Inside the life of a lone ranger: Birdsville’s only cop Stephan Pursell retires
In the one cop town of Birdsville the nearest backup is 200km away, outback sultanas are a way of life and saving people is a regular job.
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Dressed in his police blues Stephan Pursell doesn’t eve
“What flies?,” the tiny town’s only cop says when asked if you ever get used to their constant presence.
Senior constable officer in charge Pursell is hanging up his uniform after nine years as a lone ranger in one of Queensland’s most remote postings – a 240,000 square kilometre patch of desert and farmland.
He’s spent almost a decade saving people who have gotten lost, fallen ill or involved in road crashes in the searing hot or flooded outback conditions with limited communication.
“The two main jobs out here are vehicle accidents, a lot of motorbike incidents, car accidents, just on the remote roads and then the other thing we do is a lot of search and rescue, where somebody’s either lost or they’re overdue or family members are worried,” he said.
“To date, over the nine years, successfully, we’ve found everybody, touch wood with six months to go.
“I probably can’t describe it, but it’s, that moment where you go, ‘yes, we’ve done all this work and got a positive result’.”
It was a four hour rescue effort at the beginning of his Birdsville stint that stands out to Sen-Constable Pursell.
“We went out to rescue a lady who was quite ill,” he said.
“They got in contact with emergency services and gave a location, but that’s not actually where they were.
“It took a little bit extra time to find her and that could have been a difference between life and death in that situation.”
That operation led to the introduction of numbered markers every 5km on the desert track.
“It’s a simple concept but it gets used all the time. Now, as soon as someone says they’re at a certain marker, we know exactly where they are,” Sen-Constable Pursell said.
“That is time critical, we don’t need to be wandering around the desert ourselves looking for them when we can just go straight to them,
“I’d like to think we’ve left behind the town, the Outback, the Simpson Desert, a safer place.”
As punters rolled into town for the iconic Birdsville Races last weekend – swelling the population from 110 to 6000 – Sen-Constable Pursell said “people are in safe hands out here”.
He recalled a rescue effort at one of his first race meets where tourists en route got themselves into trouble 120km out of town and no one else was equipped to reach the location.
“It took us about six hours to get there just due to the water and the mud but those people are quite relieved to know that someone was coming for them again,” he said.
“That good result we got them out.”
Sen-Constable Pursell is finishing his career a long way from got his start in a Victoria Police uniform.
He spent a decade policing in suburban Dandenong and Craigieburn before a sea-change took him to the Sunshine Coast for another 10 years.
The move to Birdsville was inspired by his father’s time as a country officer in Tasmania and a desire to “get out of the normal hustle and bustle of big cities”.
“I thought, ‘why not give something to go, a bit of country policing in such an iconic location. Why not come out here?’,” he said.
Sen-Constable Pursell drove out to Birdsville “sight unseen”.
“It was a little bit of an adjustment driving out, because you leave the city and then you see the trees and then the trees disappear, and then the rocks and the sand and it’s a long, long way.
“My initial thoughts were, ‘have I done the right thing?’, but once I got here, I certainly had.”
His nearest backup is 200km away in Bedourie and after that it’s a 400 to 700km trek to find a cop.
“You’re it,” Sen-Constable Pursell said, saying the biggest challenge was being “self-sufficient in work and your home life”.
“You’re on your own, you haven’t got somebody to bounce off at work and make decisions and decide how things go.”
His wife Sharon Pursell joined him in Birdsville doing government agency work like registrations and licensing.
The couple felt instantly welcomed to the dusty red town and their presence will be missed on the Birdsville Dunes Golf Club course.
“This town is an excellent town, great people, very pro-police for a town, no trouble which is excellent, extremely welcoming,” Sen-Constable Pursell said.
“They know you’re policemen, but they also they also know your part of the community, we’ve never felt like we haven’t belonged.”
For career cop retirement is “bitter sweet”, he’s going home to the Sunshine Coast but also leaving his home of Birdsville.
The almost 60 year old will do his final shift sometime between March and May next year, there’s every chance he’ll be back for the next races.
“The whole thing’s bittersweet for me. I love being here. Love these events. I’ve got to go, but I’m going back to spend time with family and a couple little grandkids,” he said.
“I think once I leave then I really feel missing the place and I’ll probably come back for a visit and bring the family back.
“My son and daughter have come out a few years back, didn’t really like the dust and the heat and haven’t come back, but I’m sure the grandkids would like a visit out here.”
He’s not the only Birdsville stalwart retiring after the 2024 race meet with tent boxer Brettlyn ‘The Beaver’ Neal hanging up the gloves to run for One Nation in the Queensland state election.
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