Dreams of Dust and Dieseline
Host: Blina Station
Written by Connie Gray – Manager, Blina.
Written about Stuart Jones: Earthmover, Cattleman, Lover of Carlton Dry.
Stuey Jones.
Stuey Jones has been the grader driver and head of the earthmoving department at Blina for the past five years.
He spends most of the year camped out on the road in his “bush camp”. Stuey’s Bush Camp is towed behind the Grader and consists of a caravan and fuel trailer. His meals are cooked either on an open fire or on his trusty little Weber BBQ.
Stueys “Bush Camp”.
Generally he works ahead of the stock camp, so we can access the areas of the station due to be mustered. This is particularly crucial in the first part of the year as the roads are often in poor condition as a result of flooding and erosion.
Stuey is a multi-talented man . . . Stuey used to work as a stock agent for Elders. So from time to time he will help us down the yards and give a solid, informed opinion on how the cattle are going. Now Stuey is happy driving his grader, as well as this, Stuey also operates the loader and has made some significant improvements to older dams and the minimisation of water erosion by constructing ‘woo boys’ – a large speed hump made from dirt designed to stop the flow of water down the road.
Drive way in the wet season.
Stuey is somewhat a permanent fixture at Blina – I couldn’t imagine the place without him. He is somewhat idolised by the crew now, as he’s always got a good yarn to spin or a silly song to sing you.
He’ll say “Hey Connie-Gray, have you heard my song?!” (he’s sung this to me a hundred times or more)
My favourite of Stuey’s songs..
“All my life, I biin chasin’
“Those skinny legged women ‘roun’ nor-west stations”
“Old Boy”
That’s the only part of the song he will sing me and it gets continuously stuck in my head after I’ve dropped by to check on him.
Quite often Matt and I will call in to visit Stuey’s bush camp on the way home from somewhere and he always has a cold beer and a smile ready and available. He’s got a heart of gold and would bend over backwards for the people he likes. It’s people like Stuey that make the bush such a wonderful place to live – they are rough, but worth their weight in gold . . . and for Old Stuey . . . that’s a fair bit of gold!!