Affairs to manage a "Youth at Risk" program, teaching skills associated with working on a remote cattle property to young "at risk" Aboriginal Australians. Torenbeek used slightly unorthodox methods in the way he taught basic literacy and numeracy, which differed from a traditional classroom setting. To help improve the literacy skills of the students, Torenbeek encouraged them to write letters home instead of using the telephone, and as a way to improve their numeracy skills, he encouraged them to use basic mathematical skills while learning how to do physical work in the field, such as counting cattle. 1975 accident In 1975, while waiting for a truck to reverse into a ramp to load horses for a charity race meeting, Torenbeek bent down to unlock one of the pins on the truck's livestock crate before it had completely come to a stop. The driver kept reversing and the rear of the truck struck Torenbeek's head, crushing it between the back of the truck and the ramp. Torenbeek's skull broke in three places, his ear drums burst and bled from the mouth, eyes and ears. Torenbeek was assisted into another vehicle which rushed to meet the ambulance which had been dispatched from Theodore to transfer Torenbeek to Rockhampton. In a 2013 interview on Conversations, Torenbeek told Richard Fidler that he believed that he had several out-of-body experiences immediately following the accident. He claimed to remember watching himself lying in the back of the ambulance, with his wife by his side, and recalled conversations that took place between his wife and the paramedics. Torenbeek also claimed that he was reunited with his late father who had passed away several years earlier, and that they sat together during the ambulance journey. Life in the Saddle In 2013, Torenbeek released his memoirs entitled Life in the Saddle: Adventures of the legendary horseman, the Kokotungo Kid. He decided to write his life story after consistent coaxing from his family. Torenbeek returned to "Myella", the cattle property where he grew up near the former town of Kokotungo in the Baralaba district to write his memoirs. When he finished, he submitted his hand written notes to R.M. Williams Outback journalist David Gilchrist who is credited with co-authoring the book with Torenbeek. During publicity for the book, it was revealed that during his career Torenbeek had formed friendships with Australian bushman R.M. Williams and Aboriginal elder and fellow horseman