• James and Ros Patton of 'Mogandale' north of Condobolin put on a brave face. Behind them is one of their sheds, completely demolished by the freak storm of Tuesday last week. Picture by Olivia McInnes.

Story and photo by Olvia McInnes

A freak storm tore through the Condobolin district last Tuesday night, leaving in its wake an unfathomable path of destruction.

While the township of Condobolin seemed to be mostly spared, many outlying properties suffered extensive damage with sheds flattened and rooves ripped off homes.

While there is not a lot of information on where the storm came from or what caused it, the Bureau of Meteorology recorded wind gusts of up to 102km/hour in the Condobolin area on Tuesday night.

James Patton of ‘Mogandale’ was on his header when the storm hit.

“It started to rain so I started heading back to my ute, straight into the storm when it hit and I had no visibility.

“The hail started to get really heavy and then the front windscreen of the header smashed and I was completely exposed.

“I jumped straight to the back of the header and then up on the console to try and get as high in the header as I could to get out of the hail.

“Even the header was getting pushed back from the wind,” James said.

He then proudly showed his battle scars – large and bright purple rings all over his legs from the impact of the hail.

James’s wife Ros Patton, said she was at home with the children when the storm struck.

“I was in the kitchen when the power went out and then I heard the wind roaring and thought we need to get away from this room (due to the amount of windows) so we moved into the boys room at the other end of the house.

“It sounded like really heavy things were being dropped on the roof.

“I thought at one stage that the roof was going to cave in…and then with the wind I thought it was going to lift off so I put the boys into a built-in cupboard.

“In the middle of it my three year old says ‘mummy who are we hiding from?’”, she laughed.

The amount of damaged property on the Patton’s place is extensive with debris strewn across their backyard and paddocks, a shed completely demolished and an auger tipped on its side.

James pointed out a scrub belt about 500 metres across a paddock “There’s a portable cattle race up there somewhere” he laughed.

Just next door, the Stuckey’s at ‘Homesworth’ seemed to have born significantly more of the brunt of the damage with their house rendered unliveable after the roof was torn off.

“It’s hard to describe what it sounded like, usually wind increases and then subsides, but this just kept building and building and we thought somethings got to happen here,” said Vicki Stuckey.

“With that there was a lightening flash and Pete (Vicki’s husband) said ‘there goes part of our roof!’ ”.

“The lights went out and we went to get the kids out of their rooms…we could feel water on our faces.

“We put the kids in the walk in wardrobe where we thought they would be reasonably safe and then all of a sudden it was over.

“We kept waiting for daylight and then when it was daylight we wished it was dark again so we didn’t have to face the damage.

“People keep asking me if I was scared but I guess I didn’t really have time to be scared…you just kind of go into survival mode,” Vicki said.

Further North of Condobolin at ‘Three Peaks’, the Brown family had also experienced a harrowing night of events.

“Compared to other people we didn’t have that much damage done, a few minor buildings were flattened.

“My three horse float was turned 180 degrees and pushed along about 20 metres.

“The jockey wheel had sunken down in the mud and there was a trail showing where it had ploughed through the ground,” Sharon Brown said.

On the other side of Condobolin near Derriwong, Peter L’Estrange had just received a call that a fire had started on his other property and was driving to investigate when the storm struck.

“I was with my wife and daughter and we were driving to the other property when it hit.

“I moved the ute into the table drain, as I thought this was the lowest and safest point, and faced it away from the wind.

“I had the motor running with the handbrake on and my foot on the brake at all times, and when the wind hit; the ute was rocking and swaying.

“There was zero vision outside the ute, all we could hear was hail and branches crashing around us.

“If we could see anything at all, it was all this brown stuff going past us. I realised it was all the grass and dirt out of the paddocks everything was stripped bare at ground level.

“Finally everything went calm so we tried to drive home but couldn’t get very far as there was so much debris on the road. It must have been the eye of the storm because not long after, the second half hit,” Peter said.

Storms seemed to be reasonably wide spread throughout the central west on Tuesday night, with West Wyalong receiving wind gusts of up to 133km/hour and Forbes of up to 105 km/hour.

There are a number of families in the Condobolin area whose lives have been turned upside down last Tuesday night, many of whom have not been mentioned in this article.

The Argus offers sincerest sympathies during this difficult time, and we hope that the lives of the people so badly affected can very soon return to normal.

• Represenatives from a number of Councils in the region as well as LCMA, Northparkes Mines, Barrick Cowal and Newcrest Mining had lunch at Gumbend lake last Tuesday to discuss an exciting new tourism opportunity.

By Olivia McInnes

Representatives from a number of Councils in the region including Lachlan, Forbes, Parkes, Bland, Bathurst, Cabonne and Narromine, together with Barrick Cowal, Lachlan Catchment Management Authority, Northparkes Mines and Newcrest Mining met in Condobolin last Tuesday to discuss the possibility of establishing a regional Mining Trail.

The idea for the project is based on the successful Mining Trial in MacKay Queensland, which is comprised of a tourist route that follows the passage of coal from mines in the Bowen Basin to the place of export to overseas customers.

Ideally, the proposed Mining Trail for NSW would be a self drive touring route of both active and historic mining sites which would also highlight other attractions and destinations to encourage visitors to stay longer in the region.

It is hoped that the Mining Trail will help increase visitation to the region, encourage longer stays and increase money spent in rural towns, develop identity and overall product offer and improve understanding of the mining industry in Australia.

Several meetings have previously taken place to determine the feasibility and development of the Mining Trail concept for the Central NSW region, and the meeting in Condobolin was yet another positive step forward in developing the project.

• Condobolin Amateur Swimming Club members having fun and enjoying ice cream together at the annual Christmas party at the Condobolin Pool. OM

Congratulations to Sigourney Leal and Anthony Jones who are our Club Captains for 2011-2012 season.

Order of events for this week – 15m Freestyle, 15 BBB, 35m Freestyle, 35m Breaststroke, 50m Freestyle, 50m Breaststroke, ½ Medley & Full Medley

Congratulations to Matthew Brasnett, Harry Wald, Ryan Goodsell, Aurella White & Lane Doyle who swam their first 25m this week, well done.

Results from Thursday, 1st December 2011

15m Freestyle Aided Swimmers – Halley Hourigan, Sophie Jones, Errol Packham, Jesse Patton, Jesse Pawsey, Fred Stuckey, Conner Thompson, Elora Thompson, Joshua Thompson, Tayla Venables

15m Freestyle Unaided Swimmers – Lithmi Abeydeera 25.94, Jemina Donnelly 30.36, Gregory Doyle 26.00, Patrick Hourigan 34.44, Holly Jacobson 28.74, Jack Jones 22.89, Henry King 22.87, Juliet King 35.18, Riley Keen 23.46, Kiara Kendall 39.13, Josie May 25.69, Audrey Nesbitt 28.49, Rylee Ogston 21.88, Thomas Patton 24.96, Tilly Stuckey 27.45, Payden Thompson 18.66, Gabby White 37.63

25m Freestyle – Matthew Brasnett 45.30, Lane Doyle 41.43, Paige Eaton 40.75, Ryan Goodsell 35.54, Baileigh Honeysett 31.89, Lottie Jacobson 30.20, Declan King 33.25, Brady Noll 34.90, Mia Noll 40.13, Sarah Patton 30.08, Sally Slade 37.58, Sharni Swadling 38.23, Emily Thorpe 49.66, Jake Ticehurst 39.56, Harry Wald 40.85, Aurella White 32.88.

50m Freestyle – Gevindu Abeydeera 1.10.22, Jake Bowditch 1.04.01, Jessica Brasnett 1.13.89, Jesse Broad 36.68, Alessandra Chamen 52.39, Hamish Chamen 1.07.79, Lucas Chamen 57.84, Tilly Collins 1.13.23, Harry Crouch 33.78, Maddison Cusack 45.29, Ella Davis 43.23, Amelia Donnelly 1.23.06, Ashleigh Donnelly 1.27.60, Maddison Donnelly 1.02.89, Jackson Doyle 55.55, Megan Gibson 51.72, Emily Goodsell 56.71, Lewis Goodsell 30.71, Toby Goodsell 30.36, Charli-Jane Hocking 54.49, Damien Hocking 40.18, Makenzie Honeysett 42.90 , Alexander Howarth 41.26, Georgie Huggins 53.13, Anthony Jones 31.88, Brittany Jones 1.24.90, Cooper Jones 54.73, Rachel Keating 44.60, Caitlin Keen 1.13.91, Emma Kennedy 39.15, Kylie Kennedy 51.34, Samantha Kennedy 37.08, Tom Kennedy 34.71, Zara King 1.17.84, Darcy Leadbitter 54.57, Harrison Leadbitter 41.16, Sigourney Leal 39.21, Tate Leal 32.54, James Logan 51.16, Nelson Manwaring 1.02.12, Chelsea May 1.00.87, Gabbie Moran 51.72, Lisa McCallum 42.21, Tim McDonald 47.70, Duncan McLean 36.83, Cameron McMillan 58.23, Georgie McMillan 59.67, Destiny Nagle 1.03.80, Jack Nagle 47.46, Charlotte Nesbitt 1.09.13, Phar Nicholson 50.14, Reba Nicholson 42.38, Jesse Noll 1.28.80 Lara Noll 1.11.56, Tessa Noll 37.21, Hamish O’Halloran 43.90, Eliza Packham 47.62, Jacqueline Patton 56.59 Brent Powell 46.87, Darren Powell 42.11, Tim Powell 40.07, Jaimie Redenbach 48.98, Sophia Redenbach 1.04.28, Adrianne Richards 44.19, Kaylee Schleinzer 59.30, Will Slade 1.17.66, Matt Staniforth 50.66, Bradley Stewart 1.03.73, Seamus Stuckey 1.10.23, May Stuckey 1.02.37, Bella Swadling 37.92, Noah Swadling 58.90, Danielle Thompson 1.02.43, Holly Tomlinson 1.07.97, Alex Wald 55.84, Callum Wald 1.18.92, Nicholas Wald 50.56, Raphy Wald 52.69, Jarred Walmsley 50.40, Charlie Weber 38.69, Macaylee Weber 1.08.79, Samantha Weber 37.03, Jed White 29.91, Anika Wrigley 56.44