The season starts . . .
Host: Myroodah Station
Written by Pam Daniels – Manager, Myroodah Station.
It is the start of March and we have our core station crew back on board for the new year comprising our Cook, Headstockman, Stock camp of six, Machinery Operator, Bore Runner, Governess, and Workshop Allrounder. Our entire crew have returned from 2014 which is pleasing to see and we are very happy to have them all back. Most of them have spent the three month wet season back in their communities with their families. They are as pleased to return to work as we are to see them all back on board. Our Head Stockman picked them all up and brought them back on to the station and he told us you couldn’t get the grins off their faces.
2014 Myroodah Station Staff and Trainees.
Following Easter we have 11 new Indigenous Trainees commencing. They are embarking on a year of “on-the-job” learning to gain a Certificate II in Agriculture. They range in age from 17 through to 25 and our hope for them is that they become reliable employees and gain enough experience from their year on Myroodah to continue on in the Northern beef industry as valuable members of any station staff crew.
Staff relax at the end of the day – Patrick Yambo, Dylan Malay, and Roy Juboy.
Our entire Myroodah Stock Camp (excluding the Head Stockman) this year is made up of graduates of the Indigenous Land Corporation’s (ILC) training program. Four are graduates from 2014 and two have graduated in previous years and have remained in the industry either here or elsewhere. Our Head Stockman, Terrance Long, is from Kalkaringi in the Victoria River Region of the Northern Territory. This year two of the 11 are entering the Training program from Yarralin, a small community close to Terrance’s country in the NT. They had heard about the program and were keen to jump on board. The remaining nine have come together from communities throughout the west Kimberley region.
2015 Trainees who commence this week at Myroodah.
The station staff are very supportive of the new faces arriving and entering the ILC’s training program. They know it is a good opportunity for them. Many of the new recruits are brothers, cousins, or nephews of staff we already employ. It is a busy four weeks after their initial arrival as we host various extra visitors who come in to deliver specialised training to them. Meanwhile, the usual functions of a cattle station are well underway and we have helicopter pilots, cattle agents and buyers, industry reps, and other tradespeople coming and going as well. Once the trainees complete their probation period, they are integrated into the general running of the cattle station business and they learn quickly to keep afloat. Throughout the year, related training continues to be delivered whilst working in with the stations work program and the Registered Training Organisation regularly visits to assess their skills and deliver on-going training as required.
Once the annual training program is underway, numbers on the station swell from around 15 to over 30. It is a busy schedule to keep abreast of, but well worth all the efforts when the rewards are enthusiastic young Indigenous people getting an opportunity to develop into shining stockmen. They make us very proud!
On the job! Harrison Skinner – a graduate of the 2014 training program and now employed in the Myroodah Station stockcamp.