Drover's Flat is a town North of Perth, Western Australia. One of the first colonies to strike out with the gold rush, the proverbial well dried up quickly and has, miraculously, survived mostly off tourists coming by to get supplies either for sunning, surfing and swimming, or venturing into the heart of the Outback. It's a quaint town of a population of 10,865, but the population sign hasn't been changed as nobody wants to admit people either have the good sense to leave.
Drover's Flat is one of the least dense towns in Western Australia, sprawling wider than it is deep. Because of this there's not really a centre, requiring long walks and drives between shops, services amenities. There's public transport with trains and busses, but it's recommended one owns a sturdy off-road vehicle to survive the dry heat and dust in the air.
The people of Drover's Flat are as emotionally destitute as the town's coffers. Matters are rarely treated without cynicism, sarcasm or gallows humour, and criminals are rampant. Novelists and producers of television shows have cited Drover's Flat as the main inspiration for some of the most successful dark comedic works out there, and have often seen crimes done by its citizens first hand. Despite how rough the town is, criminals have a level of respect for the locals: they make conversation during muggings, and ensure shootouts happen in places where the cops won't come looking and no children see the violence. There's a saying that goes 'In Drover's anything's legal as long as you don't get caught'.
LOCAL HOT SPOTS:
DEAD MAN'S CREEK: The name supposedly comes from a nineteenth-century stockman found dead beside the creek. There are at least six contradictory versions of how he died, and one local family - the Fontaines - becomes extremely hostile whenever the subject comes up. The creek sits where dry paddocks meet a strip of scrappy bushland. The creek floods dramatically once every decade and is otherwise a ribbon of shopping trolleys, reeds and suspicious foam. Summer smells of hot bitumen and eucalyptus; winter brings woodsmoke, frost and football played on grounds hard enough to break teeth.
STOCKMAN'S ARCADE: Six shops sit beneath a corrugated-iron awning; a bakery, an op shop, a tobacconist, a tattoo studio, a solicitor and a suspiciously prosperous vacuum-cleaner repair business. Across the road sits 'Gabby the Yabby', a four-metre fibreglass crustacean outside an abandoned service station. Its left claw disappeared after the 2017 B&S ball and occasionally turns up in random photographs. Many blame the town's financial woes on the council paying a fortune for Gabby's sculptor.
MOUNT MERCY LOOKOUT: Not so much a mountain as a really big hill. Couples park there after dark to stroll the beauty spot overlooking the untouched scrub and the Western ocean, their stolen cars lost by dawn.
THE RSL: The Returned and Services League is home to Friday-night raffles, cheap schooners, a malfunctioning meat-tray fridge and a long-running dispute about whether the courtesy bus is being used for drug deliveries. It's where the few licensed firearms holders find themselves; the non-licensed ones know better than to stop by here.
PERSONS OF INTEREST:
Mayor Neville Cribb: A former Holden dealer who treats local government as a contact sport. He has opened the same pedestrian crossing three times under different names. Wildly corrupt, but an undeniably good salesman and the sole reason Drover's Flat hasn't fallen into bankruptcy, despite many poor financial choices.
Shazza Bell: Volunteer wildlife rescuer, habitual shoplifter and the only person in town capable of handling both an injured kangaroo and a bikie having a panic attack.
Constable Aaron Pike: The town’s diligent young copper who is most often seen on his beat. He believes every problem can be solved through procedure, unaware that his sergeant, landlord and girlfriend’s father are all involved in the same insurance scam. Despite being traumatised by a shocking crime scene, he remains faithful in the idea of human beings being inherently good.
Dr Farah 'Sawbones' Nasser, MD: The town GP, sharp-eyed and exhausted. She has patched up nearly every criminal in the district and terrifies them by remembering their Medicare details.
Damo Greeves: Proprietor of Greeves Rural Supplies and unofficial local crime boss. His schemes are generally competent until entrusted to one of his cousins. Rivals to the Familia Fontaine.
Keith “The Magistrate” Madsen: A retired shearer who holds court from the end stool at the Drover’s Rest. His legal knowledge comes entirely from American television.
Charlie: Pianist and keyboardist of the band ACES H1GH, Charlie lives in the outskirts of the outskirts of town, near his grandparents. When he's not in Drover's Flat, he's touring with his bandmates in Neo Babel and across the world.
The Familia Fontaine: Old money rail, oil and gold barons who were some of the first to Westerners to exploit Australia's natural wealth, they have since run out of money as this particular corner of the continent dried up and others simply had better luck. The Fontaines are bitter and are always looking for a way to make this town into a prosperous city that will one day absorb Perth.