Mumbai Fella to ride the 'Blessed Bull' for the first time to raise awareness about Mental Health in Outback Queensland

Hi, I’m Ameya and I’m from one of the busiest cosmopolitan cities in the world - Mumbai. Since 2021, I have been based in the little laid-back town of Bedourie and holy cow what a ride!

When I first arrived in Brisbane five years ago, I came to pursue a Master of Communication for Social Change from the University of Queensland. A bit unfortunate to have graduated in the middle of 2020 i.e the COVID-19 pandemic, I didn't know what to do and where to go next. . However, a job rocked up with the Diamantina Shire Council and I was fortunate to have picked it up at once! Little did I know I had set myself up for a two-thousand-kilometer road trip to the far western corridor of Queensland - the Diamantina Shire that borders South Australia and Northern Territory and is spread over 95,000 square kilometers (that’s as big as Tassie or twice the size of Denmark) with population of a mere +-295 residents. Whilst traveling, an old bloke at a pub told me 'There's a saying in Australia; when you need to get away from the hustle-bustle of the big smoke, you travel out West... bloody oath, you seem to have taken it literally!' To that I laughed and laughed.

However, an insurmountable landscape comes with its own challenges; and isolation is a big one! I didn’t realise just how difficult it would be. Having always prided myself on assimilating among people across cities, from being in a small town in India, to moving to Mumbai and then to Brisbane in Australia. Even the warmest welcome I received when I reached Diamantina Shire didn’t eradicate the homesickness I felt; video calls and phone calls could only do so much. It wasn’t always easy to remind myself why I had made this decision, and every once-in-a-while I felt frustrated and ‘felt blue’.

This is when the idea of the Blue Tree came into picture. When I first saw it across the banks of the Thomson River in Longreach, I had no idea why a random tree in the middle of nowhere was painted bright blue. But it sparked a conversation, and that is what the Blue tree is all about - to start a conversation which could make all the difference.

And so, I, Ameya Deshmukh, a fella from the land of ‘Holy Cows’, am going to attempt my first ever bull ride at Bedourie Bronc N Bull Pit on 7th July to raise funds for the Blue Tree Project. I’d love it if you consider donating to this fundraiser and join me in starting a conversation about mental health in the regional and remote communities of Outback Australia.