General News
15 October, 2020
New caretakers for Mortlake Caravan Park
MORTLAKE has welcomed Shirley Angus and Richard Staples as the new caretakers of the Mortlake Caravan Park following the departure of former caretaker Paul Barker.
MORTLAKE has welcomed Shirley Angus and Richard Staples as the new caretakers of the Mortlake Caravan Park following the departure of former caretaker Paul Barker.
Mr Staples and Ms Angus have spent the last six years working within the operation of caravan parks prior to their arrival in Mortlake.
Ms Angus said her initial impression of Mortlake was as a friendly community.
“Everyone has been really welcoming so far,” she said.
“It has been great and we are really enjoying it at the moment.
“Hopefully we will get to talk to more locals during our time here as we’re only here for 12 months.”
Mr Staples said he and Ms Angus had spent some time living in Adelaide prior to a move to Brisbane in 2006.
“Then we decided we’d buy a caravan and take off,” he said.
“We’ve done some training in the operation of caravan parks and we’ve been doing that ever since; for the past six years.”
Ms Angus said the last six years of working in caravan parks had taken them across Australia.
“We’ve been from North Queensland, all the way down to Tasmania and out west so our travels have been fairly extensive,” she said.
Though they had originally planned to return to Queensland, COVID-19 put those planson hold.
Mr Staples said they had left their previous job at a caravan park in Bellarine Peninsula during the previous COVID-19 lockdown.
“We decided we would try and get back to Queensland but that fell through, so we decided we would just take off and work, and enjoy ourselves a bit and have a rest.
“This job in Mortlake came up and as it didn’t look like we would be getting back to Queensland any time this year, we decided instead of sitting on our backsides and doing nothing we would give this a go.”
Former Mortlake park caretaker Paul Barker, who has lived in the region for the past 35 years, hsa now joined the grey nomads on the road.
Mr Barker thanked the Mortlake community for its outpouring of support after calling time on his five year, three month, 11 day stint as caretaker.
“People have been very generous with their comments,” he said.
“I’ve done everything I possibly can here at the park and I’m grateful people have appreciated it.
“I haven’t caught up with most of the townspeople but I thank them all for their support over the years.”
Mr Barker said he had loved every minute of his time as caretaker, with the exception of the difficult times during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I have loved it all, and I leave with some regret and sadness, but it’s time.”
