They say that “Australia rode to prosperity on the sheep’s back”. And for more than a century the Gascoyne region of Western Australia was sheep country, running millions of animals and generating the kind of wealth that literally built Australia. But with the introduction of synthetic fibres the industry gradually lost its shine, and when […]
Carbon Farming is a topic that been dominating the Australian media over the past several years. I don’t know about you, but even with an agricultural science degree – I still struggle to understand how it works, and how there’s a market for it. If you’re in the same boat, then you’re in luck – because after […]
Prompted by the personal observations of Chris Henggeler that span 40 years I hear, I forget… I see, I remember… I do, I understand … thank you for that quote, Jim! What could pastoralism do for Australia, if consumers understood the challenges facing us in our back-yard? Apart from remoteness, we are only limited by our […]
Imagine this: building a pastoral lease from scratch. I’m talking about walking onto a piece of land that has never been managed or developed – no fences, no man-made waters, no roads – nothing. Sounds like something from the 1800’s right? A story of the settlers? Well, this actually happened in the late 1980s, when […]
Written by Frances Cooper – Mt Riddock Station Studying land management at university seems like a fairly normal pathway into working in Australia’s extensive rangelands…right? Well, maybe if I’d studied in Australia it would be. However, I completed my studies in the UK and let’s just say that Central Australia is a little bit different […]
Written by Debbie Dowden – Challa Station, WA. Col Stanton is a bit of a legend in our area. Not only because he’s a top bloke, can drive a grader like it’s his dancing partner and has loads of interesting yarns to tell. The thing that makes Col a legend is his soil conservation skills. […]
Written by Barbara Camp – Kalyeeda Station. Look at these two photos. They were taken nine months apart from about the same spot. I say ‘about’ because the dry, desiccated mud flat where I took the first shot last year is now under a considerable amount of water and, knowing the size of the salt […]
Written by Andrew Miller – Overseer, Shamrock Station Current weather events have recently demonstrated in all its entirety the absolute control of which we as a collective (ie. the human race) are susceptible to the outcomes of future weather patterns. From local Government to Wall Street, the flow on effects of natural disasters are now […]
Written by Lydia Inglis – Stationhand, Yarrie Station. The Pilbara. The land of where: Having one spare tyre is asking for two flats. A trip to town is 5 hours of driving. And if you dare to say how great all your bores are it’s guaranteed they’ll pack it in tomorrow. It’s a land of […]
Host: Kachana Station Written by Chris Henggeler, Owner – Kachana Station Part 1. New Millennium, New Challenges Part 2. When Alarm Bells Ring A nurse or doctor can hand out medication and check up on a patient on their own, but when alarms begin to go off in a hospital ward, it is useful to […]
Host: Kachana Station Written by Chris Henggeler, Owner – Kachana Station It was in early 1979 that I arrived in Australia. Most of my time since then has been spent somewhere in the north, living and working in the bush. Good fortune offered me the opportunity to do some travelling before and during that time […]
Host: Kachana Station Written by Fettes Falconer Note: Fettes Falconer is a Perth based retired geography teacher who visited Kachana some time ago and has been a loyal supporter ever since. As word got around that we needed another story for Central Station, people began ducking for cover. We thank Fettes for obliging in the […]
Host: Kachana Station Written by Chris Henggeler, Owner. Caveat: Whilst composing this message I remain painfully aware that there are many people doing it really tough all over Australia. When your livelihood is on the line, and everything you own is at stake you do not need others telling you how to prioritise. The landscape vision […]
Host: AgForce Queensland Written by Marie Vitelli, AgForce Weeds Policy Officer. AgForce has been the unifying voice for Queensland’s beef, sheep and grain producers since 1999. Our strength continues through our membership and a strategic vision to secure the productivity, profitability and sustainability of the agribusiness sector. AgForce has approximately thirty staff based in Brisbane and […]
Host: Mudgeacca Station Written by Claire Britton, Station Manager We took on Mudgeacca and its organic certification with optimism. It was unknown territory to us all, but Mudgeacca itself has been organic since 2001, so we let it teach us a few things so to speak. Without all the paperwork that comes with it, we soon […]
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elizovech, Station owner/manager As I mentioned yesterday, there were many parts of Emu Creek that have been degraded over time and even though some forms of rehabilitation have been undertaken about 15-20 years ago, the hangover from the sheep days is still obvious and in need of rectifying. In […]
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elizovech, Station owner/manager Yesterday I told you all that we made a temporary move to the Pilbara for 2017, but what I didn’t mention was where exactly that was. At the end of February 2017, we uprooted the family, packed up half a house, half a workshop, 3 dogs, […]
Host: Country Downs Station Written by Nikki Elizovech, Station owner/manager As I said in our Day 1 blog last year, the years are just passing us by way too fast! I am astounded that another year has passed us by and trying to remember what we have done over the last year finds me going back […]
Written by “Enviro Em”, Environmental Officer & proud former station kid. A lot of the time I am asked “How can you be an enviro if you grew up on a farm?” This used to annoy me so much! But, now I see it as an opportunity to brag – farmers, pastoralists, and landholders […]
Host: Rangeland Natural Resource Management Written by Chris Curnow – Program Manager (Desert & Pilbara), Rangelands NRM. Related to the ongoing discussions on the Pilbara/Desert boundary is the story of what another pastoralist is doing nearby at Yarrie station. Annabelle Coppin, like many pastoralists, believes that too much of her country on Yarrie has burnt for too many […]
