Conversation: Terry Underwood, Ambassador, Year of the Outback

Sydney
1 Dec 2002

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Conversation: Terry Underwood, Ambassador, Year of the Outback

By Marilyn Rodrigues

The Outback is inherent in all Australians,” says Terry Underwood. “It’s as vital to the spirit as the blood flowing through our veins.

“It is the heartbeat of Australia.

“During this year of the Outback, if your glow is lying dormant, it must be rekindled. That spark in each of us should rage into bushfire-like proportions of passion, a fierce pride in our beginnings, a renewed understanding of our links with the land and each other, irrespective of whether we are city, coastal or rural remote dwellers.”

When Terry (pictured with husband John) speaks about her passions, her feeling is infectious.

But this official ambassador for the Year of the Outback, is, like many great evangelists, a convert to her way of life.

She grew up in Albury but moved with her family to Sydney while still young; thus obtaining a city formation.

She attended Catholic schools, including Mt St Bernard Catholic School, Pymble, before she began nursing at St Vincent’s Hospital in 1962, when she was 17.

A year later she nursed John Underwood, a young stockman from the Northern Territory.

A five-year romance via correspondence ensued, culminating in a wedding and a long journey north to realise their dream of developing their own cattle station from scratch.

Terry’s autobiography, In the Middle of Nowhere, first published in 1998, was a bestseller.

She is as passionate about her relationship with God - her “supreme boss” - as she is about her family, the family property and her beloved Outback.

Her childhood was steeped in Catholic practices and traditions. But her spirituality matured in God’s own cathedral, she says.

“I feel close to God out here,” she told The Catholic Weekly from her home at Riveren cattle station, 600km from her local town, Katherine.

“This timeless land is stunningly beautiful, but also treacherous and unforgiving.

“I am spiritually connected to this place, its people and creatures I love so passionately.”

One reason is the lack of distractions, she says.

“I find myself talking to God even when I am silent, which is most of the time.

“People are few and far between out here.

“My Outback experiences have fine-tuned my sense of spirituality.

“Today my God is a friend and consultant … approachable and an intrinsic part of this wondrous place I am privileged to call home.

“One of my children, upon reading my book, commented with obvious surprise: ‘Mum, I didn’t know you were so religious!’

“Then it was my turn to be surprised. I have never considered myself religious.”

Terry says she has felt God’s presence most powerfully twice in her life.

Both were times of “sheer terror”.

The first, in August 1982, was when John flew in their Cessna to check the bores. Alarm bells rang for Terry when he failed to return on time. She prayed for his safe return. And her prayers were answered.

Then two years later, Rebecca, their youngest, got lost in the midst of wild weather.

“That dreadful night was indeed the longest, coldest night of my life as I paced and prayed, seeking intervention from the ‘supreme boss’,” says Terry.

Again her prayers were answered.

She has never forgotten to say ‘thank you’.

John and Terry met the responsibilities of home schooling with vigour, something Terry regards as the most challenging and gratifying work of her life.

And they have been just as serious with their other responsibilities, as custodians of the land they live and work on.

“For me this way of life is, indeed, a vocation,” says Terry. “I have learned to understand and respect this fragile land. Quite simply, if we look after the land, it will look after us.”

Terry has implemented four projects as part of the Year of the Outback.

The first was establishing a Young Northern Territory Pastoralists’ Group.

The second was the Connellan Airways Trust Competition for distance education students across Australia.

It was organised in honour of Outback legend Eddie Connellan, and to hear Outback children explain what the Outback means to them.

Terry’s photographic exhibition, The Cattle Kingdom, was held in Katherine in October to celebrate the Year of the Outback and International Rural Women’s Day.

And, finally, on behalf of the Northern Territory cattle industry, Terry organised the creation of a large bronze stockman on horseback to be installed and unveiled in Katherine in April next year.

She has been thrilled by the co-operation of city and country folk in organising the 2000-plus Year of the Outback events.

“There has been a new focus on the Outback, who lives there and what happens there,” she says, even though it means “little sleep has become less sleep” for her.

The recently established Farmhand appeal for drought-stricken families and communities has helped, she says.

“It has identified a tremendous sense and spirit of caring by city cousins for the country.

“The associated emphasis on watering the inland and better water management give a new sense of hope for the future of rural Australia.”

But the Year of the Outback, whatever successes it brought, is drawing to a close. Will the concerns of our Outback Australians recede again in the minds of the rest of us? They cannot, says Terry.

She would like to see the establishment and maintenance of infrastructure, incentives and other services for the Outback as the enduring legacies of this year.

“We need employment opportunities and new lifestyle guarantees to retain young people away from the comfort of the bright city lights,” she says.

“It is essential to reverse the country-city drift, particularly at a time when many country people feel abandoned and undervalued.

“That is the way of the future if we are to preserve our heritage and develop a viable and sustainable populated Outback.”

Another ongoing challenge is that of educating city folk about the bush, says Terry.

“Having lived life to the hilt in both cultures, I am acutely aware of the country-city divide,” she says.

“It is time to remove the ‘them and us’ syndrome.

“There was a time when we all had country cousins and farms to visit in school holidays. There existed a cherished connection between the city and the country. Australia’s rural industries created great wealth and all Australians were beneficiaries.

“Producers and consumers need each other.

“The economic, social and political agendas of this nation do not always focus realistically on rural Australia. It is important that governments assist and co-operate, rather than regulate and strangulate.

“Families who work the land are faced by ongoing challenges of communications, health services, distance education, transportation and roads.

“Forever looming is the unpredictability of the weather and uncertainty of markets.

“I fear for many southern farmers and associated businesses who may not survive this current drought and the resultant food price increases.

“At Riveren, while there have been dramatic changes in communications and cattle management, we are still 1000km from the Darwin wharf and it is still a long way between watering points for cattle.

“It is becoming more difficult to attract and retain a reliable workforce. Plus, after several excessively abundant wet seasons, this year has delivered a protein drought.

“We have had to increase our normal investment in costly but life-saving supplementary feed for our Brahman cattle. Even so, they are dying.”

Bushfires have ravaged a third of the 3000sq km property.

“Tough times are underway,” says Terry.

Despite that, she believes the Outback is the best place in the world to raise a family.

“Our four young adult children, Marie, Patrick, Michael and Rebecca,” she says, “all have bush souls and are never far from home.”

So she will stay at Riveren, where she belongs, and continue to “storm heaven for world peace and for rain”.

In the Middle of Nowhere, published by Random House, is in its 12th edition. It is available in many bookshops. $22.95 rrp.