I had eight years of

Mum’ s homeschooling, supplemented

with School of the Air.

Every two weeks, my brothers

and I received written lessons and

tests by post.

There were no school uniforms, no homework, no morning assembly, no religious classes, no bullying and no racism. Just the wonders of nature.

Dr Robert Richardson( left) with his grandmother, two brothers and their pet kangaroo.

If we worked hard, we could finish two weeks of lessons in one week— so every second week we were free to

A lesson well learnt

Most nights after dinner, I would tell

formed gangs of trouble. It suddenly occurred to my sev-

pseudo-grown-up brats, just Ron. I decided to become a doctor, as

necessary to have bigger regional hospitals with rapid access to cover

be junior cowboys and help Dad with

my parents about a pain in my belly.

en-year-old’ s brain that this was to

did my youngest brother and two of

the smaller towns by helicopter.

the sheep and cattle, and ride horses.

It wasn’ t a real pain, just pretend,

be my fate.

my oldest brother’ s children.

Travelling specialist clinics are

We were driving vehicles by the

but I wanted to get out of helping

I fought the anaesthetic mightily

The desire came from having

a great idea for non-urgent cases, as

age of 10.

with the washing up.

but lost.

two great teachers: Mum and Dad.

is telehealth.

I had four brothers. The only neg-

This infuriated my brothers.

When I woke up, I immediately

It was about being rewarded for

All smaller country towns must

atives were not having sisters and the

Dad took it seriously, though, and

checked my balls— whew, all okay.

good hard work.

have a doctor well trained in emer-

social isolation.

one day he drove me to a small town

Dad and I went home, the monsoon

But none of us sandy kids wanted

gency medicine, and a paramedic

We watched calves‘ being made’

about 50km away.

came and the property was cut off

to go back and work in the bush.

ambulance service.

and figured by the erect penis and guttural noises that the bull was putting the seeds in.

When calving season was close, we helped Dad choose two milk cows with big udders.

Dad told him firmly that he wouldn’ t take me home until the doc took out my appendix.

Which leads me to the question of rural medical workforce issues.

Forcing IMGs to work in the bush is wrong.

A message for AHPRA: Doctors in the bush are isolated and are going

It is also important for regional hospital doctors to know how to handle calls by more remote area doctors.

Nurses and pharmacists should have an increasing scope of practice

One of our jobs was to check the

to have consensual sexual relations

in rural and remote areas.

cows’ vulvas— when birth was getting

Dr McDermott did an examination,

from town for weeks.

with people they may see as patients.

Don’ t make it harder for people

closer, the vulvas became swollen and

stuck his finger up my bum and said

I helped with the washing up.

Get over it.

at the coalface. You are not there. So

puffy. This was called‘ springing’. Conception, birth, suffering and death held no secrets.

there was nothing wrong with me. But Dad told him firmly that the monsoon was coming and he

Fixing the rural workforce

From the age of 14, I drove my broth-

Pay must be fair for the incredible work that country doctors do.

No doctor can be working and on

do everything to help and facilitate movement and respect.

If we get it right, some of the

I would, however, often wonder

wouldn’ t take me home until the

ers and the neighbours’ kids via back

call 24 hours a day. It is ludicrous

next crop of sandy kids who choose

how cattle ate grass and turned it

doc took out my appendix.

roads to the edge of a bigger town for

and dangerous.

medicine might be tempted to

into meat— and big poos.

I wasn’ t sure what this meant, but

junior high school.

Addressing this should be a high

return to the bush.

I believe that was the start of my

I thought back to the time I’ d helped

There was a lovely doctor in this

priority.

medical career. I wanted to understand everything.

the family castrate naughty boy cattle who objected to being yarded in and

town. The parents called him Dr Richards; the little kids, Dr Ron; and us

The populations of small country towns are shrinking, so it’ s

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