Lloyd Junor owned and operated outback tour company Aussie Outback Tours for over 20 years. In our series "Lloyd's outback", he shares with us snapshots of life on the road...
Only day two of a trip, and he was sitting away from the group that had gathered round the campfire, so I thought I should strike up a conversation. I went over and said a few things. Every time I spoke he grinned and said “Yeah”. I wasn’t getting through. For some reason I sat on his other side. Then the answers came through. So it was evident that he was deafened on one side.
In the chat that ensued I discovered that I had a client who was, for sure, the ultimate bushman. For about 30 years he’d lived solo, hunting down wild dogs. He did it because he “respected” them. He took the job because he feared other doggers would not be as compassionate in the way they killed the wild dogs. Thus began an intriguing relationship that led to this man, who never finished school, writing his biography that is now a book that has become the mainstay of a permanent display in the Australian National Museum in Canberra. A Dogger’s Life tells the story of Ned Wilson, a genuine bushman.
Why someone with his talents would join an organised outback tour has had me puzzled for ages.
- Caravan World columnist Lloyd Junor owns Aussie Outback Publishing, which produces outback-themed titles including his own, comprehensive The Australian RV and Caravanner's Guide.