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Alex Aitken and Trevor Tough are travelling through the remote Kimberley, tracking down long-forgotten burial sites.
"We're recording the stories of all sorts of people who were up here in the early days," Mr Tough explained.
"Not just the people who built stations and developed things, but the ordinary people like women and kids ... who lived and perished here.
"It's giving us a sense of how hard it must have been in the early days - so many of the graves we come across are of young men of 19, 21, 23 years old.
"They would have been fit, robust strong young fellows, and they died of things like malaria and snakebite and drowning."
The outback graves project was sparked when the pair met at a 50-year high school reunion in Perth.
It's a beautiful spot for a final resting place, and it's really quite moving to be here.
Alex Aitken
The old friends discovered a shared love of history and desire to hit the road.Click & Close Ads
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Months of preparation ensued as the men trawled existing Lonely Graves of Australia history books, and made enough posts and plaques to honour more than 100 burial sites.
Their first outing has been a four week trip to the Kimberley, where the cattle stations are littered with old, overgrown graves from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Mr Tough said every grave carried a story at risk of being lost through fading memory and the harsh climate.
"There are so many amazing stories attached to the graves," he said.
"The first one we're looking for is Augustus Frederick Skipworth, who died here at Liveringa Station in 1904.
"He and his father were labourers here, and the poor lad was only 15 years old when he died."Mr Aitken and Mr Tough had little information to go on, only that Skipworth was buried at the base of a boab in a southern paddock.
After a one kilometre trek under a hot morning sun, they spotted the rusted metal railings and sun-bleached headstone they were looking for.
There was a sombre mood as they cleared away overgrown vines, and hammered in the small metal plaque engraved only the day before.
"It's a beautiful spot for a final resting place, and it's really quite moving to be here," Mr Aitken said.
"It's a privilege to be able to do this, it really is," Mr Tough added.
"I bet this family never thought someone would come along 100 years later, and mark the grave again."
'They might be able to find the graves I've heard about'
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Helping the pair with the project are dozens of local people, grateful someone is taking the time to restore the burial sites.
One of those is Mandy Frost, who is the caretaker of the heritage-listed homestead at Liveringa Station.
"When I heard Alex and Trevor were coming, I thought 'beauty!'," she said.
"They might be able to find the graves I've heard about but never been able to find.
"The more that's known about the history of the place, the better."Having endured seven brutal wet seasons at the remote homestead, Ms Frost is full of sympathy for the conditions the early settlers endured.
"I don't know how they survived out here in the early days," she said.
"The heat builds up for months and we've recorded days here of 53 degrees ... if we didn't have that air conditioning, we wouldn't be here.
"I just don't know how they did it with no flyscreens, no power.
"Even after the wet season you get the bugs, you can't even walk out on the verandah, the bugs drive you crazy, so really they must have done it so tough."
Ms Frost thinks the outback graves project reflects a broader revival of interest in Australia's pioneer history.
"I think all of Australia is interested in history now," she said.
"Suddenly it's a big thing to know where you came from and what was here before you."
An army of grey nomads
Mr Aitken and Mr Tough are thinking big.
There are thousands of outback graves scattered across Australia, each year fading, eroding and succumbing to the elements.
They want to restore and record every one.Click & Close Ads
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"There is an urgency because these graves are disappearing, and once the grave itself has disappeared, the whole story goes," Mr Tough said.
And the two men know they cannot do it alone.
"We really desperately need researchers, but also we're after other like-minded people, retired folk, who want to get involved," Mr Tough said.
"People who maybe have the equipment and can afford to buy a little engraving machine to go out as teams, and then feed their finds back into our system."
In the meantime, they are winding their first road trip up and reflecting on the work ahead.Click & Close Ads
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Sunday, July 5, 2015
