First Year of living in Fregon

| Introduction | How we got there? | Fregon: Where is it | First Impression| Bush picnic | School life | All by myself | My son the cash register | Leonie the rally driver | I hate snakes

Introduction

From the period of 1990-94 we were living at Fregon, which is a remote community in the northwest corner of South Australia. There were about 20 white or Pirinpa people living there whose role it was to advise and educate the community in European customs. There were also about 100 Aborigine's whose culture and language were of the Pitjantjatjara.

It is isolated because it is difficult to drive to on the unsealed, corrugated roads. When the roads are good (so that you can drive at a safe 100 km/hr it would take 2 to 21/2 hours to get to the bitumin at Indulkna, once when it rained it took me 9 hours! From there the nearest town was 1 hour Mimilli and to Alice Springs 6 hours. There was a supply truck that arrive once a week and a mail plane that came on a Tuesday and Thursday. There was a telephone in the school and 2 public phones in town, no radio or TV but most people had a video player.

There are two sections to the town which is divided by a dry creek bed call Officer Creek. This creek has its origin in the Musgrave Ranges and flows south disappearing into the Great Victorian Desert. It flows about every 7 years for a couple of days then returns to sand again.

Fregon has essential services. These being:
Supplies: A truck would bring up supplies from Adelaide each week and be unloaded from the Store on a Saturday.
Mail: Plane from Alice Springs on a Tuesday and Thursday.
Medical: Clinic that had medical nurses. Evacuation was by Flying Doctor at the community airstrip.
Shops: General Store opens about 11:00 am and 4 PM for an hour Monday to Saturday.
Petrol Pump: Back then petrol was $1 per liter (1990) when it was only 60 cents in Adelaide.

For some of the stories from the first year them click on the headings above.