CRIMESITE: WED AUG 24

Thanks for hanging in there guys. Mick is sitting up in hospital bed cracking jokes with his entire family around him. So Surrey and I are off up the Gulf first thing tomorrow. Barramundi calling.

DANNO

CRIMESITE: WED AUG 22

Tired as tonight. And thinking about what else I didn’t see or hear. For instance the Crimson

Finch. Should have been there. Wasn’t. No wonder Tom Mccreadie didn’t want us on the

property and no wonder he was burning.

            

Talk tomorrow. Very big day coming up.

DANNO

CRIMESITE: TUE AUG 21

Surrey is in. He can borrow a rangers truck. Also knows an old hunting trail we can use. Just the perimeter guards to get past. Will camp overnight. Wish us luck guys…

CRIMESITE: MON AUG 20

Guys, About the arrest - fire is regarded as an agricultural tool up here but things can go wrong. Unhappily for Tom McCreadie, he lost control of a back-burn last week and it cleared 20 hectares of his neighbour prime pasture. In a rage the neighbour complained to the police. Talk about an uproar. Even though the number of back burns on Candy Downs Station are way more than other properties no one wants the police controlling back burning on private property. The neighbour is now refusing to testify and you’ve probably seen the response from LPK. Tom McCreadie is the local bush fire brigade captain but, if he is not also a firebug why would he be so stupid to back burn that often.

Enough rambling for one night. Go to bed you crazy people.

DANNO

CRIMESITE: FRI AUG 17

Becoming a game of nerves now.  Reading Hemmingway about fishing in Basque country. V inspiring.

DANNO

CRIMESITE: THU AUG 16

Trying to imagine what the crime site might look like was doing my head in so, taking Mayor Nina at her word, I thought I’d call Manager Tom McCreadie and we’d be able to have a reasonable conversation. Wrong. So then I called LPK, on the grounds that she was a woman of reason. Wrong again. She may well be Prime Minister material as she’s certainly not for turning. If the patrol wasn’t armed it would be different. If they were patrolling any station other than Candy Downs Station it would be different. So it’s a waiting game. Waiting for the right opportunity. Been asking around about the Totem paintings. Apparently they are most important paintings to come out the area for years. Most people have never seen Totem 1 but they way they talk about it - it’s like it was in the next room.

Can’t understand the LPK decision on that one either. 

Going for a swim to clear the head.

DANNO

CRIMESITE: WED AUG 15

First Mayor Nina and now Lawrence Spletsky seems to want to be a Crime Site Investigator. Don’t know whether this town is big enough for the three of us! Despite everything this really is amazing country. Boab trees, hundreds of years old. Creek beds and riversides lined with magnificent old paperbarks. Brolga and jabirus dancing in the swamps.

Maybe it is big enough...

DANNO

CRIMESITE: TUE AUG 14

Mayor Nina was very pleased with herself when she dropped off the water sample. My email was a real free kick! She also gave me another ten minutes about how wonderful Tom McCreadie was once you got to know him. Yeah right!
That sketch was interesting though. Not just the lie of the lie of the land either.

Surrey and I went back to the Thai tonight to take them up on their offer of a free meal. Bumped into LPK’s art consultant Lawrence Spletsky. I knew I recognised the voice. What he was doing with those mining analysts is anybody’s guess. Surrey tells me he’s here to choose the paintings LPK intends to auction this year to support the education of talented Indigenous students. All a bit tricky really as Lawrence spent the day trying to persuade Surrey to sell an old painting Mick did years ago called Totem 2. Mick wont sell. He’s never got over selling his first Totem painting to LPK. Surrey says the Totem series are the best paintings Mick’s ever done. But LPK has never put it on display anywhere. Never. So Mick’s never seen it again. Surrey says he’s sure that this is at the heart of the feud but Mick would never discuss it with him. And maybe now he never will.

Anyway Lawrence will drop around tomorrow. He may know of some way round our little crime site access problem.

Will courier the sample tomorrow morning.

DANNO

CRIMESITE: MON AUG 13

See Mayor Nina’s message? Talk about closing ranks. Definitely something fishy there. But nothing fishy about the Ag & Food team. They have a really tight state-based operation, all based on the fact that there are only two major roads in. Re the wildlife trade - their sources tell them there’s a guy in town offering big money for an Aspidites melanocephalus - just like my mate Tigger. But no information about our Victim. They suggested Customs might have the best idea on the international market for our Victim. Went and had a laksa with Surrey at the local Thai tonight. Took some time as the wiring short circuited and everyone had to wait until Surrey fixed it. Apparently he has a degree in electrical engineering but when he came back to look after his Dad there were no jobs locally so he took up hairdressing. He cuts hair in the morning and then he and his Dad hold court in the salon every afternoon - advising his dads community. It really is a different world up here.

Too tired to listen to the owls tonight. Need to sleep.

DANNO

CRIMESITE: THU AUG 9

Sat outside LPK’s town house today after the interview. It was like sitting outside the Governor General’s Office. Florists, caterers, a delegation of nurses, a guy with some plans together with the same guy who was in the 4 wheel Candy Downs Station vehicle, presumably Tom McCreadie, a priest, 3 Aboriginal elders, Mayor Nina Barzani and 6 women wearing Coolibah Drive Committee badges, all went in or out of that door over a period of 3 hours. Feeling tired just thinking about it.

Saw a wedge tailed eagle today up in the thermals - all power and wings.

DANNO

CRIMESITE: WED AUG 8

Had a chat to various people round town today, well the town that actually has shops. It appears that LPK is a huge presence here - almost a cult figure. They admire her because she pulled Candy Downs Station out of bankruptcy 20 years ago when her husband died and she has been a big employer and big spender in town ever since.. I also got the drop on Surrey’s dad, Mick. Same story. Hugely respected for what he’s put into his community, his local knowledge, his work on native title and on student literacy. So here’s the weird thing. Twenty years ago they were the best of mates. Then suddenly they fell out and no one, absolutely no -one knows why. They even managed to negotiate a really good native title claim without ever being in the same room together. So I thought I’d ask her that question tomorrow. She’s dropping by 0900.

Spotted a Northern Rosella today.

DANNO

CRIMESITE: TUE AUG 7

Rang Candy Downs Station this afternoon and spoke to the Manager Tom McCreadie. Apparently Laura Postlethwaite Kerry prefers to live in town. He reluctantly gave me her number so I rang and left a message. Went into town later and had some Singapore noodles at Dim Yuen. The place was jumping with tourists. Everyone is trying to get to see the country before the Big Wet. When I got back to my cabin there was a message from the Mayor, Nina Barzani wanting to assist. Maybe locals are concerned after all.

The bush hut brochure says ‘this leisurely B & B allows you to experience station life through the window’. Obviously they meant smell it…Eau de Cattle. Very powerful.

DANNO

CRIMESITE: MON AUG 6

Hitched a lift in with a supply truck that broke down so only just arrived yesterday. Went out to Candy Downs Station this afternoon and watched the gate. No traffic in but two utes and a van load of workers came out at 3.30pm. Then 3 station hands - all looked like they were out for a few drinks  - came out at 5pm followed by a ritzy 4 wheel drive with a Candy Downs Station logo on the side powering out at 5.30pm. As to the local Villain rumours - that’s all they are. No one from outside Candy Downs Station has been to the crime site for years. But everyone is positive they know exactly what happened!  You’ve got to love a small town!

The miners have gone to bed so I can now hear the owls are barking.

DANNO