How this German jack of all trades wound up in a remote Indigenous community — with no plans to leave

Far from his home country of Germany, Ben was hit hard by the endless red dirt when he arrived in Alpurrurulam , on the Northern Territory-Queensland border.Since then, he's become the community's go-to tradie, a housing project officer, maintains solar panels and occasionally even steps in as the firefighter.But the self-confessed introvert — a label disputed by others in the community — confesses not everyone agrees with his bold move.

The Indigenous community, with a population of 400, is only accessible by choppy dirt roads, which locals gleefully traverse in small busted up sedans.How Ben wound up in the middle of outback Australia from Germany is a "bit of a long story".In 2010, he was in northern NSW when he got a call asking him to come out to the remote community to help with building maintenance.

Curious about the extent of the flooding, Ben flew his drone down the dirt road between the cattle station and the community to see what the fuss was about.Despite being well prepared, the community's food supplies quickly dwindled, and emergency services were slow to act.It was a challenging time for the community but Ben looks back on the isolation with a particular fondness.

"You put the handbrake on, you can concentrate on other things — you spend time with the dogs or catching up on sleep," he says.Although Ben loves spending time with his pup Abby, he admits it can sometimes get lonely in a remote community. "Early on, there was such a social environment … we'd go down to the river for a swim or to Camooweal on a Sunday for a burger," he says."People come, people go, those sorts of things change," he says."If the elders one day tell me I'm not welcome, I'll leave.

Lake Nash

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