and the day goes really quickly.
Annabelle is the boss, and I like doing chores for her, because you never know when you might get a chance for a chopper ride, I like riding in the chopper because you can see for miles, and it puts butterflies in my belly.
Other things I have been learning to do is drive a car and skin a killer, and now I want to learn to play the guitar, so I can sing around the camp fire in the evenings.
I have lived in towns, and been to a normal school, so I know the difference between being a townie, and a bushie . . . and . . . yep . . . you guessed it, I love being bush kid.
I am never bored, I don’t think I will have time to be lazy, and I am learning so many things that lots of other kids never get the chance to.
I think that makes me just plain lucky
Cheers & Thanks for reading my story
From the ‘Kid’