More Than Mail

Keri Prandolini is a woman to admire. She never backs away from giving anything a try and has had some big adventures in her life. Kez has done everything from living overseas, working on massive properties, running her own side hussles and even birthing her oldest son in the kitchen at Iffley Station. She also trains workdogs, who she likes to name after songs. Keri has driven the mail run and has some fond memories of her time on the road delivering the post. More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay. Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713. You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au  Or, you can send me an email hello@morethanmail.com.au

Julie McAuley came North from Victoria with her husband Peter for a job interview in the early 80s. They never left.  Together they have worked hard to build a property of their own, starting from scratch and mustering during school holidays for the helpers. Julie reminisces about the huge change moving so far from home was. Whether it's the water, the people, the town - who knows - but there is definitely something that gets in your blood when you head to North West Queensland. More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay. Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713. You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au  Or, you can send me an email hello@morethanmail.com.au

Tim Pratt loves driving and trucks in particular. He can be found loading cattle and getting them to their destination at any time, night or day. Tim’s love of driving started early, when he took any opportunity, he could to jump in his parent’s mail truck and deliver the mail and freight with his dad on the Normanton mail run as a kid, a measly 21 hour round trip. In a full circle moment, Tim and his wife Groove, later went on to have the Normanton mail run contract themselves. Tim is a local Julia Creek boy who spread his wings to Cloncurry for a while, but returned home. His love of trucks started early and Tim & Groove now operate Pratt Cattle Transport. More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay. Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713. You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au  Or, you can send me an email hello@morethanmail.com.au

Eliza Callaghan served in the Royal Australian Navy, and took her holidays to coincide with country race meetings. From the middle of the ocean to remote Queensland, because she loves racing. Growing up helping her Pop, Ilfracombe trainer Boy Forster, Eliza knew from a young age she wanted to be involved in the racing industry, and started learning the race day ropes early. Owning and strapping is where Eliza has found her niche, with New York World currently racing in her colours at country tracks. And... Eliza is also the only** country strapper to have also strapped a Group One winner! **not fact checked :) Eliza lead Apache Chase for his Kingsford Smith Cup win in 2022 for Aunty and trainer Desleigh Forster.  More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay. Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713. You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au  Or, you can send me an email hello@morethanmail.com.au

Emma Morton grew up on Pandie Pandie Station, 30kms from Birdsville. The Birdsville races have been a big part of her, and her family's life. Growing up with horses and races Emma always wanted to follow in her grandfather and father's footsteps and become a trainer. Life got in the way for a little while, but Emma has come full circle and took out her trainer's licence 12 months ago. She now continues her family legacy. This weekend is a big one for Emma and her family, with them all heading 'home' to Birdsville for the Birdsville races - which is basically Birdsville Christmas. Emma isn't lining any horses up this year, but there's plenty of time for that in years to come. For now, it's about catching up with those she grew up with. More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay. Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713. You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au  Or, you can send me an email hello@morethanmail.com.au  

Robbie Katter came on the mail run, meet consitituents at mailboxes, chatted for this podcast episode and opened the gates. Good day all round.  Robbie has been in State Parliament since 2012, representing firstly Mount Isa and now Traeger. And as much as we talked about being a politician (don't panic, there's no policy conversations!) it was great to chat about where we live. We also covered what it was like growing up with Bob Katter as your dad, and answering the phone to John Howard! There's also plenty sounds of the mail run throughout the chat. More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay. Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713. You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au  Or, you can send me an email hello@morethanmail.com.au    

A teenage Julie Eggerling drove her grandfather to the races one day and that was it, she was hooked.  Julie has owned many horses , bred a lot of her own and bought others in as ready to race horses. She gets joy from all of them.  Working in the stables and being hands on every day sets Julie apart from most owners, and she loves that she still gets to nurture the connection with horses she’s always had.  Julie is the owners rep on the Central West committee and played an instrumental role in resurrecting the now very successful Alpha Jockey Club.  Julie also makes a mean corn meat sandwich.  More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay. Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713. You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au  Or, you can send me an email hello@morethanmail.com.au  

Holding a dual jockey and trainer’s licence is not for the faint hearted.  Tash Chambers is one of a handful of females doing just that.  Tash struggled with weight through her apprenticeship, wasting to make rides every week.  A two year break followed, before making a come back in the North West.  Tash put in the hard yards when she moved west, including a pretty scary fall at Julia Creek.   Despite more downs than ups, Tash’s love of winning has always kept her coming back.  Faced with a lack of opportunities, Tash didn’t let that stop her jockey career, taking out a trainer’s licence to create her own chances.  And it has been full steam ahead since. Tash has had runners in high profile provisional races, won the Pallarenda Stakes and had metro starters.  More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay. Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713. You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au  Or, you can send me an email hello@morethanmail.com.au  

Mackay based John Mazelmann knows how to train a winner in both thoroughbred and harness racing, having racked up well over 1000 wins in each code. Traditionally a harness man, John swapped to the gallopers simply because the harness track numbers disappeared. John now has over 50 thoroughbreds in work, with runners at mutiple tracks every weekend.  Lachie Manzlemann followed in his dad's footsteps, taking out a group one as a harness driver as well as training both pacers and trotters. Lachie has also now turned his hand to training thoroughbreds and has made the move to Mackay to give the country circuit a good hitout. More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay. Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713. You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au  Or, you can send me an email hello@morethanmail.com.au

Ray Hermann is an unassuming country racehorse trainer. But in another life, he won seven Australian bronc riding titles, and two world titles. He is a legend of rodeo. Ray, or Cowboy as he is known, started with race horses, took a 30 year detour to the rodeo lifestyle, and is now back training horses.  Cowboy's passion for the sport of rodeo is obvious when you get him talking about it. Even the scary moments, which actually having nothing to do with riding rank roughstock, and everything to do with small plane rides. More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay. Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713. You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au  Or, you can send me an email hello@morethanmail.com.au    

158-54:32:14 Born and bred in Julia Creek, Fab’s Cowboy is Australia’s most winning race horse of the modern era.  5️⃣4️⃣ WINS! 🏆 Cowboy races one last time on Saturday July 27, before retirement. And not just any retirement, retirement to Living Legends!  Everyone has a Fab’s story. Today we relive many of those. Owner Lizzie Currin tells us her story. As does her partner in ownership, cousin Paul Currin.  The guest list resembles a movie credit roll.  •Hannah Richardson • Peter Flynn• Shae Nielson • Dakota Graham • Adin Thompson • Gary Geran • Quayde Krogh • Angela Jones • Donna Weber • Minonette Kennedy • Becca Wilson • Mel Campbell • James Coglan • Andrew Watts • Andrew Clarke • You’ll feel the passion, the dedication, the excitement, the nerves, the frustration and learn ALL the stats. So. Many. Stats.  More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay. Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713 or Lachy Smith on 0401168915.  You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au  Or, you can send me an email hello@morethanmail.com.au

Duncan Fysh was passionate about many things, with keeping a record of history high on his list. Duncan spent years contributing local history stories to The Prickly Post. Spending his early years at Toolebuc, Duncan's family moved to Answer Downs after WWII. Both in the McKinlay district. From there it was to Proa for 50 odd years. Julia Creek became home and his passion grew to take in the Town and Country Club. Duncan was always on the hunt for his next big fossil and enjoyed flying. Duncan also had the Nelia mail run for seven years in the 90s. Most of all, Duncan loved a chat.  Duncan passed away on October 16, 2023 aged 84.  It was a privilege to reminisce with Duncan about his life. More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay. Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713 or Lachy Smith on 0401168915.  You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au  Or, you can send me an email hello@morethanmail.com.au

Isaac Carmona grew up in Barcelona, population 1.6 million. For the last two tourists seasons, Isaac has worked at the Walkabout Creek Hotel in McKinlay, population 10. Despite the obvious differences, Isaac has loved working in such a small town. The tourists have filled his book with suggestions of places to visit in Australia, and he has fine tuned his English. Which has mostly meant learning a whole lot of slang. Isaac's excitement for local events rubs off. His enjoyment of places and events that locals take for granted make you step back and realise just how fortunate we are to be living amongst such wide open spaces. More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay. Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713 or Lachy Smith on 0401168915.  You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au  Or, you can send me an email hello@morethanmail.com.au

Luke McNeven worked on properties north of Julia Creek before calling Colwell home for 13 years.  First as a base while working at Eloise Mine, before managing the property. Luke, with wife Mary-Ann and their three daughters, took the opportunity to buy their own place after Colwell was sold.  And started a new life as bee keepers. Actual real life bee keepers!  Luke has had to learn about a completely new industry. And how to keep 'his girls' happy. He has also discovered producing honey is a little different to producing beef. Learn more about Mrs O'Connell's Raw Honey. More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay. Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713 or Lachy Smith on 0401168915.  You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au  Or, you can send me an email hello@morethanmail.com.au

Danielle Wust went to France for a gap year, skyped her parents and discovered they had bought the Walkabout Creek Hotel and upped and moved.  Danielle quickly refreshed her memory of all things Crocodile Dundee, but ironically could not get a job in the namesake hotel in France. A big mail user, Danielle has mail tales from all over the world, including working at Amazon in Scotland (and literally being stuck in Scotland during the pandemic!). Danielle has spent the past two tourist season working at the Walkbout, and made some great memories while working behind the bar, in the kitchen, cleaning and in the mail room. Her energy levels are next level. More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay. Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713 or Lachy Smith on 0401168915.  You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au  Or, you can send me an email hello@morethanmail.com.au

Mount Isa School of the Air is the standard way of schooling for the kids on the mail run. And for 19 years, majority of them have had the same teacher at some point - Mrs Mills. Jo Mills has always taught the lower year levels at MISOTA and has been able to visit students in their homes and attend activity days and mini schools all over north Queensland and the NT. Mrs Mills has a lot of special memories from her years as at School of the Air, including her first attempt at retirement. Learning the vocabulary of outback kids was no easy task, but Mrs Mills has always taken anything the kids throw at her in her stride.  More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay. Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713 or Lachy Smith on 0401168915.  You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au  Or, you can send me an email hello@morethanmail.com.au

Angus Brodie once made his sister lead her horse home after a fall, only to discover she'd broken her arm. Growing up at Redland Park, Angus got up to lots of shenanigans. He was also the last child to speak on the radio at Mount Isa School of the Air before the big switch to the phone system. Angus has returned home recently after some adventures, including starting a paddock to plate meat delivery service - Horizon Grazing. Beef from the paddocks of Redland Park delivered to your door. The last few years have been big ones for Angus, becoming a dad to daughter Louie and marrying his wife, Jo. More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay. Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713 or Lachy Smith on 0401168915.  You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au  Or, you can send me an email hello@morethanmail.com.au

Makenzie Mills moved north to work and fell in love with the way of life. Growing up in the Hunter Valley,  Makenzie followed in her sister's footsteps and headed to Queensland. Five years later Makenzie has worked on various properties including Barkly, Millungera and Coolullah.  Makenzie has a great group of friends, loves the long days at work and enjoys the social scene. But it hasn't always been easy being so far from her family.  More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay. Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713 or Lachy Smith on 0401168915.  You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au  Or, you can send me an email hello@morethanmail.com.au

The number of TAB country race meetings continues to increase.  Branden Wood and Didier Kay are part of the Panosonic Studio Productions (PSPVideo) team and head to country race tracks, providing video footage to Sky Racing for broadcast. Seems like a simple job, but when you are dealing with heat, wind, flies, cold and an assortment of infrastructure, it can sometimes be a little stressful. More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay. Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713 or Lachy Smith on 0401168915.  You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au  Or, you can send me an email hello@morethanmail.com.au

Regional Cast supply the footage of non-TAB country race meetings for Racing Queensland. The logistics of covering five, six or seven race meets a weekend across regional Queensland is intricate. General Manager Mark Jones has the job of ensuring Regional Cast find the best solutions for providing the footage from often tricky locations. First hand experience tells us that videoing the races is not as easy as it seems. More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay. Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713 or Lachy Smith on 0401168915.  You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au  Or, you can send me an email hello@morethanmail.com.au