A Heart of Mulga
Family, friends and sponsors gathered in Dampier last week to lend support to two local men who were setting off on the journey of a lifetime.
Dave Peck and Mick Tuthill will take three weeks on trail bikes, to ride through the outback deserts of Western and South Australia, while making a film to highlight historic sites and their interactions with the local aboriginal people.
Dave and Mick set off on Sunday on a trip which will take them through Newman and Wiluna, along four wheel drive tracks through to Warburton and Warakurna, to raise money for charity.
They are aiming for Mimili Aboriginal Community, not far from the Northern Territory border, in South Australia.
They have gained special permission to visit the community and to meet with the elders.
Dave told us that an aboriginal family at the community adopted both men 26 years ago when they lived there and now they want to help by recording their story and catching up with them again.
“Mick and I grew up on Mimilli,” Dave said.
“Our adopted father has passed but we still have contact there and still speak the language and that’s become the heart of the film and we decided to go back there and it comes back to family.
“We are going back to family, we are leaving family; so that’s where it becomes a bit of a personal journey.
“That’s the major part of the story – that is our story, so it’s not a lad’s trip.
“We didn’t want to have a travel documentary, we wanted to record the culture, its positive its negative, and you only see the negative.” Dave added.
Dave stressed that it was about a couple of guys breaking away from the monotony of society and finding out that you go back to grass roots and then find out the importance of your own family.
“If you go somewhere really remote you do find you miss the family quite a lot.
“We are so busy, sometimes going away is a good time to reflect on life and people, as well as yourself,” said Dave.
‘When you come back you really see the rewards, you’ve got something to come back to rather than not come back to.
“You have to come back and not fall in the same trap of doing it all over again and getting tied up in life.
Dave and Mick hosted a night at Thai Lanna Restaurant in Dampier last week where invited guests had the opportunity to speak to the support crew, study a map of the trip, look at the trail bikes up close and touch the support vehicles; including a sturdy four wheel drive covered in sponsors’ logo’s and Dave’s trusty, old Ford ute.
All money raised from sales of the DVD will go to charity.
The Pilbara Echo is one of the sponsors.
Dave was looking forward to getting five kilometres down the road and unraveling some of the true culture and secrets in Australia.
Tags: Dave Peck, Echo, Karratha, Mick Tuthill, News, Pilbara, pilbaranews
