Chapter 10

Author’s Note

In this story there are a few matters where some terms used here in Australia may not be fully understood in other countries, so this note is to help clarify a few items in the next sub-chapter.

There are two general groups of trucks used to cart dirt and other materials around where the truck tray rises up at the front to let the load slide off of the back of the vehicle. The basic design is the same for both in they have sides almost the same height as the cabin of the truck and the rear gate of the truck has dual hinges to allow it to hinge at the top or the side of the back of the truck.

The larger vehicles are often called dump trucks or tippers and are powered by engines like those used in semi-trailer tractor trucks with a similar front end look to the semi-trailer tractors because they’re based on such trucks. These trucks are usually capable of carrying large loads with a gross vehicle mass of the 29,000 kilograms or more and require a real high grade of driver’s licence to use. These trucks are normally used on the larger work sites and are loaded by large front end loaders and similar large machinery that needs to be moved on a low-boy trailer.

The smaller trucks are called tip-trucks and based on smaller truck bodies with a gross vehicle mass below 25,000 kilograms with many under 15,000 kilograms and can be driven with a low grade driver’s licence. These trucks are generally used on smaller sites by small contractors who use bobcats to load them. A bobcat is a front end loader which is sometimes called a skid-steer and it doesn’t need a large trailer to move it around. While some of the contractors will use a small car trailer to move their bobcat a lot of them use steel car ramps to allow them to drive the bobcat up into the back of the truck to take it to the site. Naturally, both of the vehicles in this paragraph are much smaller than those in the above paragraph and they carry a much smaller load at a time but are more manoeuvrable and can work in tighter spaces as well as requiring lower licences to be allowed to use them. They’re also a lot cheaper to buy and to operate.

Exposing Secrets

Back at the farm they find two tip-trucks with men backing bobcats off them and a low-loader with a man driving a backhoe off it. All of the vehicles are parked just inside the front gate, close to where Mack had told Hammer to have them ready to start work.

Ann stops the Yukon on the other side of the gate. Mack has her turn it until it’s facing into the wind which usually comes from the west in this area. They get out and Mack goes to the back of the SUV to open a case and go through the papers in it. Smiling when he finds the papers he’s looking for and he flips through them to one page. After folding them to have that page on top he clips the pages to the large A3 size clipboard he has in a box in the back of the car. From the box he also takes a belt with some tools and clips it around his waist. Closing the back gate of the Yukon he hands the clipboard to Ann while saying, “Please carry this for me.” They head over to where Hammer is talking to the drivers.

Hammer sees him walking over and says, “We’ve got enough people capable of handling these within the tribe so I’ve hired the vehicles from the mob in Rivers.” He hooks a thumb over toward the shed. “I also got a small tanker of diesel fuel to simplify refuelling. We take the fuel to the vehicle as it’s quicker.” Mack glances over at the shed and spots the small tanker sitting beside it. He smiles because he didn’t think of that. He also sees a few utes and several men standing around, waiting.

“Right, Hammer, let’s get started. We need a few men here with shovels. A bobcat can go with a work crew to remove the steel picket and wire fencing to the right of the gate and then the fence between here and the forest. The wire and posts can be stacked beside the shed for now. The backhoe can start digging a trench for a cattle grid in the gateway to the forest below the shed. That’ll need a drain at an angle to the gully so the rainwater run off can go down that way. The other bobcat and the trucks will be busy scraping dirt off concrete when I find where they have to start work. All of the dirt and sod we dig up is to be put down in a berm about three metres high, roughly midway between the forest and the fence about to be removed. You best get that started.”

Hammer walks off and talks to his men working the equipment while Marker walks over to the shed and speaks to the men there. Some of the men go into the shed and return with tools. Three of them carry shovels over to where Mack is while the rest split into two work groups and head to the fences: they’ve wire cutters, crowbars, and spades. One man goes to where the backhoe will work to help by giving directions to the operator, and he has a spade too in case it’s needed there.

In a few minutes men are cutting the fencing wire ties and rolling up the wire while others are pulling the posts out of the ground. One crew is starting where the backhoe will work and go toward the gully while the other crew starts at the front gate to work toward the corner. Mack turns and walks to the front gate, followed by the girls, the rest of the workers, and one bobcat.

Stopping at the side of the road Mack takes the clipboard and looks at a map before taking a Global Positioning System (GPS) device from his belt and entering a number set. This is a very expensive unit used for surveying and it’s a lot more accurate than most civilian units. He walks along the side of the road until the unit beeps after a few paces. Marking the spot with the heel of his boot he calls over the men with the shovels then tells them, “Dig down about a half a shovel blade’s depth. There should be a concrete road and gutter about here.”

The men look at the typical farm access dirt road and shrug. They all know Mack, but this looks so much like the usual farm entrances they wonder about his sanity. They’re getting paid to dig where he points so they start to dig. They’re soon surprised to hear their blades hit concrete. A moment to scrape off what’s there, and sure enough there’s a concrete gutter. Not right where he said, but only a hand’s width away.

Mack grins, “Now expose that gutter all the way to the gate and the road, please. Toss the dirt and sod onto the drive.” One man works west and another works east while they slide their shovels along the concrete then toss the dirt and sod onto the drive area when their shovel is full. To the third worker with a shovel Mack says, “Follow me, please.”

Mack checks the map for another point and he uses the GPS to locate it. He points at the ground near the gateway and the man digs until he hits a concrete gutter. Mack smiles as he says, “This should go around in an oval, so just follow it around to expose the full gutter. Just toss the dirt and sod to your left.” The man nods as he sets to work.

Mack walks along the road to a new point indicated by the map and the GPS. He uses a can of red spray paint from his belt to mark the spot, and then he does the same up near the fence line.

He walks over to where Hammer and Marker are talking to a bobcat operator and says to them, “Right. See those marks over there?” while he points at the paint marks he just made. They all nod yes. “From the gutter the men are clearing on this side to another gutter near those marks is all heavy duty concrete driveway. Once we get organised we may want to lay tar on it, but it’s OK to use and it’ll handle the heaviest trucks. The driveway goes all the way up to the fence line.” He turns to the bobcat operator. “You can start by clearing all of the sod and dirt off this area, but take care when you get near the fence line. Up at the fence is a cattle grid trench with a cover on it. The driveway goes all the way to the roadside but it stops a little short of where the council’s asphalt road is. You should find it a lot easier to know what area to clear when the men have the gutters showing.” The man nods and speaks to the driver of one of the trucks. He’s soon using the bobcat to scrape dirt and sod off the centre of the large driveway and dumping it into the truck.

Mack looks about the area. The fence along the front is a third gone with the fencing materials being loaded in the front of the other bobcat. That makes it very easy to take it away to the shed. The fence down near the gully is gone and it lies on the ground nearby for later removal. That crew is now working back toward the front while they remove the fence. The backhoe is busy digging a trench for a cattle grid. He’s done this before so he knows how big and deep to make it.

For the next hour or so Mack is very busy checking the map, the GPS device, and spraying marks on the ground. Hammer and Marker keep a close eye on what’s going on and they shift the workers about as needed. Men with shovels follow after Mack to dig down at each of the points he marks with red paint, and they find concrete slab structures fifteen to twenty centimetres under the earth. They clear an area about a metre and a half square then move to the next mark to do the same.

About half an hour after they start work a truck load of steel fencing arrives and Mack has them unload it near the shed. Twenty-two pallets of steel fencing are offloaded. Along with two pallets of Portland Cement which are quickly covered in heavy duty tarps as weather protection. Later, as they finish the spraying for the fence line along the forest the steel truck returns with a second load which is dropped on the other side of the dam about level with the dam wall. A repeat of the first load.

When the men finish removing the fencing Mack has them removing the rest of the front fencing by using Marker’s ute to load the removed fencing material into the ute then bring it all back to the shed. Both bobcats are now very busy clearing concrete areas marked by Mack.

After a short break for morning tea Mack has Ann and Jess help him use a tape measure to mark spots along the ridge above the gully at the back of the houses, most of these are three metres apart and blue paint is used here. He often checks the map while he does this. They do another set between the houses and the large vegetable gardens growing behind the houses. Both these lines go to the slight dip where the side gully for the dam joins this gully. Another line of the blue paint spots is made at right angles to this line to go up along the dam to the front fence line. They do another set on the other side of the dam. They follow this by spraying marks along the edge of the other plateau and the end of the dam. Two rows of marks cross the dam wall. They come back along the front fence line spraying marks at the measured distance until they draw level with the set coming up beside the dam on the side nearest the gateway. They leave there to measure and spray blue marks along the fence line from the front fence to the gully behind the house.

They break for a late lunch when the ladies chase them in to eat just after one in the afternoon. All of the men look about the plateau and wonder about what they see while they walk to the main house to eat.

After lunch they go back to doing what they were doing before lunch. The men with shovels are clearing starter areas for the bobcats where Mack sprayed red paint. The bobcat operators are busy clearing areas of concrete covered in dirt now the shovellers have shown them where to start. The backhoe operator changes tools and digs holes where the blue marks are. So all are very busy at work in the front paddock.

Ann and Jess help the very busy Mack who’s using the map and the GPS device to locate areas to spray paint marks. Once he’s finished marking rows of blue paint along the outer edges of the plateau he goes back to the centre and starts spraying spots to indicate more places to dig while using white or red paint. During the day the other kids spend a lot of time watching what’s going on, so do Jemma, Jedda, Ma, and a lot of visitors. There’s quite a bit of coming and going at the farm today. All of those watching have a hard time believing what they’re seeing appear out of the ground on what looked like an average farm paddock front yard area. Wherever they look construction work is appearing.

It’s almost dusk when they stop for the day. All of the workers turn to look at what they’ve done. It’s been a very busy and a very productive afternoon. They shake their heads in wonder at the sight before them.

A huge driveway area fifty metres wide fronts the property between the original gateway and the forest side fence for the plateau. It runs right back to just inside the fence line. Two lines of grates have been uncovered, one at the road and one near where the fence was; they’d been covered with plywood to keep the dirt out of the drains. But the big shock is the house slabs that are now exposed on the plateau. Two rows of thirty house slabs are between the old drive and the dam with room for what looks like a drive and another set of house rows before the dam. On the forest side of the drive is another row of twenty-five house slabs. The slabs nearest the existing houses are in a line but the row on the forest side stops after twenty-five slabs while the other two go for another five slabs. The house plateau has a ring of holes every few metres around it. With a lot more marked to be dug. There are still lots more painted marks on the ground to be dug out too.

The bulk of the workers put their tools away, climb into cars and utes, then go home for a shower and their evening meal because they’ve been working hard on such a warm day. The workers from the farm head inside for showers before their dinner.

When they sit down to eat Ma asks, “Mack, how much more is there to dig out and expose?”

The Layout

He looks up and says, between bites, “We’re almost done exposing the major work already done. The centre block of houses has sixty slabs ready to build five bedroom houses on. Another thirty can be built on the other side of the road beside the dam. Toward the forest is a group of twenty-five five bedroom house slabs while the plans call for another twenty-five behind them with a third group of twenty-five on the other side of the road there. That’ll make one hundred and sixty-five houses, all five bedroom ones. The plans have three more six bedroom houses in this row toward the forest, along with another eight bedroom house on the other side of the one Hammer lives in. For a total of one hundred and seventy-one houses. The area in front of the main drive is for a petrol station with a café and a supermarket. The small road network calls for nice wide streets. Those going north-south are two-way while the roads running east-west are one-way. One road runs along in front of these houses. A straight line from the gateway to the forest where the cattle grid is going in and over the dam wall to a car park on the other side. Another runs from a matching car park at the other end of the dam to the road down from the front gate. Three roads run between those two. One this side of the big block of houses which is one-way to the main gate, one on the other side of the main block of houses are one-way this way from the main gate, and a third between the other row of houses one-way to the front road. That puts the petrol station with a farm road on either side and the shire road on the front. Both front gates allow people out while those coming in do so via the petrol station or the main gate to come down the centre road. Across the street from the top road beyond the houses are the electricity sub-station and phone exchange areas still to be cleared off as I concentrated on the houses today. The space from them toward Wood Valley is set out for some community facilities and the space opposite the fuel depot on the Ryan’s Ridge side is for more community facilities. All that’s left to expose are the road beds, the bases for the phones, power, gas tanks, etcetera. Quality fencing is going up along the edge of both plateaux to ensure safety. Oh, the area inside the four metre high berm on the other plateau is large enough for any type of football field too. That’s why the two car parks over there to be for visiting team spectators. That berm makes a good grass spectator stand area too. Once we complete what we’ve got started and planned we’ll need to clear some of the forest to expand again.”

Jemma is shocked by all this. She half whispers when she says, “You could have the whole tribe live out here, and then some.”

Mack nods, “Yes. That’s the long term plan. Plus room to expand for many years to come. Oh, I almost forgot. The perimeter fencing goes around the exotics stand and also along the front fence from the northern edge of the property to the edge of the dam near the stand. The plan is for a sandstone concrete block fence from there to the fence beside the forest with open gateways for the east-west roads and the petrol station. That little island beside the gate and the petrol station at the front fence line is to create a nice gateway with the farm name on it. Having the front concrete fence at one point eight metres high should give the whole residential area some privacy.”

Jemma says, “The space between and behind the houses doesn’t look that big, Mack. Where do you expect the children to play?”

He grins while he replies, “That’s where we’ll be different as there won’t be fences between the houses so that whole area becomes a big backyard for all of the houses. The same style of safety fencing that runs around the property will run from house to house with many gates in it and it will run along the ends of the block too. Also, the community facilities and the whole area inside the fence will be the play area of the kids. There’s space on the other plateau for playgrounds outside the footy field. The content of the community facilities is one thing that needs to be decided at a community meeting. However, I’ve got some ideas on what we should have. In the main area for community facilities along the front fence Dad had always envisioned a small theatre, meeting hall, childcare centre, and change rooms. I recently thought about a good gym being built in the area opposite the fuel depot. The idea with the fuel station is a large area for trucks and a smaller area for cars with a big truck and car mechanic’s workshop behind it on the forest side. Plus a restaurant and take-away service café with a large supermarket on the residential side. That’ll create lots of jobs while providing the needed services to the community, and we also get a lot of drive-by business from the loggers and truckers in the forests around here. They can refill here instead of having to run to the towns all of the time. Many will also be able to get a hot lunch here.”

Ma grins as she says, “The supermarket and café will offer a lot of part-time and casual jobs to the wives and the older children. We’d also end up spending a lot of our own money there, as it’ll be a lot more convenient than going into the towns. Thus we help out the tribe a lot more while we all get to benefit from the profits. But why the theatre?”

Mack responds, “One of the long term aims is to have the local white community more involved with the tribe. Many will use the shops, but we’d be the closest theatre to both towns as neither of them is quite big enough for one of their own. Being close enough to make it a viable drive for the locals we’ll get customers from both towns. That brings in money from outside the tribe while creating more interaction. The truck stop will do a lot of that too. So will a gym, if I can get it put in. I hope to get a large franchise gym group interested so we can have multi-city memberships for tribal members. All of it is aimed at creating a strong bond between the members of the tribe as well as with the general local community.” The others nod their understanding. “What you see out there is almost two decades’ of work by many people. Some helped with bits and pieces but few were aware of the whole, and this is the first time it’s all been on display at once. Not even I’ve seen it all on view before. It’s inspiring to see it all at once and to know the plan is coming to fruition after all of these years of planning and work in secret.”

Hammer asks, “I suppose the plan is to have all of the houses built along the same lines as these two, using the same materials and method of building?”

“Yes. All of the houses are to be very fire resistant. That’s part of the reason for the berm being made where it is. To reduce the chance of a bush fire in the forest reaching the village.”

Dinner is a long affair while they discuss the village growing before their eyes. After dinner the cases of maps and plans are taken into the office Mack and Hammer share so Mack can explain everything to Ma, Marker, and Hammer for them to later explain it to the tribal leaders. There are multiple copies of everything so Marker takes a full set to his office. The cases also include digital copies of everything. The big shock for Marker is finding out all of the plans were lodged with the council and approved many years ago, and they’ve just been slow in doing all of the approved work for the major development.

It’s after realising this Marker understands the full significance of Mack’s talk with Dean Darling about development policies. If they put something new before the shire council they’d have hell to pay, but this development is already approved. The papers include all of the council approvals for the work done to date. So this is an on-going project and not a new one. A major one no one in the current council management knows about. He grins while he thinks on how they’ll react to this when they have to ask the council to come and inspect the next lot of work. All go to sleep happy that night.

Sunday

In the morning it’s breakfast and church. Followed by just about every member of the tribe going out to Sandy Knoll Farm after church. The men who worked on the farm on Saturday spoke with their family and friends about the work. Now they all want to see what they’re talking about. They’re stunned to see how much of a village has been constructed in what seems to them is a single day. No work can be done with so many people about so the senior women set about organising a monster barbie for lunch for everyone. Mack and the girls spend the afternoon talking.

The Dean trio sit in their room and talk of just about everything as they go about getting to know each other again. They get fed up with the constant stream of interruptions when people come to ask Mack a lot of questions about the village, ones Marker or Hammer already know the answers to. They make themselves a picnic lunch and take a walk in the forest to be alone together while they talk. Ma smiles as they walk off.

By the time they reach Camp Cream and set up their picnic lunch they’ve brought each other up to date on what’s happened in the last few months. The important thing is their feelings for each other, both as a group and individuals, are now as strong as they were when they held the Choosing ceremony all those years earlier. They speak about their futures and how they’ll conduct themselves until Mack turns eighteen. A major item of discussion is education. Both Jess and Mack wish to do university courses relating to business while Ann doesn’t wish to do any further studies after she finishes high school.

The talk about studies causes a few hot collars until Mack puts his metaphysical foot down. He looks at Ann while saying, “I accept you don’t wish to do a university course because you wish to be a stay at home mother and not follow a business career. But we three will be going to Sydney for uni studies when I finish high school. While there we will live as a family. You can look after our residence and us. But you will do some courses on child care and first aid as they’ll be useful in raising our children.” She opens her mouth to argue further. He adds, “Wife, I will not give any further ground on this issue. Understand?” Both girls are stunned by his firm statement, but they both smile at him to confirm their family commitments and his taking charge as the head of the family.

Ann smiles when she bows her head as she says, “Yes, husband.”

Mack says, “Now, both of you’ll finish high school two years before I will due to our age differences etcetera. We’ll make arrangements for you to come and live near me while you learn more about being a mother. You can both start doing some courses toward your tertiary studies during that time. We’ll talk more on that at the end of the year.”

After their lunch they take a walk through the forest for an hour before returning to the farm. When they walk across the open ground to the houses they’re watched by Ma Hanson and the girls’ parents.

Marker smiles and says, “Ma, I don’t know what’s happened with those three today, but all is now well for them and their future.”

Jedda asks, “Why do you say that Marker?”

He goes to answer but Ma beats him by saying, “Look at them. How they walk and how the girls look at him. That is not the boy with his two girlfriends that left here before lunch that approaches us. But a man with his two wives. Look at the stances of Jess and Ann, they’re a bit behind him while they follow their man. They were beside him when they left. They left as full equals but they now have a clear pecking order set out with Mack at the top. This is good. They wouldn’t have set that unless they’d sorted out all of the old troubles and feelings.” Both mothers smile at knowing all is well with their eldest daughters’ lives.

Monday

The day starts early with the workmen from Saturday turning up, along with a lot of other men from the tribe who have no work at the moment. They’ve come in hopes of getting a day’s pay, if they can. The extra men are soon busy because there’s a lot of work to be done.

Mack is assisted by Ann and Jess while he continues to walk around the plateau marking spots with paint. Just before lunch he smiles when he turns to head back to the house as he says, “Well, it’s now all marked. I’m glad that’s done because my back’s sore from all that bending.”

Ann grins as she says, “I don’t know why your back’s sore as you only made a couple of thousand paint marks.” They all have a laugh.

They enter the office area and Mack puts most of the tools away in the small cabinet they have there for him. The almost empty spray cans join the empty ones in the rubbish bin while the unused ones are set aside to go to the shed later.

After a good lunch Mack leads Marker and Hammer on a walk over the whole plateau while he explains the rest of the plan. Exiting the house they all smile. This morning a third bobcat hired from a man in Ryan’s Ridge arrived so a lot more of that work is done than expected. So is the work by the men with shovels due to all of the extra workers. The five roads with concrete footpaths beside them are visible, so are the eighty-five completed house slabs and several other slabs. Mack leads the Hanson brothers toward the front of the property as he points things out while he speaks, “Now the dirt and covers are removed you can see where the fuel pumps go and where the building belongs. All of the pipes and wires are in place, so are the underground diesel tanks. The row of five large pads over there between the berm and the forest are for the big LPG tanks. They’re there so the berm will provide protection if there are any accidents with the gas. There’s also lines to the pumps for refuelling LPG cars. All of the pipes to provide gas to all of the house sites are in place. Every house site has water, electricity, gas, waste, and phone lines. The completed slabs have them to the slabs while the others have the connections beside the footpath. The roadside storm-water drains exit into the gully behind the house.”

Hammer asks, “What about the house storm water drains?”

“They go through filters and feed the dam. The plans call for all of the houses to use grey water and recycling systems as well.” They turn and walk toward the dam while Mack continues with his explanation. “The electricity sub-station is set up to be fed direct from the mains grid right here at the edge of the property. The slab is set up for a number of sub areas. At one end is the main feed and generators followed by the meter and control room. The meter from the grid will be accessible to the power people from the outside but that’s where they end, inside the room will be the meters for all of our properties. Next is the battery room with a lot of long life high capacity batteries. Beside that will be the switch room and the emergency generator that runs on LPG or diesel. The control unit will monitor all of the inputs and it’ll adjust power sources as needed. The batteries will be the main supply with their main resupply being the solar arrays on the north side of the big berm plus the wind farm between the berm and the western plateau edge. That’s why the fence line along the top of the berm as well as between it and the edge.” Both men are surprised by that, although they had wondered about what those marks there were for. “The phone exchange will include our ISP servers. We’ll have the existing copper cables and both fibre optic cables hooked up, but all of the internal phone calls and as much of the external ones we can organise as such will be Voice over Internet Protocol. That should keep the overall phone costs down, and we’ll have a top Internet link.” Both men are shaking their heads at how great the advance planning had been, and also amended over the years. They’re almost at the dam when Mack adds, “The fence along the road beside the dam and the houses will be one point eight metres of sandstone style concrete blocks to provide privacy while the rest along the road to the plateau edge and around the property perimeter will be the two meter high steel fencing we paid for. That fencing is designed to stop kids and animals from getting through it. The fencing for between the houses and around the dam is one point two metres high, so once it’s all up we shouldn’t have to worry about small kids getting into the dam unsupervised or people walking off the edge. There are kid-safe gates where appropriate. The higher fence is also to go around the exotics forest. Large gates will be put in at the cattle grid so they can be shut when needed.”