“Floods or bushfires are more visual than a sand storm, so it’s hard to convey the impact.”

Over at Gidgealpa Station, around 100km west of Innamincka, the dust storms have also cost Jayne and Jason Barns thousands of dollars. The couple had to sell almost all their cattle after dust and sand destroyed the feed.

“We trucked out our last load this week,” Ms Barns said. “We thought we’d be okay until the end of December but we had to reassess. Everyone around here is de-stocking.

“During the worst of the storms, all you could see was red dust. You couldn’t see the white railing on our verandah. It’s only eight or nine metres from the house to the creek and you couldn’t even see that.

“And it just hasn’t stopped – we might have a clear day here or there, but every time it blows it gets stirred up again. You can’t even sneeze or you stir up the dust.”

Rubbing salt into the dust, NSW pastoralists have been offered low-interest loans and freight subsidies by their state government to help them ride out the storm after the Western Pastoral Zone was declared a natural disaster area.

SA’s shadow agriculture minister Adrian Pederick Member, the state member for Stuart Graham Gunn and the federal member for Grey Rowan Ramsey jointly called on local agriculture minster Paul Caica to visit the state’s north and offer similar assistance to our pastoralists.

Mr Ramsay said he had sought help from Federal Minister for Agriculture Tony Burke, but had been told the State Government must declare that the affected region met the criteria of a natural disaster area to trigger federal assistance.

“It requires the State Government to step up to the plate first,” Mr Ramsay said.

“They (the pastoralists) are pretty down. The photos are just astonishing. These people have been in drought for years. By and large they are pretty resilient, but the old timers say it’s the worst they’ve seen since the 1940s.”

Mr Caica said his department was working with relevant organisations, including the SA Farmers Federation and the Northern Regional Drought Taskforce, to assess the impact of the dust storms.

“These areas in the north-east of the state are amongst the most remote in Australia and we have people with expertise on the ground in this region who are well placed to assess and advise on the extent of the damage,” he said.

Mr Caica said letters were sent to all affected pastoralists, providing advice on support available as part of the “exceptional circumstances” drought declarations and Planning for Recovery program, as well as contacts for counselling, drought assistance and financial advice. He said assistance available under the Planning for Recovery program would be extended to those affected by dust damage.

The department has also been collecting information on whether a case can be built to seek federal assistance under the natural disaster relief and recovery arrangement.

However, Mr Gunn said the pastoral operations were the backbone of SA’s outback economy and it was time for action, “not looking”.

“If we don’t support them, we will not have caretakers for the land Tourists who flock to central Australia will face fewer services, higher danger and will be appalled to see the infrastructure fall apart. The Australian people expect us to stand by this industry in its toughest times.”

The Greenfields are disappointed no one from the State Government has travelled to the outback to see first-hand the damage wrought by the dust and sand.

“We don’t want a handout. We just want equality among the states,” Ms Greenfield said. “They just got assistance in NSW and here we’ve had to fight for anything we get.”

Meanwhile, left with just 60 bulls on a property that held around 5000 cattle before the dust storms hit, Ms Barns said there was nothing to do but pray for rain.

“Now we just sit and wait and hope it damn well rains so we can get some more stock in and start all over again.”