Central Station - True Stories from Outback Australia

The first year out of school is equally exciting and terrifying – you’re considered an adult by society, and with that comes both freedoms and responsibilities. With her high school experience not being the best, and her first job on a station getting off to a rocky start, Pip Bain felt like she had finally found her feet only to learn that her mother had passed away by suicide. The profound loss of her mother was only amplified by the shock, as Pip learnt she had been sheltered from her mother’s mental health struggles. In this episode Pip shares her story of how the next decade of her life would be shaped by losing her mother, and how it led her to take the long away around to find her place in this world.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The time we spend with people and places doesn’t determine the impact they can have on our lives. That is so very true for todays guest, Pip Bain. Although her family sold Mt Clere Station when she was just 8 years old, those 8 short years shaped Pips life and love of the land. The same goes for her mother, who passed when Pip was just 18 years old. In this episode, Pip recalls memories of her time at Mt Clere and how she found her way back to the land. She also speaks candidly about losing her mother through suicide and how it influenced her views on mental health. For our long term listeners, if any of this sounds familiar, that is because this episode was recorded and published in 2020 when the podcast was fairly new. Pips story is so compelling that I thought it deserved a second run. Be sure to tune in next week for a follow up episode with Pip. If you are experiencing depression or are suicidal, or know someone who is, help is available. Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467 Lifeline: 13 11 14 www.lifeline.com.au Beyond Blue: 1300 224 636 www.beyondblue.org.au/ Mindspot: 1800 61 44 34 http://mindspot.org.au/ Men’s Shed: www.mensheds.org.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nick Ormsby has flipped the script on what it means to be a "high school dropout". Despite leaving school at just 14 and having his teachers tell him he'd never make it, Nick's proved them dead wrong. Now, before he's even hit 40, Nick's running the show with not one, not two, but three companies in horticulture, agriculture, and forestry up in the Northern Territory. But Nick's journey hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows. In this episode, he's taking us back to where it all began. We're talking about the setbacks, the challenges and the opportunities he's had along the way.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Paddy Heatley had a fairly unconventional childhood. By the time he left home at the age of 9, he’d already dropped out of school – foregoing learning to read and write. At the age of 12, he was smuggling tobacco, alcohol and cattle from South to North Ireland. And, at the age of 16, with his mother’s signature forged, he climbed aboard a ship bound for Australia. In this episode, Paddy share’s yarns for his early days in Ireland, and his first few years in Australia. He speaks about meeting his future bride, the time he was almost charged with attempted murder, his day working with, and sometimes walking on, crocodiles, to settling in the Northern Territory as a cattle truck driver. Paddy sure has lived life to the fullest. As you can imagine, there was no way we could fit his whole story into one episode, so keep your ears out for more in the coming months.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From the outside looking in, Tammy Kruckow was living her best life. She and her husband were managing a large cattle station for a corporate pastoral company – the perfect place to raise their three beautiful daughters. She had, as she puts it, "ticked all the boxes".  But, behind closed doors, things weren’t all as they seemed. In this episode, Tammy shares her story of coming to the Territory as a shy jillaroo, to becoming a completely different person – the person she thought she had to be not just to fit in, but to progress in her career.  She is incredibly candid about the impact it had on her life, and those around her. Tammy also shares how it all came to a head, and how she changed her life. There were many hard lessons she learnt along the way, and she does not hold back in this episode. Tammy and her team at Top End Leadership are dedicated to 'Setting Leaders and Teams in Agriculture up for Success.' We do this through customised face-to-face and online workshops, self-paced online programs, while offering tailored mentoring and coaching services. With our focus on practical leadership and communication skills across the three key areas of Leading—Self, Others, and Teams—we equip Leaders with the tools to build their confidence in being the leader that they aspire to be, enabling them to build high-functioning teams. Learn more at https://topendleadership.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Steph travels to the centre of South Australia to Billa Kalina Station, which has been in the Greenfield family since 1938. Pastoralist Col Greenfield shares what it's like running a cattle station that is inside the Woomera Prohibited Area, and outside the dog fence.   *This episode was first released in 2021See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Felicity Brown is a milliner whose work has been featured at New York Fashion Week not once, but three times. Twenty years before the bright lights of the big apple called her name, Flic was working in a stock camp in the Northern Territory. In this episode Flic reflects on her time working on cattle stations, even though it was never a part of her plan...See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wayne Bean spent his adult life working towards one goal - managing a cattle station. So, when he resigned from his job as the manager at Flora Valley Station after 14 years, for the first time in his life, he didn’t have a plan. This episode is the third and final part of our chat with Wayne, where he discusses how he navigated his first major career change at the age of 42. And, as many listeners have been patiently waiting for, we also discuss Wayne’s journey to becoming an accomplished horseman and campdraft competitor. From a time when he almost walked away from the sport, to how he approaches the mental side of competition, and his future goals, there is something we can all learn from Wayne in this episode.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is part 2 of our chat with Wayne Bean – if you haven’t listened to Part 1, you know the drill, go on, go back and listen to it first. In this episode Wayne recalls the 18 years he spent working for Heytesbury Pastoral, where he progressed from an overseer on the Barkly, to junior manager in the Victoria River District, and finally, his goal of senior manager in the Kimberley.  Throughout those years he saw the end of BTEC, gained his pilots licence, and had a front row seat to the positive changes the Heytesbury Pastoral boss, Janet Holmes à Court, put in place – not least of all the introduction of paid positions for managers wives. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the longest time, Wayne Bean just wanted to get ahead. To achieve his career goal of managing a cattle station, to have his own land, and the time to pursue his passion for horses. And, spoiler alert, he has, by all definitions, gotten ahead. After two decades of managing stations for Heytesbury Pastoral, these days he spends his time on his own property, breeding and training horses for the sport of campdrafting, (of which he is a formidable competitor). So, when you see him, it’s easy to focus on the flash horse trailer, beautiful horses, and impressive scores in the campdraft arena. What you don’t see is the 30 plus years of hard work, patience and sacrifice Wayne has put in alongside his wife, Rachel, to get to where he is today. This episode is Part 1 of our chat with Wayne – where he shares stories from the early years of being a stockman with a young family, just trying to get ahead in life.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is Part 2 of our chat with Willie Cook. If you haven’t listened to Part 1, go back and listen to it first – trust me – you don’t want to listen to these episodes back to front – and yes, I know some of you do that… In this episode, Willie shares what it was really like being filmed for the tv series Outback Ringer, and what he thought about the final product. He also speaks candidly about the challenges he faced in 2023, and how its impacted his plans for 2024.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Willie Cook is known for being the bull-catching, helicopter-flying Kiwi from the ABC tv series “Outback Ringer”. He first came on the podcast in 2022, when he shared the incredible story of how the 2008 Global Financial Crisis saw his family lose absolutely everything they had, resulting in moving to Australia for a fresh start. I caught up with Willie in late 2023, and we yarned for so long that I had to split our chat into 2 parts. In this part, Willie gives us a lesson on catching wild bulls and water buffalo – the logistics, the technique and the psychology involved In Part 2, Willies shares stories from his time being filmed for the television series “Outback Ringer”. He also speaks candidly about the challenges he faced in 2023, and what he’s got planned for 2024.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bill Tapp wanted to be the next Cattle King of Australia, and for a time he was. In this episode, Toni Tapp Coutts shares the story of a man who was a pioneer, a visionary, a dreamer. A man who turned Killarney Station from a bare block to one of several thriving cattle properties. But, as his empire grew, so did Bill’s battle with alcoholism. While the empire he worked so hard to build would eventually crumble, his legacy remains strong.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Caroline Ashby is one of Australia’s toughest athletes. She’s completed 10 Ironman triatholan events, qualifying for the World Championships 4 times, and been ranked in the top 1% of Ironman athletes across the world several times. Caroline has accomplished all of this while raising a family on a livestock and cropping farm in Western Australia – far from any traditional training facilities. Her training regime consists of swimming laps in a dam, riding her bike alongside roadtrains, and literally running around the farms gravel tracks. And this isn’t a story about an athlete who grew up in the city and moved to the country for love – Caroline was raised on a sheep and cattle station 3 hours from Broken Hill, with no regular access to sports lessons or facilities. So, how did this bush kid fall in love with athletics? And, what motivated her to pursue it at the highest level when she was living in the middle of nowhere?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to a special bonus episode. For those of you who don’t know, I am due to have my first child in July – so by the time you’re listening to this, I’ll be well and truly knee deep in nappies! Before I go on maternity leave, I decided to make hay while the sun shines, and I teamed up with the legends at Territory Natural Resource Management to produce a podcast series. It’s called Our Territory, Our Future, and you can find it on Apple, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. I’ll be sure to link it in the shownotes below. Today, I’m sharing one of those episodes – and it’s actually Part 1 of 3 episodes. A couple of weeks ago I sat down with two legends by the name of Stu and Brett, and they are experts in all things feral animals, and they run an incredible wildlife and feral animal management business. If you enjoy the episode, make sure you head over to the Our Territory, Our Future podcast to listen to parts 2 and 3, as well as all the other episodes – including Lakefield, Mataranka and Mainoru Stations!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Munro Hardy's pathway to his current career has not been straight forward. After a gap year around Australia saw him fall in love with agriculture (Episode 190, Part 1), he kept on that path, trying his hand at all he could (Episode 193, Part 2).  But, at some point, Munro decided to step away from the cattle industry and try his hand at all sorts of jobs, including pearling, roadworks, mining, and construction.  It's not a pathway anyone would necessarily advise someone who wants a career in the beef industry, but as you'll see in this episode, it all came together and contributed to the success he is experiencing today.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As promised, here is part 2 of our chat with Munro Hardy. While he's only 35 years young, holy hatbox he has managed to fit a lot into a short space of time! In this episode he shares stories from his time working in live export, contract mustering, and a pretty hairy tale from a trip to Egypt... If you haven't listened to Part 1, go back and listen first!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today I’ve got something a bit special for you – as you would have heard in Part 1 – Munro Hardy has had many adventures in his life so far. When we were recording Part 2, Munro shared a story that I was not expecting, and it’s pretty hectic – so much so that I thought it should come out a week early in its own episode. So... enjoy this preview of Part 2, and please, don’t try this at home!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Starting a family is no longer as simple as meeting a partner and falling in love. I’m not sure if fertility challenges are becoming more common, or just more spoken about – but it certainly feels as though both are true. While stories about fertility challenges are becoming more common, no two are the same. In today’s episode, I sit down with Kim and Gus from Umbearra Station, 4 hours south of Alice Springs. Fertility challenges don’t discriminate, and I don’t think it’s as black and white as saying that someone’s journey is easier or harder than anyone else’s – they all have their unique aspects. For Kim and Gus, their remote location meant that they ended up traveling in excess of 40,000 km to conceive their first two children. To start our conversation, I asked them to take me back to the very start of their journey trying to start a family.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Munro Hardy has been a busy man. At just 35 years old, Munro’s career has taken him from fencing croc-infested rivers in the Top End, to mustering cattle from a helicopter, to boardrooms in Sydney, and most recently around the world as a Nuffield Scholar. It took a bit of convincing, but we managed to wrangle Munro to sit down and share his story. In this episode, he tells tales from the gap year that took him around Australia, and all the adventures that came with it. Make sure you keep your eyes peeled for Parts 2 and 3, to hear all about his helicopter mustering escapades, why he chose to leave the Territory for the big smoke, and how it led him right back to where he started.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.