Host: Dampier Downs Station
Blog Author: Anne Marie Huey
Region: West Kimberley, Western Australia.
Nearest town for shopping, doctors etc: Broome is 260km away.
Nearest roadhouse: Willare Roadhouse is 125km away.
Number of staff: Up to 3 during the mustering season.
Size of station: 265,000 ha (654,829 acres)
How often and how the mail is delivered: We don’t have mail delivery.
How often and how the stores shopping is done: Town runs are conducted as needed. Shopping is timed to coincide with other reasons to go into town.
How far off the bitumen you are: 110 km
Mike grew up on the property and, apart from stints away at boarding school and university, has spent his life developing the station. I grew up in Queensland and worked my way around Australia and around the world, working in a variety of industries including mining, tourism and hospitality. On my return to Australia I decided it was time to return to my first love – the Australian beef industry.
I spent time working in north west Queensland and the Northern Territory, before arriving in the Kimberley in 2007. According to Mike, we first met on the forecourt of the Roebuck Plains Roadhouse not far from Broome. I have a slightly different recollection of how we met.
I was an enthusiastic Beef Development Officer and had just developed a Grazing Land Management workshop and Mike was the first to sign up. With great excitement I jumped in the car and headed out to Dampier Downs to meet him and discuss various challenges and opportunities for improving grazing management on the station. The first meeting went well (his dog seemed to like me), then I got into the car to drive home. Somehow, I missed the first turn that would have taken me through the horse paddock and on to the road back to town and ended up taking an extended tour of the station. With great embarrassment I had to return to the homestead and ask for directions. I was sure I had blown any chance I’d had to make a good impression, but fortunately Mike never held it against me. I managed to redeem myself enough to be asked on a first date and we have been together ever since.
Today, we live on the station with Mike’s father and seven kelpies, six of whom are talented working dogs. The other one, Dougal, is a little less committed to the cause. Let’s face it, he spends most of his time in the yards sitting in the trough.
Obviously, we both love this life. We love the freedom of living and working in such a remote part of Australia and we love working with cattle. As an added bonus we spend our lives surrounded by a diverse range of native plants and animals – from the grumpy old goanna that lives under the tank at Pat’s Bore to the spinifex pigeons that come into water at the homestead late in the dry season. We even have a soft spot for the black-headed python that took up temporary residence on the welding table in the shed. We are also really proud of the fact that most of the beef we raise will ultimately end up on the plates of some of our poorest neighbours.
We hope you enjoy following the journey of Australian beef!
What you’re not being told about Live Export – Environment (Part 4/4)
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – co-Manager, Dampier Downs. Find part 1 here, part 2 here, and part 3 here. Northern Australia is a big, empty place. Or at least it seems that way at first glance. Spend some time in the outback, though, and you will discover a tight-knit network of […]
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What you’re not being told about Live Export – Economics (Part 3/4)
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – co-Manager, Dampier Downs. Find part 1 here and part 2 here. Live export underpins the economic viability of the northern beef industry. The beef industry in turn contributes significantly to the economic prosperity of northern Australia. There are few other industries (mining and gas extraction […]
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What you’re not being told about Live Export – Animal Welfare (Part 2/4)
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – co-Manager, Dampier Downs. Find part 1 here. Live export is the mainstay of the northern beef industry. For most of its history, live export barely registered on the radar of many Australians. That all changed in 2011 when footage of abhorrent animal cruelty was aired […]
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What you’re not being told about Live Export (Part 1/4)
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – co-Manager, Dampier Downs. This year has been a year of extremes. We started with an unprecedented amount of rain and the largest flooding we have ever seen. While rain is always a good thing, it was devastating to see our brand-new paddocks wash away in […]
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Only fools and newcomers
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – co-Manager, Dampier Downs. Mother Nature is a fickle mistress. At times she can be kind and benevolent, bestowing gentle seasons that fill rivers and water holes and result in a lush carpeting of grass across the landscape. Other years she can be heartbreakingly cruel withholding life-giving […]
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Life lessons learned while working the back yard
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Station Manager, Dampier Downs. Working with animals is arguably the best aspect of cattle station life. Whether it is dogs, horses, poddy calves, or cattle, animals add colour and character to our lives. However, as with all things worth-while, working with animals can also be […]
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Lost in translation
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Station Manager, Dampier Downs. Communication is key on a cattle station. In this job, things can – and do – change in an instant. It is easy to forget that everyday terms for us are a baffling journey into the unintelligible for those not used […]
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The red outback – part 2
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Lisa Sentfleben – Backpacker/Stationhand, Dampier Downs. Lisa worked for us last season – one of our many successful backpackers. Below is her experience in her own words. We – the boss, his sister, an English farmgirl, and me – work ten to twelve days in a row, then drive […]
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The red outback – part 1
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Lisa Sentfleben – Backpacker/Stationhand, Dampier Downs. Lisa worked for us last season – one of our many successful backpackers. Below is her experience in her own words. Red dust. Shimmering heat. Endless dry landscape. Silence. A chirping noise every now and then. Underneath the rabbit skin cowboy hat my […]
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Foreign investment of a different kind
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Station Manager, Dampier Downs. Working on a cattle station is a complex job that requires a diverse skill-set. Working cattle, building and maintaining fences, operating machinery, servicing equipment, and keeping water flowing are all essential tasks that must be performed on a regular basis. In […]
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When did profit become a dirty word?
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Owner, Dampier Downs Station. I breed cattle for slaughter. It’s the business I’m in and it’s what pays the bills. To me, this is not extraordinary I was raised on the land and from a very young age understood that my choice to eat meat […]
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The other side of the fence
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Owner, Dampier Downs Station. “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” While this quote is most commonly attributed to Charles Darwin, it was actually coined by […]
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The Cattle Season: A Relationship Survival Guide
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Owner, Dampier Downs Station. Women are the back-bone of the cattle industry. Admittedly, it is still a very male dominated world with the vast majority of managers and head stockmen being men. However, alongside every successful cattleman you will find a busy, hard-working woman whose […]
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Kids today
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Owner, Dampier Downs Station. There are endless ways for cattle to be classified when drafting in the yards. Some of the most common categories are: Breeders – mature cows whose job it is to have a calf hopefully every year. Heifers – young cows being […]
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Lima Lima Delta becoming airborne
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Owner, Dampier Downs Station. A lot happened in 2015. Our infrastructure development plan is well and truly underway with the completion of many new paddocks that will allow us to implement better herd management strategies. New bores are pumping and additional pipe-lines have enabled us […]
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The Social License – Our right or our privilege?
This entry was one of the finalists in our 2015 Birthday Competition and was written by Anne-Marie Huey. One of the advantages of living in a well-developed, affluent country like Australia is that we have the luxury of being able to allocate our discretionary spending according to our own personal moral leanings. Nowhere is this more […]
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Standing up for animal welfare
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Owner, Dampier Downs Station. Cattle producers in northern Australia have had a tough few years. Fortunately, this year is shaping up to be one of the most promising in recent times. Prices are up, large parts of the north have received life-giving rain, and our […]
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The early days
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Owner, Dampier Downs Station. Fifty years ago last month my parents were married in New Zealand, my mother’s home country. For my mother, this meant moving to the Australian outback, first to the family property near Kynuna, Queensland and then to a small, undeveloped station […]
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Coming home to Dampier Downs
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Peta Anderson – Huey relative, Dampier Downs Station. Hi my name is Peta Anderson and I am here to tell you about my recent adventure in the Kimberley, Western Australia. Filled with fun, animals, and a small amount of sleep. Last school holidays, for about two weeks, I visited […]
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You’ve got the job – now what?
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Owner, Dampier Downs Station. As another busy year kicks off there will undoubtedly be many first time jillaroos and jackaroos heading north to try their hand working on a cattle station. For most, it will be a huge change and, despite what you may think […]
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When Arno met Flic
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Owner, Dampier Downs Station. Only in this industry could a part-time milliner from Broome meet a fashion designer from Belgium, who would design her a fabulous dress for New York Fashion Week on the back of an empty pizza box, all at the local rodeo. […]
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Welcome back to Dampier Downs
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Owner, Dampier Downs Station. Well, this certainly came around fast. It feels like only a few weeks ago I was putting the final touches to last year’s blogs, but here I am again. In truth, I scratched my head a bit as to what to […]
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So you want to be a ringer? Part 2
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Manager, Dampier Downs Station. Earlier this year I wrote a blog about what it takes to be a ringer. As the year draws to a close and employers and employees alike are beginning to think about what next season will bring, I thought I would write […]
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Sunday Funday
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Manager, Dampier Downs Station. There aren’t many days off in the middle of the cattle season. When I lived in town, weekends were a chance to sleep late, maybe wander down to the local coffee shop for a lazy breakfast and a leisurely peruse of […]
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Spear Trapping – an alternative to helicopters
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Manager, Dampier Downs Station. Many of the recent stories on this site have detailed the excitement – and hard work – that is part and parcel of a standard mustering round. Here on Dampier Downs, while we do use helicopters as well, we also use […]
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So you want to be a ringer?
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Manager, Dampier Downs Station. You’ve heard about the big horizons, the scrub bulls, the good horses, and all the adventure of living and working on a remote cattle station. You’ve got the Wranglers, the boots, and the ute and you’ve decided to head north to […]
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Lessons from a little cat
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Manager, Dampier Downs Station. When I said “No more puppies!” I did not expect to come home from town one day to find two tiny kittens installed in my kitchen. These little cats, one girl, one boy, had been abandoned by their mother and were […]
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When bush comes to town
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Manager, Dampier Downs Station. Living and working on a cattle station can sometimes feel a little isolated. Don’t get me wrong – for a lot of people who choose this life the remoteness and lack of crowds are major drawcards. However, this doesn’t mean we […]
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Confessions of a grass nerd
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Manager, Dampier Downs Station. I really like grass. There, I’ve said it, I admit it – I’m a grass nerd. This is a fact that gives Mike no end of amusement, but I’m proud of it. The fact is, the pastoral industry is built on […]
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Since last time
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Manager, Dampier Downs Station. Welcome back to Dampier Downs. It has been a busy year for Mike and I since I last hosted this blog. Our development plan is well underway, and while it is a bit scary to now carry a lot more debt […]
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Farewell from Dampier Downs
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Station Manager, Dampier Downs. Well, this is it. Our week at Dampier Downs has come to a close. Over the last week I have tried to share with you some of the stories of when things go wrong (It’s on, There’s one in every mob), […]
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Who’s your daddy?
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Station Manager, Dampier Downs. It’s 8 am on a Friday morning, and as I say hello to passing neighbours, friends, and acquaintances, I am busily scrutinising every pair of testicles I can see. Now, this isn’t nearly as forward as you might think, as I […]
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There’s one in every mob
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Station Manager, Dampier Downs. Many previous hosts on this site have spoken about low stress stock handling. At Dampier Downs, this is pretty much the closest thing we have to religion. Mike even went as far as to travel to America to learn from the […]
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St Trinians
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Station Manager, Dampier Downs. The sun hasn’t quite poked its head over the horizon and I find myself in St Trinian’s (aka the dog run for its occasionally very naughty inhabitants). The Princesses are out having a stretch and a bit of a play. While […]
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It’s the small things
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Station Manager, Dampier Downs. One of the major events to happen at Dampier Downs recently was the advent of 24 hour power. This was achieved by connecting the solar system to the generator. This means that during the day the sun charges the batteries which […]
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It’s on
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Station Manager, Dampier Downs. There’s a smell of Avgas in the air and the faint ‘whump, whump’ of rotor blades in the distance. This can only mean one thing – it’s time to muster. The aim is always for a calm, controlled muster where the […]
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The end of the road
Host: Dampier Downs Station Written by Anne Marie Huey – Station Manager, Dampier Downs. Hi, my name is Anne Marie and I will be talking about life at Dampier Downs, a 665,000 hectare cattle station in the Kimberley. Those of you who have been following Central Station for a while may remember Jane, Emma, and […]
