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Name: Jack Age: 16 Hometown: property near Augathella, Qld Family: Mum & Dad, sister & brother - Emily (6), Sam (9)
My family raises cattle on a farm just outside of town. My grandfather bought the place 50 years ago. Dad grew up here and my Mum grew up in Rockhampton. She met Dad when she was out here as a governess for a family on one of the neighbouring properties. My grandparents still live on one of the houses on the property, but we’re in the big house now.
Emi’s 6th B’day Mum and Dad Sammy at the beach—little larrikin
We all get on pretty well. Being the oldest means I have to look after the younger two, as Mum and Dad are pretty busy around the property. Dad is my hero— he used to be a great polocrosse player in his day and he works so hard. Both he and Mum are amazing. Mum is always available to be the home tutor for school but I help the younger ones when we’re doing our homework. Emily just got her first pony. She is horse mad. Dad and I are teaching her to ride. Sam is already pretty good, but he can be a bit reckless.
This is where Augathella sits on the map, about 750kms North West of Brisbane
Education: I am completing Year 10 via Charleville School of the air. (http://www.charlevisde.qld.edu.au/).
The school of the air only goes to Year 10, so next year I will go to high school in Charleville, which is a bit over an hour away. It sounds like a long way but when you’ve grown up out there and travel as much as we do, an hour is nothing! It will be strange being in a classroom after always being home schooled but I am really looking forward to it.
Aspirations: There is no direct pressure on me to make a decision about my future just yet but I know Dad would love for me to stay on the property. The drought doesn’t turn me off or anything. Sure it affects us but you just have to plan for it. Our family has been doing this for years after all, we’ve seen our fair share of both good and bad times.
I think I want try and go to uni first or perhaps do a trade. I know UQ Gatton Campus has some great Agribusiness degrees. http://www.uq.edu.au/nravs/docs/2007/2007UndergraduateProspectus.pdf My Dad thinks that’s a great idea. He says that in today’ world understanding the business side of farming is just as important as working on it.
I definitely want to settle somewhere around here. It’s nice and relaxed. I could never live in the city with people looking through my windows all the time.
I would love to be able to take a trip overseas, like a gap year or something. My girlfriend’s brother has just taken 6 months off Uni to travel through the UK and Europe. I’ve never been overseas, so that’s something I am keen to do before I settle back here or whatever I end up deciding to do.
Pets: My favourite dog, Max. We have a couple of others but they’re really Dad’s work dogs. After running around with Dad and the cattle all day, they’re normally too tired to play with us kids at the end of the day. So, for my Birthday this year Mum and Dad bought me Max. He is a Kelpie/ Cattle Dog cross and loves playing with us. When he gets a bit bigger he will be able to come out with me when I ride my pony or on my bike , but he is still too small and falls behind too quickly at the moment.
How cute is he!
Holidays: Every year, Mum takes us kids to Rocky for a holiday to visit her parents. It's amazing how green it is. Going to the beach is the highlight of my year. Last year I got to go snorkeling at Great Keppel Island… It was brilliant !
Excuse the cheesy underwater self-protrait
Sports: I play polocrosse and a bit of cricket in summer. When I was younger I played rugby league but the season runs pretty much the same as polocrosse season and because we travel a lot with polocrosse I couldn’t do both. Dad plays golf a bit, and I’ve given it a go. It’s ok, but I get pretty bored after the first five or six holes.
Ben, my polocrosse pony! The Augathella Meat Ants in Action! http://www.polocrosse.com.au/jcms/
Interests:All my mates and I are into dirt biking. A couple of years ago the Crusty Demons of Dirt did a regional tour and Dad took me and a few of my mates to see it. Ever since then we’ve been obsessed!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlOrL662LK0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJFPW2fxLuM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF9bePrd0qg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6eGTf47Npo
We’re always on YouTube looking at their latest videos, and trying to pull off their stunts. Managed to break my arm doing trying to do one of their tricks a few months back. Mum was pretty impressed with me!
We spend heaps of time online. My parents bought me a Mac laptop ‘for school’, and we have satellite broadband so my mates and I are forever on there. If it’s not Crusty Demons it’ll be Tony Hawke or Bam Marguera skateboarding, or Jackass. When we’ve got a few more stunts down we’re talking about recording some of it and posting it on Youtube for a laugh. Since I got my iPod the net’s where I get all my music too. Initally Mum and Dad weren’t too keen on me shopping online, but it’s totally cool now. iTunes is awesome! I would never get through all my chores around the place without my iPod. It’s good for blocking out my brother and sister sometimes too. They’re pretty cool, but they can be annoying.
I have just gotten my learners, so I am saving up for a car at the moment. Mum and Dad pay me for working around the farm, and they are going to go halves with me when I have saved up enough. I seem to spend as much as I make though, so it could take a while before I save up enough. I’m kinda hoping that if Mum and Dad get sick of driving me into school they might just buy me one!
Sally! That’s my girlfriend Sally on the left with her best mate Pippa. She live in Charleville. We don’t get to see each other every day, but we chat on msn every night. Next year, when I go to school there we will get to see each other a lot more, but for now we have to make do with MSN and texting most of the time. We both have pre-paid mobile’s & we tend to run
Favourite TV Programmes – I watch a fair bit if TV. Aside from DVDs there’s not that much to do at night. I really like Border Security, Scrubs, Las Vegas & So Fresh. I watch a lot of sport too, motor sport, cricket, league, anything really. I want Mum and Dad to get us Foxtel, but it’s never going to happen. They’re not to strict with the amount of TV we watch, but they reckon they’re not going to actively encourage it by getting us Fox.
Favourite Music: I mainly listen to my iPod, but I do listen to Triple J a fair bit to check out any local stuff that’s cool. I listen to a few different radio stations online. Generally when I’m online chatting or doing my homework or whatever.
I love heaps of different stuff. Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Ne-Yo, Panic! At the Disco, Eminem, Artic Monkeys, The Black Keys, The Cat Empire, Dallas Crane, The Darkness, End of Fashion, Eskimo Joe, Franz Ferdinand, Foo Fighters, Jet, John Butler Trio, Kanye West, Little Birdy, Queens of the Stoneage, Spiderbait, The Strokes, The Libertines, The White Stripes, Wolfmother, The Living End, Mellencolin, Green Day, Grinspoon, 50 Cent, Machine Gun Fellatio, Korn, Blink 182, Good Charlotte, Linkin Park, Chris Brown, Hilltop Hoods, Pete Murray, Jack Johnson, Pharrell Williams, The Dandy Warhols, the Killers, Hubastank, Keith Urban, Evermore.
Favourite Films: The last good film I say was Borat— wrong, but funny! Otherwise, my favourites are: Pirates of the Caribbean(I and II), Wallace and Gromit, Friday Night Lights, Coach Carter, The Fast and The Furious (all three) Torque (yeah, it was lame, but the bikes are cool) and of course Jackass!
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