The Advertiser’s ‘Voicewagen’ Kombi struck by bad omens as outback SA has its say
Bad omens came into view almost immediately as The Advertiser’s Paul Ashenden set out to gauge where the state stood on the referendum. See what people had to say.
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The irony certainly wasn’t lost on us.
The sign on the roadhouse near the Big Galah declared we were at the halfway point of Australia. We had reached Kimba. Sydney was about 2000km to the east. Perth, about 2000km in the other direction.
We were travelling in Daisy, a 1975 bay window Volkswagen Kombi van on a mission to traverse the state from Ceduna to Mount Gambier to gauge people’s opinion on the Voice (the referendum, not the TV show!).
We were, literally, driving Miss Daisy, but she would soon become the Voicewagen. People would flock to see her and she would visit some iconic SA destinations. Well, that was our plan anyway.
Unfortunately, Daisy had other ideas.
It was day Minus One of our mission (The journey proper was supposed to start in Ceduna the following day) but by the time we got to Kimba, Daisy had had enough.
In the town that geographically divides a nation, on a journey to discuss a topic that is politically dividing a nation, Daisy refused to go on. She was as broken as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s election night dream that this referendum to introduce an Indigenous Voice to Parliament would sail through with a comfortable majority.
Daisy had started doing it tough at Port Augusta. By the time we got to Iron Knob (population 110 and no pub, no service station, no general store) she was struggling to get above walking pace on some of the small rises of the Eyre Highway.
Shout out to Iron Knob local David Kumeroa, who helped us out with some transmission fluid we hoped might cure Daisy’s ills. David, a friendly and generous former Kiwi who urged everyone to vote Yes on October 14, could barely hide his disdain at the sight of a couple of city blokes with office workers’ hands trying to play mechanic on their hired Kombi in this isolated country town.
Still, he put down his wheelbarrow for a few minutes and donated a litre or so of transmission fluid he had in the shed and as we started out west again towards Kimba, we dared to dream we still might make it to Ceduna.
Alas, it took us two hours to drive the 88km to Kimba, and by the time we chugged into town, we had a feeling that our time with Daisy would be over before it had really began.
Young RAA mechanic Austin Priest, 24, drove up from Rudall to take a look. Originally from Wirrulla, about 200km further west, Austin’s been with Rudall Motors for six years but will finish up soon to work in the mines in WA in a bid to save up for his first home.
He’s been busy fixing cars and making life decisions, and has had too much on his plate to think much about the referendum. In fact, he admits, he hadn’t even heard of the Voice until he met us.
Try as he might, Austin couldn’t help Daisy, so suggested we pop in to Dickie at Kimba Motor Service the next day. Turns out Dickie was on holidays. Long-time worker Cary Johnson, who plans to vote No on October 14, was holding the fort and flat out, but he spared us a few minutes to take a look.
“It’s lost compression in the engine on at least one cylinder – just wear and tear on an old motor, and I don’t think you’re going to take it on the rest of your trip,” he concluded.
So that was it. Our time with Daisy was over, but that moment opened the door for what will hopefully become a wonderful new friendship between man and vintage machine. Nelson, the 1973 Westfalia Kombi was on her way to step in as Daisy’s replacement.
While we waited for her arrival (on a car trailer towed over from ever-helpful and awfully apologetic Cooper Pratt from Kombi Camping in Sandy Creek) we hit the streets of Kimba to get a reading of people’s reaction to the Voice.
It quickly became apparent that Kimba remains a town that remains divided after a controversial eight-year bid for nearby farmland to become home to a national radioactive waste storage facility.
More than 60 per cent of locals voted in favour of the nuclear waste dump, which came with a federal government promise of 45 new jobs and a potential cash injection of more than $300 million.
The government selected Kimba as the site for the dump but in July this year a Federal Court judge ruled in favour of an appeal against the decision by traditional owners The Barngarla people.
Many Kimba residents we spoke to remain angry at the Federal Court decision and most say they will vote No at the October 14 referendum.
We spoke to more than 30 people as we waited for Nelson to arrive and of the 20 locals, 15 had already made up their minds to vote No. The other five were undecided.
In front of Cafe Kimba, across the road from the Kimba Gateway Hotel where we had stayed the previous night, local builder Ian ‘Pump’ Davey, 64, had already made up his mind.
“After hearing all the information, my vote is going to be No,” he said. “I don’t think it’s concrete enough to vote Yes. There’s just too many loopholes and too many variables to say that we need to start looking at this. It needs a lot more research before we get into something as important as this.”
Ian’s wife Cheryl, 65, runs the Kimba Friendly Grocer and newsagent on the other side of the street. She agrees with her husband’s point of view.
As do bakers Denise Mills and Karren Wright, both 59, who we interrupt as they are making bread out the back of the Kimba IGA, around the corner in South Terrace.
“I’m a No,” Karren said, echoing the thoughts of her workmate. “I don’t understand it. And, you know, the long term effects … they (the politicians) don’t say what’s happening, so when in doubt, don’t change it.”
Local gardening services operator Mark Enright, 52, brother of AFL star Corey Enright, is also a no voter, as are Cooper Westhoff, 23, Kristi Francis, 41, Rebecca Hodgkinson, 19 and Brett, 58, and Michelle, 59, Raynor.
Among those yet to make up their mind was Kerri Cliff, who runs Eyre Business Enterprises in High St. Like most, Kerri said the Voice was not high on most people’s priority as they focused on their busy lives.
“I feel like the feeling is that there’s more going to vote no than there is yes,” she said. “But I think some of that is probably quite strongly linked to the federal government pulling the nuclear waste facility, which was quite a big deal for our community.
“(That) has left a nasty taste in our mouth as a community. There will be those that will still vote for the Yes, in the referendum. But I think there’ll be more people voting No than might have otherwise.”
Adelaide students Grace Wakelin and Bran Schiller, both 20, are making use of the free Wi-Fi at Eyre Business Enterprises to study, but both say they will vote Yes. They are among the eight Yes voters (all non-locals) we find walking the streets of Kimba.
As we are talking to Grace and Bram, Coop arrives with Nelson the replacement Kombi. He might be two years older than Daisy, but he drives like a dream as we hit the road to Whyalla – the next stop on our statewide Kombi Voice tour.
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