[woofa.express]

Bush hermit named possum.

It was about 1983 that I was asked to muster some cattle near lake Victoria which is on the NSW- Vic- SA border, some 264 miles (statue miles) directly north west of Tocumwal. It is remote country and the grazier who showed me where to muster pointed out a grave yard in the middle of nowhere. He said it was there that Possum had been buried. Who was Possum? He was a former New Zealander who was jilted by a lover and went into voluntary exile in the bush where he lived out his life. This intriguing fellow who is best describedin this short article in the blue print below.
https://visitwentworth.com.au/a-man-called-possum/

I took my 13 year old son to this job. He felt ill with all the tight turning so I landed on a smooth bit of dirt close to Lake Victoria and dropped him off where he spent the rest of the day perishing in the warm sun.
We overnighted in an old homestead which was in the process of being restored. An interesting situation. The owner had a service station with a business partner. One would work the business for a fortnight then walkout and leave the job to the other who would take over. They’d rotate shifts. Time to recuperate plus very little exposure to the partner and thus little chance of irritations. What a good system.
Back to the muster. We yarded a big mob, all Angus. Australians just love Angus beef. It was promoted as “angus beef is best”. Even McDonalds promoted it. It was only about 2 years ago we all wanted “grain fed beef”. You know that beef that eats like cheese without flavour. Now we all want pasture fed, it’s more environmentally acceptable apparently. We just can’t seem to makeup our minds. No one seems to have their own opinion these days . All influenced by publicity. Such a gullible lot we are. Are Americans the same?

Footnotes.
Many farmers and graziers have stickers on their utes and motor cars which says “Angus beef is Best”. Many found that some scallywag had written on them “when made into sausages”.
The picture below is simply a generic taken from the internet. The scene would be South Australia with the gibber (stony desert). The cattle will eat very well, yellow fat and very flavoursome.
My son is 50 this year and it was 37 years ago I dropped him off at the edge of that lake. These days he flys quite regularly Sydney-Perth WA. It takes him exactly over the spot he sat waiting for me. I must ask him if he recalls the incident. Bet he does.