<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>328494</docID> <postdate>2024-09-06 10:44:27</postdate> <headline>‘Love the town’: Birdsville’s only cop to bid farewell</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-328495" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/20240906143953531927-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="675" /></p> <caption>Senior Constable Stephan Pursell will finish his stint as Birdsville's only police officer in May. (Stephanie Gardiner/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Stephanie Gardiner</strong> in Birdsville</span></p> <p><strong>On the edge of the Simpson Desert sits a small police station, aptly painted blue and white.</strong></p> <p>For the last decade the station and its adjoining house in Birdsville, in outback Queensland, have been home to Senior Constable Stephan Pursell.</p> <p>The 59-year-old is the lone officer in charge of a patch as big as the United Kingdom, much of it the harsh and unforgiving desert.</p> <p>"It's been described as the loneliest job in the world," Sen Const Pursell told AAP.</p> <p>"(But) there's always different people coming and going, you never know who's going to be in town.</p> <p>"Yes, it's a massive area, but I've never felt alone at all."</p> <p>Twice a year Sen Const Pursell is joined by colleagues from Mount Isa to manage the Birdsville Races and the Big Red Bash music festival.</p> <p>Each event brings thousands of people to a town that is usually home to about 110.</p> <p>Before taking the outback post, the experienced officer saw old footage of race-goers piling up empty beer cans outside the pub and jumping off the roof.</p> <p>"It looked like a good party, but there were a lot of laws being broken," he said, wryly.</p> <p>He was worried about what might greet him at his first races, but locals and business owners have worked together to change things.</p> <p>"It's quite a nice event today and I've enjoyed every one of them."</p> <p>The 2024 Birdsville Races, which kicked off on Friday, will be Sen Const Pursell's last.</p> <p>He and his wife plan to retire to the Sunshine Coast in May, close to their three grandchildren.</p> <p>Sen Const Pursell looks back with pride on some weird and wonderful jobs, like the time he tracked down the owner of a wedding ring found in the middle of the desert.</p> <p>While the case of a woman who fell seriously ill while travelling through the outback is one he will never forget because her misfortune led to improved safety.</p> <p>The woman was successfully retrieved, despite not being able to describe her exact location.</p> <p>"We could have potentially missed that person by a long way and that may have been life or death," he said.</p> <p>After that incident, authorities installed location markers every five kilometres along the 164km sand track outside Birdsville.</p> <p>"That has worked a number of times for us, being able to find people straight away."</p> <p>Having always wanted to be a country cop just like his dad, leaving town will be bittersweet.</p> <p>"I don't really want to leave here, I love the town, enjoy the job, there's amazing people," he said.</p> <p>"They're extra ordinary people doing extraordinary things."</p> <p><em>The journalist travelled to Birdsville as a guest of the Birdsville Races.</em></p> </body>