A Home in the Outback

Meet Dawud Abu Junaid Gos, the Muqaddam (meaning 'the one brought forward) of the Sufi Centre in Broken Hill.

He is today’s guest on A Home in the Outback, an independent podcast about people living, working and creating in the far west of NSW.

I’m your host, Katherine Waite.

Dawud was born in Hobart in Tasmania and says he grew up playing sport and attended Taroona High School in the 80s.

After he left high school he worked briefly in childcare, moved to Sydney, worked in hospitality and studied English literature and classics at university. He says he was always searching for the meaning of the human being.  

After he got married he moved back to Hobart and through a friend met the spiritual director of the Sufi Centre based in Hobart.

Dawud said Sheik Murshid F. A. Ali ElSenossi's teaching ‘touched his heart and bypassed his head’ and at the age of 28 he decided to become a muslim.

In the 2000s, the Sheik decided to relocate the Sufi Centre to Broken Hill and invited his students to come with him.

In 2010 Dawud and his family moved here and with other brothers and sisters helped build the Sufi Centre which includes a book shop, prayer room, library, office and more recently a bakery.

Dawud is a baker and the right hand man of the Sheik in Broken Hill.  

I interviewed Dawud at the end of 2023.

To find out more about the Sufi Centre see https://www.almirajsuficentre.org.au/

A Home in the Outback is produced by Katherine Waite, a interviewer and writer based in Broken Hill, NSW.

Meet the enthusiastic and passionate Jane Vaughan who is co-founder, co-director and employee of Big Sky Stories, a community-based organisation in Broken Hill which wants to give children in the far west of New South Wales a love of stories and reading.

She is today’s guest on A Home in the Outback.

Jane chose to move to Broken Hill about 15 years ago after finishing her university teaching degree in Sydney. Living in the city was not her cup of tea so she opened the street directory in her car one day and decided Broken Hill was ‘pretty west’.

She moved here without a job but word soon got around town a teacher was in town and she soon got a job at Railway Town Public school. 

Around 2010 Jane started seeing new models of engaging children in creative writing open up in the cities and thought it was an exciting way to engage children in a rapidly changing world.

But there were no opportunities in the far west.

She sat on the idea for 10 years before deciding to do

You can make a tax-deductible donation to Big Sky Stories via its website.

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Books mentioned by Jane in the podcast (purchase through One More Page to support Big Sky Stories!)

The Lion, Witch and Wardrobe

The Adventures of Bottersnikes and Gumbles -

Where the wild things are

The Jolly Postman

Meet Ben Clavel a former New South Wales police officer and

He is today’s guest on A Home in the Outback.

Ben joined the police force as a young adult.

He loved working for the police and found his passion in

However, in 2012 while working in Tamworth a colleague died which he says he felt partly responsible for.

The incident propelled him to work harder and faster to arrest as many crooks as he could.

However, the rush of living on constant adrenaline started to take a toll on his body.

After he moved back to Broken Hill with his family 2018, things began to unravel and he was eventually placed on restricted duties.

Ben says he felt a lot of pressure from management to return to frontline work even though he didn’t feel he was ok.   

He was eventually medically discharged in 2021, and Ben reached out to local lifeline ambassador Brendan Cullen and began swimming as a way to help his mental and physical health.

In 2023, Ben swam across the English-channel in a team of 6.

If you or someone you know if a first responder and needs

A home in the outback is produced by Katherine Waite ahomeintheoutback.com an interviewer and writer based in Broken Hill, NSW.

Music by Aimee Volkofsky - Heart is a desert from Dust Lust.

Join me from 12 February 2024 to hear from people living, working and creating in the Far West New South Wales town of Broken Hill.

I am an interviewer and writer based in Broken Hill.

Music by Aimee Volkofsky

Thanks to support from Foundation Broken Hill and Spicer's Creative.

www.ahomeintheoutback.com