During a quick break from loading goats on her remote outback property, grazier Suz Laidler drives her kids 30 kilometres down a dirt driveway to meet the school bus.
"Hello to the start of my precious cargo," 66-year-old Deb Porter yells from the driver's seat.
It's the first pick-up on a two-hour round trip to one of Australia's most remote primary schools.
From here, the children will travel another 70km to Stonehenge State School, about 150km south-west of Longreach, in outback Queensland, stopping to pick up several more station families along the way.
"So valuable, it frees up my time, and the kids love it," Ms Laidler says.
The family used to learn online through distance education.
"I ask them all the time if they want to come back and me teach them. [They say] 'no, Mum, no'. They love the interaction," Ms Laidler says.
"We wouldn't be there if the bus run wasn't there; there's no way I would travel 100km either way.
"The bus run is vital to keep the school going I think."
The school bus started operating three years ago, when parents became concerned about the future of Stonehenge State School when enrolments dropped to just three.
The first iteration of the bus run was in a Toyota Tarago, and local dad Mick Campbell admits it was an experiment.
"In 2019 the Stonehenge school had three kids enrolled there, so it was initiated by the principal at the time to run a pilot school bus," Mr Campbell says.
"The families involved in the school and the staff there were very concerned.
"There were no guarantees that it would work, so that's why we started the pilot first."
But it has worked.
Children living on remote stations have switched from online learning to the classroom, and the school now has 17 students.
"The extra students there, keeping the school alive, has kept the town alive as well," Mr Campbell says.
Bus driver 'a godsend'
Finding a reliable driver in such a remote area was among the biggest challenges, until Ms Porter moved from Warwick to give it a crack.
"I fully understand that if not for this bus, that school would possibly be really struggling for students," she says.
Her grandchildren are among the 11 students who catch her bus daily.
"As you're getting older — mature age as they call us — it's nice to have that feeling that you're needed and doing something that's helping," she says.
"It does wonders for yourself and your mental health.
"I love those kids and those families, it's been the best thing for me."
Mr Campbell says Ms Porter has been "a godsend".
"We trust her immensely with our kids," he says.
A finalist in the Queensland school bus driver of the year, a competition run by Translink, Ms Porter says she has been overwhelmed by how the Stonehenge community has embraced her.
"The community and school has never stopped thanking me for doing this job."
Collaboration keeps school viable
Education expert Tania Leach from the University of Southern Queensland says the Stonehenge school bus is a perfect example of local community working together to create good outcomes.
"This is significant, it keeps the school functioning, and it keeps it viable," Dr Leach says.
While stressing that a school bus might not save every school, Dr Leach says other areas could learn from the collaboration in Stonehenge.
"In some communities, a bus run won't save the school," Dr Leach says.
"We had examples in some of our mining towns … where eventually there were just no children left in the town.
"Every solution is contextual, but the core of it is, when you have communities and schools working together, we can have equitable access to education and choices to access quality education face-to-face."
Back on the bus that's already racked up more than 100,000km, Ms Porter is not sure how long she'll continue transporting Stonehenge's "precious cargo".
"I'm still enjoying it," she says.
"It benefits me as much as the children and the school, it really does."
