Our flying Santa: bringing joy to the Outback
The Salvation Army’s flying padres bring Christmas cheer to Outback schools and stations. Samantha Trenoweth meets the big-hearted pilots of this modern-day sleigh.
It’s 6am at Mount Isa and the horizon is a strip of peachcoloured light below an indigo sky. Simon and Natalie Steele wake early, Natalie to sort gifts they’ll deliver today to an Outback school, Simon to check weather forecasts and prepare flight charts. At this time of year, the Steeles set off straight after breakfast. In the heat of summer, air turbulence increases as the day wears on and electrical storms rumble in on desert evenings.
The Steeles are “flying padres”, as the Salvation Army’s airborne ministry is known. Equipped with a Robinson 66 Turbine helicopter, they deliver practical and emotional support to remote schools, communities and stations in Outback Queensland.
They have air-dropped supplies to farmers stranded by floodwaters and airlifted their kids to and from school. They have flown pregnant women to hospital and mucked in with emergency services during bushfires, cyclones and search-andrescue missions. In quieter times, they might drop by an isolated station for a cuppa and a heart-to-heart chat. Sometimes, they’re the only visitors the owners have seen for months.
“Even though we live in a world with internet, email and Skyping,” Natalie believes face-to-face contact is irreplaceable. “When we’re going through tough times, we need to know we’re not forgotten,” she says.
Simon sometimes spends a day or two at more remote properties, helping out with the fencing, drafting and mustering, or checking bores.
“When you’re out there at a mustering camp,” he explains, “sitting by the fire in your swag, that’s when guys open up. It’s because of the day that you’ve spent working together. You’ve built up that sense of trust.”
Today, Simon and Natalie are off to Boulia State School, roughly 300 kilometres south of Mount Isa – four hours on the road or just an hour and a half by chopper.
From the air, red earth and spinifex stretch to the horizon, punctuated here and there by clumps of grey- leafed wattle, scraggy-topped gums and ochre hills.
The helicopter touches down in time for recess. All 35 pupils rush out of the schoolhouse with smiles and enough energy to power their small town. Waving, calling, chattering, they keep a safe distance until the blades stop spinning. Then they dash across to throw their arms around Simon and Natalie, and carry armfuls of presents indoors. “A lot of the kids here don’t know when their birthdays are,” Boulia’s Principal, Krystal Stanley, explains. “They don’t celebrate birthdays and there’s not a lot of emphasis on Christmas. The nearest shop that stocks toys is so far away that many of the kids have never been there. So
Simon and Natalie’s visit is incredibly exciting.”
The presents have largely been donated through the Kmart Wishing Tree Appeal. Once the gifts are set out on tables in the schoolroom and the kids have gathered, Natalie and Simon
There was a bath kit and I could hear the kids saying, ‘Oh, Mum would love that’.
give an up-beat, not too preachy talk about the meaning of Christmas.
“They talk about things like hope, gratitude and giving,” says Krystal. “They talk about how important it is to give and explain that giving doesn’t necessarily have to involve a present. You can give someone a hug or tell them that you love them.”
Then the children approach the table, one by one, and choose two gifts, the first for themselves and another for a family member or friend.
“It’s really special,” says Krystal. “Today, there was a bath kit with a loofah and shampoo and conditioner, and I could hear the kids saying, ‘Oh, Mum would love that’, or Grandma or Auntie. They have that picked out before their own present. Even the little ones in prep are just so thoughtful. It melts your heart.”
The flying padres stop by Boulia once each term and their visits are highlights of the school year. Often they bring gifts and help out in practical ways, too.
“I’ve seen them do some really great things,” says Krystal. “Every year, the Salvation Army organises a camp in Sydney. Last year, Simon and Natalie helped get two of our kids there. It pushed them out of their comfort zones, but it broadened their horizons. Most of the kids here have never been on a plane. Some have never left town.
“Also, last year, they brought shoes. Because we’re so far from the nearest shop, a lot of the kids here don’t have shoes. So we measured their feet and on Simon and Natalie’s next visit, they brought a brand new pair of joggers and socks for every child.”
The Outback life
Natalie was born in Mount Isa.
Her father came here from Finland to work in the mines, but the family moved east before her fourth birthday – driven by the oppressive heat and dust – and her mother vowed she would never return. “I think God has a sense of humour,” Natalie says, laughing. “Mum has to come back now to visit me and make her peace with the place.”
Simon was born in Tasmania, but spent some of his childhood on the move, swept along by his father’s work in civil engineering. An early love affair with flight saw him try his
hand at gliding, then earn his fixedwing and commercial helicopter licences. He and Natalie had been married for nine years and were living just south of the Gold Coast when they got involved with the Salvation Army and heard about the flying padres. “When this position came up,” Natalie says, “we could see God’s hand in it.”
The Steeles have been at Mount Isa for eight years now and their younger children, Isabel, 12, and Joel, 10, are firmly embedded in the community. Simon also has two older girls in their 20s: Halley, who is in Tamworth, and Natasha, who has come to live at Mount Isa, too. They’re all agreed that the greatest challenge of Outback living is the heat.
“When you get a long summer of 40-degree days, it’s exhausting,” Natalie says with a sigh. “And you miss it when you don’t have a wet season. Everyone is just waiting for the rain and you know that the properties are relying on it, too.”
It took the flying padres some time to earn the trust of the people here, whose families have lived and worked on this land for generations, but today they feel very much like locals.
“If you come here with a sense of adventure and a willingness to embrace what the Outback has to offer, it can be a very special time,” Natalie says, smiling. “We feel blessed to be here.”
“The Outback has a harsh beauty, which can be hard to understand until you’ve been here for a while,” Simon says. “The people are different, too. That’s a generalisation, I know, but when I go to help out with money or
The Outback has a harsh beauty, which can be hard to understand.