Cowboy heroes: wild times on Indigenous cattle station | First Nation Farmers Ep3 | ABC Australia

it always keeps on your toes and the ball doesn't understand it I never knew you're not like black fellows and the station man [Music] rally the boys load up the cargo and start your engines this is wild bull catching amid top-end rather than ready occupation that has a wild west feel to it we're searching bushland for scrub balls on 7mu station which skirts the gulf of carpentaria it's magic I'll be it tough country [Music] as the chopper dives and spins erratically hustling the Beast towards the group who are ready to pounce in this small modified rooks that would look at home on a Mad Max set at high speeds they churn through the bushland dodging trees stumps and termite mounds branches swatting low heading towards one angry and determined animal a tradition hailing back to the early 1960s in the Northern Territory where throwing a ball was a common exercise behind the wheel is Clary shad fourth he runs 7mu station after taking over from his dad and grandfather before him like his own offspring he was bull catching from the moment he could walk but they never will take these two hands troubles in that dangerous enough as it is yeah and we think we got it hot but I reckon that a Tata Harris son Francis and white also bear that in aged cattle skill there on school holidays and in their element 14 year-old Francis is the self-confessed bushi of the two and has been earmarked to take over what do you love about it everything a stinging bathin fans and all that is in fencing here the shad fold spare impressive pastoral lineage grandfather William shad Falls in 1953 became the first indigenous person in Australia to own a cattle station the perpetual past release is entirely owned by the family and will remain that way if they have anything to say about it the property was obtained at a story that sings of Australian folklore dad boys 53 the story goes that he went driving on a nice mood and I was bringing back doors and a coffee filled cup to Eclair he came back and back to us and a Melbourne company want him some money with the drove and trippin Melbourne Cup that's a board seventeen he made 10,000 quitting Frank is Willie's son and says it was an extraordinary achievement at a time when discrimination against indigenous people was still rife when you read about Aboriginal history hey you got all of it I don't know that to me I still done Willa's shad fourth died in his late a toots and Frank shad fourth took over running it successfully for many decades he's now passed the mantle to his son why do you got a few balls there a [Music] signal from helicopter pilot Chris Howard and it's on [Applause] closing Newton and tool with an almighty thud that scrub ball is trapped as a hydraulic arm locks at shoulders while the young Stockman desert the reek with pace and face down the beasts on foot their mission to lasso a rope onto the cranky frothing 300 kilogram beast who's none too happy about his predicament [Music] twenty-one-year-old Stockman Edward who key makes it look easy just go with it you know my first ball catch was pretty fun you know adrenaline rush yeah it always keeps showing your toes now the ball doesn't want to stay there all the time well yeah he's been here for about four years and is enjoying being able to pass on his skills to some of the newer recruits I've worked in brahmacari that's very much different quieter cutter and a lot easier to handle stuff but this sort of whack is different you see cattle that's never seen human in their life very feral and then yeah it's a lot fun you know because you learn different ways of [Music] it all seems like a boys own adventure novel this rough-and-ready lifestyle but what Frank and Clarice and forth are doing is really quite remarkable sick of seeing generation after generation come through the welfare cycle they've taken in hundreds of young people over the years giving them station work teaching them basic life and stockman skills and helping to turn their lives around I've been doing it for a fair while and the problem is I think a lot of people who lose a lot of families don't like looking after kids I think they just get caught up with what's happening there technology or whatever you like to call it and I like to be in town they don't live the normal life normal because there's too much drugs and you see it it makes you sad really and I think a lot of people should stop we wonder why we got stupid kids because the parents and you know our parents but I mean other parents should spend more time with your kids and trying educate kids doesn't matter who what kid it is they take a tough love approach and are not a recognized or formal program they get no funding for the venture and kids come to them through word-of-mouth it doesn't matter any it's any sort of kid have to be work and know none of this weekend business seven days a week to do two three weeks or six week and you let them go for a week and they come back and they enjoyed them many of their young Chargers have gone on to work on other stations and make a successful life in the industry there's a few good ones in them they stick it out for a while but it's just you know good to do someone I suppose just a help in life with yeah 18 year old Zane Butler is one of those kids he's from allies are in Northwest Queensland and has been working on 70 Mia property for a few weeks I've been on parole since I was 13 I think robberies relays yeah this court P oppressor enough yeah he just wishes who'd found Frank and Clary earlier a father got out and space and younger man I'd have been a hard-working man and he's in or the indigenous men who've taken him under their wing oh yeah this I never knew you know like black olives and the station that sit as the Sun starts to fade we're still out in the bush it'll be at least a 12-hour day for the boys it's hard in many ways relentless life but the beauty is profound a setting it's any wonder inspires change in people a legacy now tracking six decades that Frank shad fourth hopes continues well beyond his tenure I just hope to Christ have the nerve to keep carry on I think they will carry on the way we are terrible the staying power the resilience of it yeah just keep going cuz my dad I mean one layer proud of me out there grandfather and you know it's something that we should be really yeah you shouldn't sell it just because of what he doesn't know I mean he's one in a million I suppose in a sense yeah to get to a where he's in the habit for so long and that's the legacy I'd like to see its carried on [Applause] a station that merges a fine line between a deep-rooted respect for culture intertwined with common sense and good old-fashioned grounding with saving young lives and making real change

Channel: ABC Australia

Views: 625,405

Rating: 4.759737 out of 5

Keywords: ABC, Australia, ABC Australia, Indigenous, Aboriginal, bush, discrimination, Northern Territory, outback, sustainable, cattle farming in australia, cattle property, proper cattle handling, outback wrangler, outback cattle station, outback cattle muster, outback station life, outback station australia, indigenous cattle, Indigenous station, indigenous farming practices, indigenous farming methods, indigenous farming australia, First Nation Farmers, ABC Landline

Id: 3EzBxkvxD74

Length: 10min 48sec (648 seconds)

Published: Fri May 15 2020