Howard Shanks caught up with Tex Halliday, the mobile plant trainer for GEMCO (Groote Eylandt Mining Company Operation). Tex trains all operators on all mobile plant from two-tonne trucks through to 120-tonne Cat dump trucks and D11 bulldozers. Tex came to Groote Eylandt six years ago. Both he and his wife have worked and lived in the bush all their lives. But why did he choose to work on the island? “At the time, my wife and I had been married for 25 years,” Tex recalled. “In that time, I think we shifted once a year. As one job finished, we‘d move on to the next. So, it was time to stay put for a while. “The lifestyle‘s great, but this January we had our first grandchild in Darwin and living on the island makes it a little hard to be with our family. We‘ve always been a close family and, yeah, spending a little more time with the family would be nice.”

The island does offer some advantages, however. Tex and his wife get to enjoy pleasures rarely experienced by mainlanders. There‘s one in particular that Tex is very fond of – he‘s an avid fisherman, and the waters surrounding the island are abundant with a large variety of fish species. Over the years, Tex has developed some personal rigs that guarantee a big catch. A favourite at Tex‘s barbeques is freshly caught Red Emperor, washed down with a cold cleansing ale or two.

Just in case you were wondering too … this is Groote Eylandt island.

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