Bush Legends: Esperance mates Glen Quinlivan, Kevin Scott and David Rowe talk tragedy and resilience

Stink, Kev and Rowie. Three Esperance mates with three different tales of tragedy and one shared resilience in a WA town they love. Glen Quinlivan, known as “Stink” since his baby diaper days, was fighting the raging Esperance fires of late 2015 when told his best mate Kym Curnow had perished in his car nearby. He was also the first responder at the scene of the shark attack that claimed the life of 57-year-old diver Gary Johnson in January last year. Kevin Scott still finds it difficult to believe his friend of 40 years, Charlie Boyes, made the fatal decision just over a year later in 2017 to drive through rising floodwaters near the long-time home he knew like the back of his wrinkled, 68-year-old hand. And former East Fremantle footballer David Rowe, an Esperance resident now of 25 years, had been chatting to fellow surfer Andrew Sharpe out on their boards in picturesque Wylie Bay just minutes before the latter was killed by a great white shark last October. The trio all accept that living in one of WA’s most beautiful places also comes with its share of risk and danger. But they are adamant Esperance is a town of a more rugged positivity than the one that is painted when the inevitable moments of difficulty come. Mr Quinlivan, whose well-known WA family owns hospitality ventures such as the Ocean Beach Hotel in Cottesloe and the Clearwater Motel Apartments in Esperance, has his birthplace town’s DNA coursing through his blood. His grandfather Tom once ran an Esperance barbershop which also housed a family bookmaking operation. “You’d walk in and ask for a short, back and sides and 10 bucks on the fifth,” he said. Mr Quinlivan’s family tree also boasts, through his Ponton relations, some of Esperance’s earliest settlers. He said despite the well-publicised dangers, the pristine waters off Esperance had long been the town’s playground. “The beach plays a huge role in my time in Esperance ... you’re virtually welded to the beach,” he said. Mr Quinlivan had been a schoolmate and footy teammate of Mr Curnow. They were even born on the same day, Friday November 13, 1970. But it was November 17, 2015 — the day Mr Curnow died in the back of his car — that remained strongly etched in his mind. A volunteer firefighter, he had been one of the first on the scene as three separate infernos raged through the town’s surrounds over 11 days. The fire had menacingly tailed the vehicle he was in, near to where Mr Curnow died, as he made his escape with almost no vision and travelling at about 80km/h. “We reckon “Freddy” (Curnow) must have been a couple of minutes behind us ... we’d been looking for him and as soon as I got that message I spewed me guts up,” he said. “He was very much respected with everything he did whether it be football, farming or drinking. There weren’t too many blokes like him and I reckon that whole thing brought the community closer together. “You wouldn’t have got by without that. We’d all fought fires, but nobody in Esperance had experienced anything like that before and it’s amazing how it’s made a difference in how people react more quickly to fires now.” Victorian-born Mr Scott lobbed in Esperance as an 18-year-old in 1977 when he ran out of money and needed a job after travelling across the Nullarbor in his lime green Kombie with a picture of an orange on it. “I remember it cost more in beer to come across the Nullarbor than it did in petrol,” he laughed. He got a job painting the local pub and has stayed ever since in the town where he is now an agricultural contractor. He has never learned to read or write, but has been one of Esperance’s most committed community doers. He said Mr Boyes was a lifetime friend and lamented his snap decision to drive through the floods. But he said the ensuing offers of support were typical of the townspeople. “Charlie was Charlie and he just took that risk,” he said. “The hardest part for me when I had to face the media wasn’t so much about Charlie, but for the kids and grandkids he left behind and he loved them all. Then everybody gets in behind and helps. “No matter what happens in this town, whether you’re a good person or a bad person, there’s always someone reaching out to help.” Boddington-born Mr Rowe, who runs a local smash repairs business and is dubbed by Mr Quinlivan as a “blow-in”, was lured to Esperance after learning about it through the town’s former East Fremantle recruits Craig Treleven and Glen Symonds. He had been through a heavy work week when he made the rare decision to have a Friday morning surf at Wylie Bay in October last year and paddled out alongside Mr Sharpe, who joked that he should get out there on a work day more often. Five minutes later, Mr Sharpe was gone. “I always have a shark shield, but I never had one that day because I had a brand new board and I thought I’d have one surf without it,” he said. “A bloke next to me yelled out ‘shark’ and I looked over and saw it happen. Without any disrespect to other people, when you actually know the person it’s twice the rage and it hit the local beach and surfing community hard. “When I went home that day, I had a steady stream of people coming up my driveway to check how I was going. And when we had a paddle-out for Sharpey three weeks later, the beach was jam-packed and I realised that’s why you live in a community like this. “Thinking about it still gives me goosebumps now.” Mr Scott said news of such events quickly filtered through the community and phone calls and messages of support to those affected always immediately followed. All three men welcomed recent State and Local Government commitments to build a shark-safe beach enclosure and lap pontoon in Esperance. But they were also united in their view that rogue sharks should be targeted with drum lines and that a sustainable shark fishery should be reopened to better ensure the safety of the area’s beach lovers. “In the COVID response, the government says if we can save one life by shutting the whole things down, we will,” Mr Rowe said. “But as soon as it’s a shark, you’re not allowed to do anything. I think it’s hypocritical.” Esperance has as much natural beauty as anywhere in WA ... and maybe more. It is adventure-based tourism heaven for four-wheel driving, fishing and surfing and has a thriving arts scene. And in the widespread district locals cherish the rare days where they can come together socially as a community to help exorcise their mental demons. Days like today when the annual Esperance Cup day lifts the hardy town’s spirits. “We’ve got a bloody good community and days like cup day give everyone great spirit,” said Mr Scott, who is also the WA Country Racing Association president. Liquidity, a horse trained by his wife Fiona, won one of today’s earlier races at the cup. Mr Quinlivan said Esperance had flourished with West Australian travellers flooding the town since the end of last year’s COVID lockdown. He said the town thrived on a genuineness that both binded its residents and weeded out those who did not buy in. “You get found out pretty quickly in a town like this if you’re all talk and no action,” he said. “And I think Esperance is still undiscovered, really.”