A West Australian farming town has rallied behind the family of a local father who died suddenly, with a huge number of locals turning up to help them finish harvest.
Darryl “Jack” Colin Burton, 51, passed away on a camping trip with his wife and two young sons in early October.
Dozens of neighbours, friends and family came together over the weekend to harvest the family’s wheat crop in Eradu, 450 kilometres north of Perth in the state’s Midwest.
Aerial photographs show an impressive line-up of 13 headers, nine chaser bins, 16 trucks as well as volunteers assembling to work the 1,080-hectare property on Sunday.
Neighbour and long-time family friend Brenda Williamson said the turnout was testament to Mr Burton’s character.
“It was a great community effort for a great man,” she said.
“It was a great to see everyone come out and support Liz and the Burton family and just help out where they can, to get Jack’s crop off.”
In a touching display, Mr Burton’s 13-year-old son Henry sat inside the header to watch the last leg of the work get done.
Poor rainfall had resulted in a tough season for many growers in the area, but Ms Williamson said the harvest at Eradu was better than expected.
Mr Burton’s brother-in-law Andrew Robinson said the remaining harvest would normally take him about 12 days to complete.
But thanks to the big turnout, his friends and relatives finished the job in a matter of hours.
“That’s probably the best way that I can put it … the community spirit,” Mr Robinson said.
Mr Robinson said the family was deeply grateful for the support.
“I’ve seen it before, just not on this scale,” he said.
“People in Geraldton were offering all sorts of help, people that were from a further distance away with just any sort of moral support they could give — even if it was putting on a pair of gloves to do a bit of cleaning up.
“It was just phenomenal.”
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