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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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, […]
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 […]
Born and raised in the Northern Territory, Toni Tapp Coutts has had a varied career, from working on cattle stations, to owning a variety store in Borroloola, a dress boutique in Katherine, being a Town Councillor, CEO, Author, and most recently becoming a Real Estate agent. Not to mention, she fought breast cancer and won. […]
When Connie Wood came off her horse and knocked her head, she initially thought not much of it. She hadn’t been doing anything particularly wild or dangerous in the moments leading up to the fall, it was just like any other day on her quiet, dependable horse. What Connie would go on to experience was […]
In our last episode, Garry Riggs shared yarns from his early days growing up on cattle stations in the 60’s and 70’s. This episode is the second part of that conversation, and let’s just say I was not expecting to hear about lions, or UFO’s… but, as we heard in part 1 – Garry’s childhood […]
Station kids aren’t regular kids. What I mean, is that they are, more often than not, fiercely independent and impressively resourceful. And that is a recipe for adventure. Garry Riggs is no exception here. He spent his childhood on remote properties across Northern Australia, with the sort of freedom most of us would lament only […]
When Ned McCord was a little boy, all he wanted to do was be among the stockmen working cattle. And for the most part, that was his reality, until his father experienced a serious and debilitating illness which saw the family separated, and Ned sent to a town school. He eventually made his way to […]
Aticia Grey is best known for her team of working dogs and their adventures on her family’s cattle station in the Pilbara region of WA. Given her cult following on social media, appearance on the ABC’s tv show “Muster Dogs” and release of a book by the same name, you’d be forgiven for thinking she’s […]
In our last episode, Danny Hayes shredd yarns from his childhood on cattle stations and some of the things he’s learned from his 30 year career as a mustering pilot. In this episode, Danny recounts some of the hairy situations he’s found himself in while flying – situations that only experience and nothing short of […]
You can’t live and work in the Northern Territory and not have a story or two to tell. So, imagine how many stories Danny Hayes must have, having flown as a helicopter mustering pilot for over 30 years. I think it’s safe to say that he has seen and done a lot of things, and […]
Tracey Hayes is best known for her role as the first female CEO of the Northern Territory Cattleman’s Association. But, it was a role she never intended on holding – in fact, it wasn’t in her career plan at all. Born and bred on a cattle station in the far north of South Australia, staying […]
Khory Hancock knows what it’s like to live in two different worlds at the same time. An environmental scientist by trade, Khory was born and raised on a large cattle property in Queensland. It was his belief that agriculture, in particular cattle farming, was a part of the solution to environmental problems, not the cause, […]
Welcome back to another “Station Stickybeak” episode. This series was created to share an insight into why pastoralists do what they do, given their circumstances – whether it be location, country type, rainfall zone, infrastructure, ownership model, market, or any of the many other factors influencing management decisions. In each Station Stickybeak episode I’ll chat […]
