A Boarder’s Journey

It’s a long way from The Marra to The Parra(matta), but it is a journey that Tara’s Head Boarder, Jet has been on for the past seven years.

Jet’s home, The Marra, is a small New South Wales rural area within the local government area of Warren on the edge of the Macquarie Marshes, a nature reserve recognised internationally for its important and unique wetlands, home of the Wailwan People, and one of the largest remaining inland wetlands in south-eastern Australia. The Marshes protect vulnerable species of waterbirds and are a habitat for woodland birds, fish, turtles, frogs, snakes and mammals.

Situated over 600 kilometres from Tara, encircling The Marra are Bourke, Brewarina and Walgett to the north, and Cobar, Nyngan and Gilgandra to the south. And it is here, on a property of 15 000 acres, that Jet calls home. The property has three distinct ‘identities’. The Mole is where Jet and her family live. Maxwelton is a smaller holding which hosts visitors and university students who come to learn about the unique marsh ecosystems. Rumour has it, the old lady who the family purchased the property from, haunts it to this day! Finally, there is Willie Retreat, the old shearing property and now popular tourist farm, where holidaymakers come to star-gaze, bird-watch and get out in the bush, staying in caravans or onsite accommodation, with the new two kilometre boardwalk along the marshes just one of the ways to enjoy this exceptional part of the world.

Jet and her brother are the fifth generation to call The Mole home, with Maxwelton and Willie Retreat purchased more recently by Jet’s parents. The family run Angus cattle on The Mole and Maxwelton. When asked how many, she replied “About 800 breeding cows…. it’s no hobby farm!”. Jet is passionate about this family business. She describes the importance of tracking lineage and breeding, and the technical knowledge and skill behind this. The farm’s family beef is sent all over the world, with Japan its biggest market.

Jet has loved being able to share her home with Tara. Knowing more about Jet’s home, has helped Jet be more known at Tara. When visitors come to stay, they are astounded by its beauty and its remoteness. With about 58 residents in the region, Jet says, “No one understands how remote it is”. When her Deputy Head Boarder came to stay, Jet had to say, “There is no one here, Imogen!”. Understanding that, and how family, farming and nature have shaped Jet, and her journey between the two worlds of home and school, has been key in supporting her life at Tara.

Be Inspired. Be Challenged. Be Excellent. BE YOU.

Jet started at Tara in Year 6, leaving a school to which even her father went. Jet and her mum attended the Dubbo Boarding Expo and met the Tara staff there. She recalls them being “amazing” and loved their enthusiasm and the opportunities that Tara would offer her within a close-knit boarding house. Jet came to visit and thought “Geez, this is alright!”, the trees, open spaces and close-knit boarding house family, all appealing to her immediately. The significance of this is even more apparent when you consider that Jet’s school in The Marra had a student population of six (three of whom were related) when she commenced in Kindergarten, which at one point was reduced to three when she left for Year 6 at Tara!

This is just one of the many differences between The Marra and Tara. The Marra School was fifteen minutes’ drive from home, whereas Tara is nearly eight hours. At Tara, Jet walks out of Eggleton House, across the green expanse of lawn and is ‘at school’. In The Marra, when not taking the school bus (really just other families with a spare seat passing the Mole letterbox!), Jet rode her horse to school, ‘parking’ it in the cross country track, a fenced paddock at the back of the school.

But there are similarities also. Regardless of where she is at school, Jet takes advantage of every opportunity that comes her way. At home she drove to Warren every Tuesday for netball, a round trip of three hours, and occasionally “hitting roos on the way back in the dark”. This love of sport has also lived out at Tara, with Jet playing various sports for the school as well as community AFL, an outlet that enabled her to make a whole new group of friends beyond Tara. Jet has loved the service learning she has experienced at Tara. Volunteering for Ronald McDonald House in the tutoring and mentoring program has been a highlight of her senior years. That vulnerable children often so far from home, have Jet to relate to and call a friend, must be such a gift.

Jet’s entire school experience, whether in The Marra or at Tara, has been typified by her love and appreciation for her Principal. In The Marra, it was Mrs Hibbins who Jet describes as such, “She helped me along, pushed me to be better. We had a close relationship. She set the rules but when you suggested something, she did it. Lovely Principal”, a description Jet also ascribes to Mrs Middlebrook: two women whose kindness, authentic interest and desire to see Jet challenged and extended, have honoured and appreciated who Jet is and paved the way for her success.

Since being in Eggleton House, Jet has been barely homesick, an emotional resilience not only inherent in her character, but supported by coming to Tara at the same time as her cousin Ida Dawson who came for Year 10. Jet recalls afternoons walking up from Junior School at the end of the school day, and going into Ida’s room to talk through everything that had happened. They were like sisters before they came, and their shared experience at Tara has only cemented that strong bond and deep connection. Jet has appreciated the compassionate culture of the boarding house. She has been able to call her mum and dad whenever she has wanted to and for as long as she has needed. Jet says, “This has mattered to Mum and me. I think it’s been hard on Mum. She used to cry every time on the way home after she left me, and bought herself flowers to cheer herself up…or so I was told!”.

Jet speaks affectionately about Mrs Cocks, Tara’s Head of Boarding, “She’s amazing. She knows all the girls. She is so positive, with the biggest smiley face after a big day. She knows who I am as a person, what makes me tick. She has visited my home and understands what matters to me and why I am like I am”.

Jet has loved her work in Hospitality at Tara and learning with Mrs Cropper, “I get so much out of it”. Work experience in the field as part of her education along with Ida’s encouragement, has provided Jet with skills and options for her future.

Jet is on the cusp of her life beyond Eggleton House, and the classrooms and sporting fields of Tara. She is already living out her imagined future, attending sale yards, travelling and learning by following the footsteps of an AI technician, being passionate about EBVs (estimated breeding values), and possessing the patience, precision and experience in breeding techniques.

To spend an hour with Jet, listening to her speak about her life, her family, her experience and her hopes beyond Tara’s gates, is a delight. Ask her about the Maxwelton ghost and how the property entered her family, or why The Mole is so named. Ask her about how her boarding experience differs from her brother’s, the difference between a heifer and a cow, or the influences on the lineage of the family’s Angus line.

What you will realise is that Jet is the living embodiment of Tara’s values. She has served others, acted with integrity and character, taken every opportunity on offer, and affirmed those who have walked the journey with her and smoothed her way. “It’s been amazing”, she says. Jet, the privilege has been all ours.