 Our Guest speaker on Tuesday was our own Graham Burmeister, talking on the subject "Camping in the Desert". Burmo noted that he has addressed the club 8 time over the 40 yrs he has been in the club. That averages out to speaking every 5 yrs. His talk was accompanied by slides in the background of his trips to the outback and the desert. He combined his love of family, camping and travel into his presentation. His photos showed road direction signs from all over central Australia. The many stops at remote communities were accompanied by camping and fishing and evenings in the local pub getting to know the colourful characters of the bush. |
 One would imagine some great stories being told. |
Camping with his father was an important and meaningful part of his life memories and he continues the tradition camping with his family.One trip turned out to be a challenge to his Toyota with a blown radiator while in the middle of the desert and a gearbox go out while on the last leg of the trip in Wagga. |
 Family fishing and camping...the heart of Burmo's talk |
Very little food was taken on trips, just the basics of flour, salt and tea. They would live off the land on yabbies, ducks and other game. They were heavily armed with a number of rifles. Burmo said he can't understand why Bourke and Wills perished. There was so much food avaliable. Burmo gave us an bit of history into his father's background. His father was born in 1922 of a German heritage. He reflected that it was not a good time for Germans as it was only 4 years after WWI. His Aboriginal ancestry also meant there was no chance of being born in a hospital or assisted by a midwife at birth. His close knit German community protected him from being a member of the stolen gereration. |
 Burmo discribed a photo as pornographic...this may be it.. His father left school at the age of 13.and joined the Army as an underage soldier at the outbreak of WWII. He pedal biked all the way to Wagga to join up. He fought in the Siege of Tobruk and the battle of El Alamein . He was an Australian who was part German, part Aboriginal fighting in a Polish Brigade in Libya against the Africa Corps. He could have written a book. Burmo concluded his speech and warned us that with a little luck, he was coming back in 5 years to speak again and to tell more of the story. He received a strong round of applause and he was thanked by President Paul. |