Kirrama

About the Book

Kirrama, Life on an Australian Cattle Station is real and as far removed from comfort and safety as anything you could find in the best fiction adventure novels. It is the true-life story of an average Texas ranching family who took a giant step across the boundary that lies between normal to extra-ordinary adventure and sacrifice. The Gunn family migrated from a small two-thousand acre Central Texas ranch in Williamson County, Texas, to a beautiful one hundred and six thousand acre (166 sq. mile) cattle station (ranch) in Queensland, Australia. The family in this book is living proof of the true strength and courage we all possess when faced with a challenge. How do we learn to live without modern comforts and the advanced technology that has become very much a part of our everyday existence? Little did we realize at the beginning of our journey that we had seen the last of automatic washers, dryers, hot water heaters and electricity for many years. Now, we would experience the use of concrete rub boards graduating to gas powered wringer type washers. The children would be home schooled. Outpost radio was the only means of communication with the outside world, as well as the Royal Flying Doctor Service for verbal diagnosis and treatment of all medical conditions. There was no landing strip on this property located on a rough, remote mountain range, therefore, the doctor could only be used to instruct in a verbal capacity. Kirrama (aboriginal meaning for lots of water) will take you through camping experiences on rivers infested with saltwater crocodiles, deadly snakes, sharks, wild hogs, and dingoes. You will enjoy the wild life of the graceful yet awkward looking kangaroos, curious emus, and beautiful colored parrots as well as the sad times of having to prepare a loved one for burial, while experiencing aboriginal life in the Great Outback of The Land Down Under. Sold on Reality? Time Magazine – September 27, 2001, reported Reality TV such as Survivor II, “The Australian Outback,” was watched by hundreds of millions of people in more than forty countries by people fascinated with excitement, adventure, and reality far removed from the everyday routine of their lives. Reality none the less, being experienced by ordinary people like themselves, it creates an awakening within them that each and everyone of us possess; the basic human as well as spiritual strength to survive in situations outside the safety and comforts of our own normal lives. Oprah’s last show in Australia was a tremendous success. People are in awe of the huge cattle stations, the Great Barrier Reef, the unusual animals, and the whole of Australia in general. The stories in Kirrama will take you from our long forty-two hour travel time from Austin, Texas, U.S.A., to Cairns, Queensland, Australia; including the feelings and trials of moving to a new country on to the many moves to various cattle stations in very remote outback areas and finally to our new home with many more adventures and trials. People Weekly magazine in their February 5, 2001, addition covered the complete story of the arrival of the Survivor II crew to Goshen, which was the adjoining station to Kirrma Station. The faux Stone Age Tribal Council was actually built on the rocky edge above the Herbert River where Blenco Falls cascades for 500 feet into the Herbert River Gorge on Kirrama Station. Kirrama was purchased by the Gunn family from Doug and Ruth Farquhar, the Australian family who then purchased Goshen Station. Much of Kirrama is written about this area, as well as the very remote cattle stations in the Cape York Peninsula.

About the Author

Barbara Gunn grew up in a small town in central Texas, worked as assistant manager, escrow officer, as well as assistant secretary for various companies owned by Georgetown Title Company. In 1969, Barbara married, Tate, the older son of the Gunn family. They moved their young family to Australia in 1972. Kirrama is written from personal experience having lived the Australian Outback life, getting to know the people, seeing and hearing their amazing stories, as well as her own. There are other books on her agenda.