Vale Roy Walker

BY REGULA WASER

Kimberley identity Roy Walker has died at his home on Spillway Creek.

Roy was born in Bunbury WA and ran away to the North in his teens.

During his life he has worked on many stations as a stockman, drover, horse breaker, yard builder and saddler.

He was once head stockman on Argyle Downs for the pioneering Durack family.

Roy set up his own paradise 'Roy's Retreat' on Spillway Creek near Lake Argyle, which drowned much of the country he knew.

Using local hand-cut timber and stone from the surrounding countryside, he built a pioneer dwelling, reconstructing it from his memories of the pioneering past.

Mary and Reg Durack were dear friends and supported Roy's work running his stock and station training centre.

Bureaucracy put an end to this venture.

Loving the land and animals deeply, he decided to work tirelessly with his wife Barbara to give the Long Michael Plain a fighting chance by using horses as a tool to manage the land.

Together, they tried to keep fires out and discourage reckless four-wheel-driving.

As wildlife carers, they applied for permission to turn the Long Michael Plain into a wildlife sanctuary - a dream Barbara will continue to pursue.

When Roy was diagnosed with cancer two months ago, he didn't want to be locked up between sterile hospital walls, injected with chemical concoctions in the hope of postponing the inevitable.

He chose to go back to his retreat to weather the storm surrounded by the sounds, smells and simplicity he loved so well.

Barbara's strength enabled him to fulfil his wish to die at home.

She and two friends cared for him.

Late in the evening of November 20 Roy died.

The next morning, dressed as a ringer ready for a rodeo, Roy's body was laid to rest with dignity on the land he loved.

He did not want to be buried in a chemically coated coffin: "Barb, for that money you can build two yard-panels," he said a few days before he was buried in the bit of dirt over which he had become custodian with the blessing of local tribal elders.

Roy was a poet and a character from a bygone era.

Many of his poems are about his mates.

He now fulfils the words he wrote in his favourite poem: "Lord, give me a job, mustering in paradise".