HISTORY OF LORELLA SPRINGS STATION
Lorella Springs was once a part of Nathan River Station and called Albinjula, which means "Valley of Springs". In 1969 the Lands Department divided Nathan River station and the new half became known as Rosie Creek. I don't know how "they or who" came up with the name Lorella Springs station out of Rosie Creek but "they" did.
Our family moved
from Nathan
River Station to
Lorella on
Boxing Day in
1987. We had
owned Nathan
River Station,
but a cyclone
had devastated
the property and
put us 6 weeks
behind with the
mortgage
payment. A
disgustingly
harsh bank froze
all our money,
assets and
income. We had
virtually lost
everything and
Nathan River
station had been
sold up from
under us. We had
no where else to
go.
That fateful
night our home
was under the
stars, we had no
shelter and all
that we owned
had been dumped
in the bush
beside our old
Toyota. There
were eight of us
and our dogs.
Rhett is my
eldest child, he
was 17 years old
at the time.
Lara was 15,
Shanie 14, and
our Rachael was
9. The little
boys Lucas 4,
Tarran 3 and my
baby Jennes, was
almost 2 years
old. The Wet
broke that
night. We had
tried to huddle
in the back of
the vehicle out
of the
torrential rain.
It was a pretty
miserable night.
The new day
brought hope
from despair as
we took stock of
our surroundings
and looked to
see what we
could use to
erect a shelter.
We made our home
from some ropes
strung between
two trees and a
truck tarpaulin
to form a tent
like roof. Our
walls were
panels of
portable cattle
yards to keep
out the wild
bulls and
buffalo. We
lived there
quite happily
through the Wet
and some of the
mental scars
from losing
Nathan River
station began to
heal.
In
April, through a
deal with the
previous owners,
my ex husband
had secured
Lorella Springs
Station for the
family, and the
children and
myself moved
into the old
homestead.
We became known
through the bush
telegraph as
Nancy Walker,
"the crazy
woman who lived
in the bush at
Lorella with her
seven
kids". It
was the fact
that we wouldn't
give up and
leave that shook
them. Others
before us had
been broken by
this land and
had left. Some
of the locals
didn't like us
because they
couldn't break
us and in a
grudging way
they respected
this dogged
determination
that we
had.
By necessity, when we first moved to the Station, we lived mainly off the land. Lorella was so special to us that we have fought tooth and nail to hold on to it and endured many, many hardships just to stay there and keep it in the family. We have been through such hard times together that we see ourselves as a part of this proud and unpredictable land. It has moulded us and looked after us and even turned against us making us leave.
That
was the ultimate
sacrifice for
our family and I
didn't think I
could survive
it. It forced us
to make a life
without it to
find what we
each wanted. You
can only
discover what
you want when
you are allowed
to be free to do
so. The children
grew up and
survived in a
different world
to the Land,
they had to and
so did I, yet
our hearts
always wanted to
go back. We had
to find what we
wanted in life,
and the Land
knew this,
that's why it
made us go.
Yet our family
managed to still
hold on to the
station, even
though it had
become
impossible to
move back there
to live until
now. Home is
where the heart
is and in the
end you must
follow your
heart back to
the source.
Because our
heart link is
"the
Land" it
tested each one
of us to see who
would come back.
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