Lovebirds Nicole Tyris and Tjay Scaturchio-Burton tie the knot, a heartfelt thanks to lifesaver Sandra Brook and the secret behind Jo Cook’s family portraits
This week in Cooee From the NT: Armed and ready for love, Nicole Tyris and Tjay Scaturchio-Burton wed in a bush ceremony and 85-year old Pieter Schmidenberg issues a public thanks to the locals who saved his life
From the boot-wearing bride riding her horse down the aisle to bridal photos with firearms and blue heelers, all the ingredients were there for a big bush wedding.
And that’s exactly what Nicole Tyris, a FIFO mechanic at Tanami Mine and Tjay Scaturchio-Burton, a geotechnician, wanted when they tied the knot in a ceremony on their bush block at Acacia Hills, south of Darwin.
“It was perfect,” Nicole laughs.
There were no green lawns and manicured gardens. Instead the couple cleared a space for the gathering, then made it a little larger at Nicole’s urging so they could add a horse arena. They invited about 45 guest to watch Nicole ride her beloved quarter horse Jasper to the waiting groom, made their vows and kicked off a massive party.
Jasper was lucky to even make it to the wedding. The horse impaled himself on a branch during a trail ride disaster about five years ago and Nicole had feared for his life. The best man was lucky to be there too, flying into the NT from Germany with his family that day and making it to the ceremony with mere minutes to spare.
As for the new bride, well, she reckons she’s just plain lucky. With her groom, her country Territory life and a “perfect” bush wedding in comfortable western boots.
But the couple’s romance wasn’t always smooth sailing. The lead up to their engagement involved a hunting incident and a major vocal argument. The calendar’s flipped over a few years, so Nicole can chuckle about it now.
“We’d just had a screaming match about pig hunting because one of our dogs had been injured,” Nicole says of the moments before Tjay’s proposal.
“It was probably one of the worst fights we’ve ever had. So we went for a quad-bike ride to blow off steam, and he took me up a hill on the farm we were living on, and proposed.”
And did she take time to think it over?
“I said yes straight away – I’m an idiot,” she laughs.
The couple first met in the Noonamah Pub. He was confident and cocky, she caught his eye, they hit it off right away and the rest is history.
“He’s a typical station bloke. He rode the horses with me and never fricken left,” Nicole says.
“While our real honeymoon hasn’t happened yet, two days after the wedding we went pig hunting in a bull catcher. And we’re going to honeymoon in Canada in July next year for the Calgary Stampede.”
The moving story behind a very public thanks
Adventurous and tough, at 85-years old Pieter Schmidenberg is so thankful to be alive, he’s placed a notice in the NT News classies.
In it he thanks everyone from ambulance drivers to hospital administrators, after a dream to sail away turned into a year of horrors.
The long list of gratitude reads in part:
“To the hospitals administration and their team of professional who guided me through all the paper work required, I thank you.
“To the ambulance drivers and their team who delivered me to the hospital safely, I thank you
“ To the surgeons, the doctors and their teams who successfully operated on me with such care, I thank you
“To all the nurses who were so dedicated to my wellbeing, I thank you
“To the chef and their team who feed me with healthy beautiful food, I thank you
“To the cleaners who were always cleaning and disinfecting to keep the ward hygienic, I thank you
“To the security guards who keeps us safe and sound, I thank you
“To all and everyone dedicated to the health and happiness to the patients at both Palmerston and RDH, I thank you.”
But Pieter gives top billing to his friend Sandra Brook. The NT child protection worker met him at a community barbecue about a decade ago, sparking years of regular coffee catch-ups when he’d head into town from his isolated bush home for supplies. She’s supported him through a series of health battles and a misadventure in mid-2022 that swept away his dreams of a new life.
“Pieter had a dream to purchase a little sailboat and live on it,” Sandra explains. “He often told me the boat was to be his coffin when he was ready.”
“Though I felt uneasy letting him go, who was I to discourage an 85-year old man going off to live his dream?”
Pieter’s quest to find the perfect boat, set him off on a road trip to Adelaide, Melbourne, Tasmania, Sydney and eventually Perth, where it came to an abrupt end. Suffering a medical episode behind the wheel, Pieter crashed his car and spent the next 10 days in hospital. On hearing the news, Sandra marshalled the troops and got him back to Darwin, where she’s helped him chart a path to improved health ever since.
Pieter now lives with Sandra and her husband Gary in their Moulden home.
“It’s incredible to have a friend to rely on,” says Pieter, who describes Sandra as his best friend.
“From the day of my accident, she’s been my guide to getting back to living a good life and having a second chance.
“You can’t measure friendships like this. You can only stand back and say thank you.”
Sandra, who grew up on stations around Tennant Creek, loves Pieter’s attitude to life and reckons he’s part of the family.
“I’m a bushie at heart, and he’s a bushie at heart,” she says simply.
After a lifetime “travelling under a wandering star”, Pieter believes connections to people and nature add colour to your life. And it’s the small things too – the smiles, the care and the empathy – that make a noticeable difference.
“That’s why I told Sandra I needed to say thank you,” he says.
Jo reveals secret power of a portrait
Jo Cook’s photographic work with local families portrays a strong sense of belonging and safety.
Children are wrapped in their parents arms; parents look upon their children with joy.
“I love creating long lasting memories for families, and making them tangible,” says Jo, adding firmly that photographs should be printed, not left on a USB or relegated to a computer screen.
Growing up, Jo lived a nomadic life and few photographs remain from her childhood, so it’s easy to understand why she has developed a passion for family portraiture.
“I believe that when children grow up in a home seeing happy memories on the wall, they feel a sense of belonging and of being loved, so it’s really important for me, because I never had that growing up.”
Having moved back and forth between Melbourne and Victoria with her mum and siblings, Jo returned to the Territory alone when she was 16.
Today, the 44-year-old creative lives in Bees Creek and describes herself as “a super busy, loved mum of four, who is living the dream.”
“We are rural-based – it’s like your own little community out there – and the kids enjoy riding their motorbikes on the five acres we have.”
“We have moved away a couple of times, but there’s something about the Territory that feels like home to me,” she says.
Among Jo’s latest work is a portrait of Luisa and Felicio Martins with their four-year-old daughter Lara and newborn son Leonardo.
The couple, who have had portraits taken by Jo twice before, say the latest shoot was a breeze.
“Photographs are forever memories,” says Luisa. “Jo is very patient and makes the sessions fun and easy.”
The proud mum, who is on maternity leave from her HR job with the Police, Fire and Emergency Services, says daughter Lara is a natural in front of the camera and “loves having her photo taken.”
As for baby Leonardo, he slept for most of the shoot.
“He’s a super chilled and calm baby,” she says.
Happy birthday Lorraine
At 80 years old, Lorraine McGuire reckons the secret to a happy life is spending time with family.
So when it came to celebrating her milestone birthday recently, she ditched the idea of a big party like her husband Jim had enjoyed 16 months earlier and opted for a family dinner.
“That’s all I wanted, just me and the family,” she says. “We’re pretty lucky, we have a beautiful family.”
Jim added a special touch to the celebrations by placing a “Happy Birthday” message to his wife of 61 years in the NT News classies.
Both former teachers, Lorraine and Jim McGuire arrived in a cyclone-devastated Darwin in 1975, lured by the offer of teaching positions and accommodation. With a choice of three homes, they settled in Tolmer St, Anula (where they still live today) and within a year Lorraine had won the Darwin Garden of the Year Award.
Lorraine went on to teach at the Millner, Wulagi and Manunda Terrace primary schools and retired after a 40-year career.
“When I retired, Jim had already retired, so it put his nose out of joint a bit because I interrupted his nice little routine, “she laughs.
The couple suffered a profound loss on December 17, 1990, when their 12-year-old grandson was killed by lightning as he walked home from the Humpty Doo primary school.
“It was in December when we get the storms coming in … it was awful.
“It was the last week before the end of term and we had already paid for him to go to the college the following year,” Lorraine says softly.
Today Lorraine and Jim’s days pass gently with a shared crossword, the comfort of their cats Chocky and Mishka and visits from their children and grandchildren, who call them by their Maori names of Kui and Koro.
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