Bryan at Gascoyne Junction

Gascoyne Junction local, Bryan Steele

While we were hanging out with Spags, we also met Bryan.

Spags seems not to have a care in the world. His mate Bryan though has the weight of the world on his shoulders right now after losing everything in a fire a month ago.

Bryan had been living in his caravan inside a big shed at Spags’ place. He was working out bush when he got a call from a mate to say the shed had burnt to the ground.

“It was April Fool’s Day”, Bryan said “I thought they were pulling my leg.”

At an age where he should be thinking about taking it easy, Bryan has literally lost everything except for what he was wearing that day, and he’s clearly feeling it. There were moments during our little photo shoot where tears were not far away as he contemplated what he might do next.

The Bryan we met was a far cry from the carefree younger man and his two mates, enjoying a tinny of Swan Gold in the photo taken by renowned photographer Bill Bachman almost three decades ago, that was pinned to the wall in Spags’ shack.