The camel farm

I went to have a look at the camel farm in Ilparpa, NT. Later that day I talked to a camel lover about the place. Here the story she told me:

Once upon a time that camel farm had a camel gallery. In the gallery they used to sell products made out of camel: camel milk, camel meat, rugs, scarves, sweaters and baby cloths made out of camel fur, and also little carved figures made out of camel teeth.

This all sounds pretty hideous I know, but the worth was that a British witch was managing the gallery. The witch’s father was a former prisoner in Great Britain who was deported to Australia out of pity. His little girl who was born in the British prison grew up in Australia around released prisoners. The girl never met her mother and became a witch at a very young age.

The little girl arrived to Australia with her father when she was 11. Her father and his mates overtook a farm in Ilparpa in a violent action. They came in on horses and brutally, with weapons they smuggled out of Britain, killed almost all humans on the farm. There was one young woman who survived the massacre; she was the queen of Ilpalpa. The British convicts did not care about Ilparpa’s monarchy of course, nevertheless they let the queen live and turned her into their slave. Since that day her life became miserable. The former prisoner - the witch’s dad, used to rape her on a regular basis until she fell pregnant.

Camels used to be mustered in that farm. Back in the days when the witch was a teenager the farm used to grow camels for meat only. The witch killed many camels in her life. The taste of camel meat was the only meat taste she knew.

When the British witch became old, she was wealthy enough to start a camel gallery on her premises. It was something she always wanted to do. If to kill the camels one might as well use them entirely - their fur, teeth and milk. It was within her mentality to use things. She did not only use camels, she also used her half sister, the princess of Ilparpa. Although the princess of Ilparpa was born to Ilparpa’s queen, she was treated like a slave since she was born; her destiny was identical to her mother’s since the occupation.

When the princess grew up and the gallery opened the princess worked with the witch at the camel gallery. The witch was ugly from outside and from inside. She had fake teeth and a big belly. The princess however was beautiful and charming, shy and gentle. Her skin was white and tender like a cloud in summer, her eyes were soft and green like grass after the rain and her hair was covering her neck in endless waves. The witch ordered the princess around, humiliated her in every opportunity and took advantage of her authority.

A gallery exhibition was planed for the first of May. The princess scrubbed the floors on her knees and carried heavy items inside and outside of the gallery. At night she would lie down with blisters on her feet and a swollen spine, but she was excited about the exhibition. At last she will meet people! The witch will need her help and will be busy enough to let the princess talk to the people of Ilparpa.

The exhibition night arrives. Ilparpa’s artists and farmers are walking around the gallery. There are about 60 people in the small gallery. The witch is wearing a navy blue skirt and a white, Britsh, buttoned shirt. She throws around smiles and tells lies to everyone as she always does. She tells people how hard she has worked, how much she cares for the camels and how her father worked hard to purchase the farm.

In the meanwhile a young aboriginal boy sneaks into the gallery. He looks at the witch and then at the princess, looks at the witch again, then at the princess. The princess smiles to him tenderly. He smiles back and runs towards the witch who starts shouting: “murderer! Murderer!” The boy reaches the witch and pulls her skirt down.

The witch is standing there in her white underwear, which instantly becomes wet - she had wet her undies. The guests are quiet; they are looking at her overwhelmed. She tries to pull up her skirt yet with no luck, the skirt is torn. She finally gives up, releases herself from the skirt, and shouts, “You pathetic primitives, you all stink!” she runs out of the gallery, slams the door of her four wheel drive and disappears. Her face is never seen again in the central desert of Australia.