Since Annabelle Coppin was a child, she wanted people to eat the beef her family raised on their Pilbara cattle station. But, simply selling cattle to the market wasn’t enough for her - she wanted to be involved in the entire process, and watch as people picked up packets of her beef from the supermarket. She wanted them to know that what they were about to cook wasn’t just any old Aussie beef, but that from Yarrie Station - a property her family had been nuturing for 5 generations. In this episode, Annabelle shares the highs and lows of started a branded beef business, and how she keeps her d ..read more

When Wave Hill Station was sold in a $104 million dollar deal, Jumbuck Pastoral and its consortium of partners became the 4th ever owner of the iconic station in its 140 year history. It was a sale that said “watch this space”. In this episode, we sit down with Matt and Connie Wood, who we last heard from in episode 123, as they prepared to leave their job as managers at Blina Station in the Kimberley, also owned by Jumbuck Pastoral, to move to Wave Hill Station and take on the mammoth job of managers. In this episode, Matt and Connie fill us in on the busiest 12 months of their life - which i ..read more

Shane “Lochy” O’Loughlin arrived in the Kimberley at the age of 16. He’d already left both home and school at the age of 12, and now he had something to prove.   However, Lochy’s start in the Kimberley was anything but smooth sailing.   Over the past 40 years, Lochy has lived a life full of adventure and learning. There’s not many places in the Kimberley he hasn’t set foot on, either as a stockman, or running his own bull catching business.   For our final episode of 2022, Lochy shares stories that only a few people have heard while sitting around a campfire, and it’s a true pri ..read more

This episode is Part 2 of our chat with Chico Shaw. If you haven't listened to Part 1, stop now and go back.   In Part 1, Chico shared the story of his adoption from Brazil into a family from Bondi Beach, and how he ended up working on a cattle station in the Gulf of Queensland.   In this episode, Chico shares stories from his time working in the Northern Territory, why he left the industry for almost 10 years, his battles with mental health, and what it's like working not just with your partner, but for them.   Please note that this episode may be triggering for some people, so ..read more

In 1987 a mechanic found a baby boy abandoned on the streets in Brazil.    Today, that baby boy is a grown man living and working on a cattle station in the Northern Territory, Australia.    “Blessed”, is how Chico Shaw describes his life. A life that could have turned out so differently.   In this episode Chico shares the story of his adoption into a family from Bondi beach, how he ended up working on a cattle station in the Gulf of Queensland, and the challenges and adventures that that experience entailed.   Make sure you tune in next week for part two to hear ..read more

In 2022, Olivia Thompson sold 3 cattle stations in the Northern Territory. Those 3 properties exceeded 1 million hectares combined. It’s a world away from the 1000m2 block of land that was her first sale as a real estate agent some 20 years ago in the coastal town of Cairns.   Olivia is a prime example of the old saying, “Don’t judge a book by it's cover”. Beyond her beautiful smile and polished look that you’ll see on “For Sale” signs is one of the grittiest, hardworking people I have had the fortune of meeting and calling a friend.   In this episode I sat down with Liv to learn abo ..read more

Haydn Sale manages one the largest aggregations of cattle and land in northern Australia – but chances are, you’ve never heard of him.    Unlike others in his position, Haydn wasn’t born into the northern cattle industry. Nor did he do a gap year up north straight out of boarding school for one of the big corporates. He also wasn’t a General Manager or CEO of some other company in some other industry in a previous life.   Haydn’s journey is unlike any other I have come across. It is uniquely his.    In this episode, I managed to pin this incredibly busy man down to lea ..read more

Anika Molesworth is a farmer, scientist, and storyteller. And she's on a mission to cultivate climate courage. In an incredibly short period of time, Anika has amassed a number of accolades including: Young Farmer of the Year, Young Australian of the Year finalist, and a Masters and PhD.   She has also released a best-selling book, 'Our sunburnt country', and co-founded the Farmers for Climate Action movement.   The incredible thing is that Anika has achieved all of this from her geographically and technologically isolated home of Rupee Station in far, far west New South Wales.   ..read more

Golden-guitar winning Tom Curtain and his incredible wife and business partner, Annabel, were our guests on the very first episode of this podcast way back in June 2019. Way back when I had never recorded a podcast, and didn’t know what sound quality was. So, last night I sat down with Tom and Annabel for take two. My plan was to rerecord just our first episode in better sound quality, but plans changed. So, in this episode you will hear some condensed versions of stories that were covered in episode one, including Tom’s childhood, how Tom and Annabel met, and the Katherine Outback Experienc ..read more

Back in episodes 150, 151 and 156, we heard the stories of Debbie and Ashley Dowden from Challa Station in the southern rangelands of WA. Now, two of those episodes were recorded with Debbie, and Ashley only recorded one... or did he? For those of you who don't know, we actually have two podcast series. Central Station, the one you're listening to right now, and the other one is called Cattle Station Classroom. Within that podcast, I launched a mini series called "Station Stickybeak", where I sit down with station owners and managers across the country to... well... have a massive stickybeak ..read more