Central Station - True Stories from Outback Australia

Everything in Willie Cook’s life was going to plan – he’d met the love of his life, he split his time between flying helicopters and working on his family’s station in the high country of New Zealand, and together with his partner and parents, he’d branched out into his own lease country. And then it all came crashing down. In this episode, Willie shares the story of how the Global Financial Crisi...

Willie Cook is known as the bull-catching, helicopter-flying Kiwi from the ABC tv series “Outback Ringer”. I caught up with Willie at his home in the Adelaide River region of the Northern Territory to hear the incredible story of how he and his young family came to be in Australia. However, that story is coming next week. Today, I’m sharing the very beginning of our chat, where Willie told me abou...

Nikita Morris doesn’t like being called an influencer. But there are tens of thousands of people who avidly follow her every move on social media - captivated by her candid stories about station life and her stunning good looks. But she’s so much more than a pretty face. In this episode, Nikita opens up about love of history, tradition and growing up on ‘Undoolya Station’ - the Northern Terri...

What happens when we are faced with our own mortality, and that of the ones we love? Today’s story is just that, and so much more. It’s a story of trauma, courage, resilience, and vulnerability. It’s the story of Jane and Haydn Sale, who’s lives were changed irrevocably one July morning in 2010, and the road to recovery they walked together. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dave Morrell is a Kimberley icon. In addition to being a brilliant veterinarian, Dave is a brilliant bush poet. He recently released his first, and long awaited book, titled Johnny James and other verses . In this short episode he recites the poem "Walmajarrie Jimmy". See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What could a hitchhiker and a flying doctor have in common? Well, as it turns out, a lot – because in this case, they are one and the same people. Our guest today is Dr Gregory Winterflood – an esteemed doctor who began his medical career in Alice Springs. Even though he was born and raised in Queensland, and practiced medicine around Australia and overseas, he always seemed to find his way back t...

As a child, Jimmy McGlynn’s mother said he had “a lot of character”, but his aunt said he needed a flogging. He wasn’t a naughty kid though, just full of energy that couldn’t be contained within a classroom. So, even though he excelled at school, at the end of year 10 he headed up north to start working on cattle stations. In the years that followed Jimmy progressed through the ranks to leadership...

“When I grow up, I want to be a veterinarian”, said almost every kid, ever. Campbell ‘Cozy’ Costello didn’t think he had what it took to get into veterinary medicine, but life has a funny way of working out. In just over a decade, Cozy has built a career which sees him treating animals across the world. In this episode, he shares the pivotal moments that took him down the path of being a nomad, sh...

Warning:  This episode discusses suicide and may be triggering for some people, so it may be best to listen in the company of support. Veterinarian’s are one of the most loved professionals in Australia – they’re the superhumans who keep our best mates and fur babies healthy, and step up to save them if the unbearable occurs. So, why is it that veterinarians have almost four times t...

Dr Campbell Costello, aka ‘Cozy’, is a jet-setting veterinarian who has practiced not only throughout Australia, but all over the world. In this episode, Cozy reflects on the time he spent 9 months in Kazakhstan, managing a cattle ranch that was being built from scratch. From language barriers and cultural differences, to finding workers drunk on the job before lunch and trying to keep the cattle...

We all have that one friend who is a total larrikin – and for the people of Central Australia, that friend is Ben Hayes. Ben is the fifth generation of the Hayes family on ‘Undoolya Station’, the oldest pastoral lease in the Northern Territory. And while being a steward of the land  and active member of his local community comes with countless responsibilities, Ben doesn’t let them weigh...

Traveling vast distances to access services is second nature for Raine Holcombe – it’s part and parcel with living in the Northern Territory.  Raised on a crocodile farm in the Victoria River district, Raine developed a love for life on the land which eventually saw her running a contracting business with that took her and her husband to cattle stations across the territory. They spent years...

Undoolya Station was the first cattle station in the Northern Territory, and in 2022 it celebrates its 150th birthday. In this episode we sit down with Ben Hayes, who’s family have been at the helm for most of that time. Ben shares insights into life at Undoolya throughout the decades, which the family have learnt about through a collection of detailed diaries and memorabilia.  We also discus...

Tanya Heaslip’s childhood on an outback cattle station in Central Australia was full of adventures and extremes, so it’s no surprise that her first job as a lawyer was the same. The job? Junior Instructing Solicitor for the Crown on the Lindy Chamberlain Inquiry – the inquiry which ultimately saw all convictions against Lindy Chamberlain quashed.  In this episode, Tanya speaks about her...

This episode is titled “10 life lessons learnt from living remotely”, and while the author wrote it about their time living on a remote cattle station, we think that after living similar kind of isolation during COVID, all of us can relate to this episode! The first time Meg lived on a cattle station when she was 18. She didn't work on another station until 10 years later - and realised she s...

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 pr...

Graduating high-school is possibly the greatest pressure faced by young Australians. It's an un-challenged belief that without achieving this milestone you'll be stuck in a dead-end job with no career prospects. But, did you know that the education system hasn't undergone significant changes since before the industrial revolution? We know that everyone learns differently, and there's different way...

Of all the jobs Libby Finlayson imagined herself doing, "Divorce coach" was not on the list. Growing up on a sheep station in the isolated Goldfields region of Western Australia, Libby developed an affinity for horses, livestock, and all things to do with the bush. It's no surprise that she ended up running a farming business with her husband and young family. But, sometimes life has other plans....

In episode 138 we heard the story of the catastrophic flood that saw Bidgemia Station engulfed by floodwater for the first time in it's history. In this episode we are again joined by Hamish & Jodie McTaggart as they share insights into the 1.4 million acre pastoral property which has been in the family for 75 years. We'll hear stories about the early days of Bidgemia and how life has changed...

Central Station [SHORT STORY] episodes bring the stories from our website to life through the authors themselves.  Find the story from this episode here: https://www.centralstation.net.au/the-challa-mustering-ndp/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In last week’s episode Debbie Dowden shared the story of how she found herself living a life she’d never planned on, but at the same time it seemed like everything in her life had been leading her there.  That life was centred around her new husband’s family sheep station in Outback WA. A vast property that had been in the family for over a century, where everyone knew their roles, and had th...

When the term ‘Serendipity' was coined way back in 1754, it was described as “the accident of finding something good without looking”. Debbie Dowden’s life has been shaped by a series serendipitous moments. The fixed-wing pilot was working as a flight theory instructor when her future husband enrolled in her class. In what can only be described as a whirlwind romance, Debbie soon found herself liv...

Central Station [SHORT STORY] episodes bring the stories from our website to life through the authors themselves.  Find the story from this episode here: https://www.centralstation.net.au/till-the-cows-come-home/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 the wool market crashed in 1991 most stations started tran...

It’s a warm summer’s day – you’re standing at a sheep market in a Middle Eastern country as tens of thousands of people descend upon the city in preparation for the upcoming celebration of Eid. The atmosphere is palpable – excitement, joy, and stress – picture your local shopping centre on Christmas eve.   Your job? To communicate the significant rules changes as to how these people can trans...