By DANIELLE GALVIN
A FALL from a horse, broken bones and 32 hours lying in a paddock would spell disaster for most 77-year-olds, but Hughie Bourke comes from tough stock.
Fearing the worst, family and friends rallied together last week to rescue the stricken grandfather after he was reported missing last Thursday.
Now recovering in The Alfred hospital with a shattered femur and pelvis, Hughie reckons he spent his marathon ordeal enjoying the company of animals on his Caldermeade property, but was disappointed to miss the day’s horse racing.
The drama started on Wednesday when the well-known local identity went riding on his 1000-acre property.
Falling from his horse, he remained injured on the ground for almost a day and a half, watching the changing sky and surrounded by foxes and cattle.
His daughter Marcia Crocker said her dad, true to form, was in high spirits and thankful for the friends and family who weren’t ready to see the back of Bourke just yet.
Despite his lengthy ordeal, he told Claudia Barker and her husband Ken, long-time friends of the Bourkes, that he’d only been there for about one hour. Or so he thought.
“At 6pm my husband Ken and I were on our way out the door to pick up Margaret Nicholson for the Year 12 valedictory dinner when the phone rang,” Ms Barker said.
“Hughie’s daughter, Marcia had been trying to ring Hughie all day, and asked if we had seen him.
“Ken said we’d call in to his house on our way to Bayles. We were a bit worried.”
When the Barkers arrived, they thought it strange that there were breakfast dishes in the kitchen but nothing to suggest Hughie had eaten lunch.
Another telling sign that something was wrong was the Pakenham Gazette in the letterbox – this was particularly unusual.
“We knew that Hughie can never wait for delivery of the Gazette and by this stage we were very worried,” Ms Barker said.
They drove down to the stockyards where they met John Dalgleish and eventually Ms Nicholson and Viv and Robbie Bourke joined the search party among others.
“Then Ken saw movement near a trough – there was an arm holding a hanky,” Ms Barker said.
Hughie’s children Susan, Marcia and Paul feared the worst when the search for their dad began. But he’s a tough bloke – and he’s recovering well from surgery on his hip.
“He has six grandchildren too who were all so relieved – it was such a horrible couple of hours,” Ms Crocker said.
“Hughie is the best granddad in the world and they just mean the world to him.”
Ms Crocker said she and her siblings felt helpless being an hour away, but luckily there were friends and family to help out.
“The local people have been amazing – and we’ve already taken over the Alfred Hospital,” she joked.
“Dad is in really good care.”
And while “the old cockie” has a long road to recovery ahead, he told his kids that it was a “bloody beaut” watching the clouds go down and sleeping next to the animals on his farm.
