One moment can change your entire life. Ashley Dowden learnt that lesson at age 11, when he survived an accident that claimed his mothers life and left his father with one arm. Ashley’s childhood was cut short as he stepped up to support his father in running the family sheep station.  In the 4 decades since, Ashley has continued to face his share of challenges, but his commitment to the family property has never wavered. In this episode Ashley shares parts of his journey, and we explore how his deep love of the land he calls home has allowed him to not just persevere through the hard tim ..read more

The first year out of school is equally exciting and terrifying – you’re considered an adult by society, and with that comes both freedoms and responsibilities. With her high school experience not being the best, and her first job on a station getting off to a rocky start, Pip Bain felt like she had finally found her feet only to learn that her mother had passed away by suicide. The profound loss of her mother was only amplified by the shock, as Pip learnt she had been sheltered from her mother’s mental health struggles. In this episode Pip shares her story of how the next decade of her life w ..read more

The time we spend with people and places doesn’t determine the impact they can have on our lives. That is so very true for todays guest, Pip Bain. Although her family sold Mt Clere Station when she was just 8 years old, those 8 short years shaped Pips life and love of the land. The same goes for her mother, who passed when Pip was just 18 years old. In this episode, Pip recalls memories of her time at Mt Clere and how she found her way back to the land. She also speaks candidly about losing her mother through suicide and how it influenced her views on mental health. For our long term listeners ..read more

Nick Ormsby has flipped the script on what it means to be a "high school dropout". Despite leaving school at just 14 and having his teachers tell him he'd never make it, Nick's proved them dead wrong. Now, before he's even hit 40, Nick's running the show with not one, not two, but three companies in horticulture, agriculture, and forestry up in the Northern Territory. But Nick's journey hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows. In this episode, he's taking us back to where it all began. We're talking about the setbacks, the challenges and the opportunities he's had along the way. See omnystudio.c ..read more

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 his mother’s signature forged, he climbed aboard a ship bound for Australia. In this episode, Paddy share’s yarns for his early days in Ireland, and his first few years in Australia. He speaks about meeting his future bride, the time he was almost charged with attempted murder, his day working with, and somet ..read more

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 they seemed. In this episode, Tammy shares her story of coming to the Territory as a shy jillaroo, to becoming a completely different person – the person she thought she had to be not just to fit in, but to progress in her career.  She is incredibly candid about the impa ..read more

In this episode, Steph travels to the centre of South Australia to Billa Kalina Station, which has been in the Greenfield family since 1938. Pastoralist Col Greenfield shares what it's like running a cattle station that is inside the Woomera Prohibited Area, and outside the dog fence.   *This episode was first released in 2021 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information ..read more

Felicity Brown is a milliner whose work has been featured at New York Fashion Week not once, but three times. Twenty years before the bright lights of the big apple called her name, Flic was working in a stock camp in the Northern Territory. In this episode Flic reflects on her time working on cattle stations, even though it was never a part of her plan... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information ..read more

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 with Wayne, where he discusses how he navigated his first major career change at the age of 42. And, as many listeners have been patiently waiting for, we also discuss Wayne’s journey to becoming an accomplished horseman and campdraft competitor. From a time when he almost walked away from the sport, to how he appro ..read more

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, to junior manager in the Victoria River District, and finally, his goal of senior manager in the Kimberley.  Throughout those years he saw the end of BTEC, gained his pilots licence, and had a front row seat to the positive changes the Heytesbury Pastoral boss, Janet Holmes à Court, put in place – not least of ..read more