Central Station - True Stories from Outback Australia

Succession is one of the biggest challenges facing families on the land.

It’s about much more than who takes over the keys. It’s about knowing when to step aside, when to step up, and finding a way to honour what the generations before have built while still allowing the next generation to make it their own.

Emma Foulkes-Taylor has experienced succession from both sides.

As with so many of our guests, there’s a lot I could have asked Emma about – too much to fit into just one episode – so for this conversation I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of having someone who was willing to talk about succession.

So, today you’ll hear about her early years at Yuin Station and what she’s learnt through experiencing succession from both sides. And Emma, if you’re listening - I will be back to record more of your story - especially now that I know how to get to Yuin!

This episode is proudly brought to you by the Shire of Murchison, in celebration of 2026 being the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1929, the Foulkes-Taylor family purchased Yuin Station in Western Australia's Southern Murchison. Nearly a century later, the property remains in family hands—a remarkable achievement in an industry where the only constant has been change.

Over almost 100 years, Yuin has weathered droughts, floods, wild dogs, government policy and shifting markets. The family has adapted from wool to meat sheep, embraced new technologies that transformed everything from communication to mustering, and continually evolved the way they care for both livestock and the landscape. Pastoralism today looks vastly different to what it did when the Foulkes-Taylors first arrived.

In this episode, Rossco Foulkes-Taylor reflects on the generations who came before him, sharing family stories and m emories that have been passed down through the decades. We also explore the challenges and decisions that have shaped more recent years, the lessons learned from nearly a century on the land, and what the future might hold for both Yuin Station and the next generation of the Foulkes-Taylor family.

This episode is proudly brought to you by the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists West Australian committee, in partnership with the Southern Rangelands Pastoral Alliance, and Regional Development Australia Midwest and Gascoyne.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A governess meets a handsome jackeroo, they fall in love and move onto the family station. It sounds like a fairytale, or perhaps a Mills & Boon novel, but for Raelene Hall, it wasn’t quite that simple.

For over 40 years, she’s carried a quiet feeling that she didn’t quite belong. That she somehow didn’t measure up to who and what a station owners wife should be. That she wasn’t a legitimate bush woman.

This is a story about finding her voice, finding her place, and, eventually, learning to back herself.

This episode is proudly brought to you by the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists West Australian committee, in partnership with the Southern Rangelands Pastoral Alliance, and Regional Development Australia Midwest and Gascoyne.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Addressing the United Nations about women in pastoralism is a long way from day-to-day life on a station in the Southern Rangelands of Western Australia. But that’s exactly where Debbie Dowden has found herself — one of three women from around the world invited to take the stage in Mongolia and share her perspective on pastoralism.

We first heard from Debbie on the podcast back in 2022. Since then, Debbie and her husband have made the difficult decision to sell Challa Station, bringing more than 130 years of family ownership to an end. But leaving the station hasn’t meant leaving pastoralism behind. In this episode, we talk about Debbie’s involvement in the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, what’s happened with wild dogs since we last spoke, and the book she’s written about her experiences on the land.

This episode is proudly brought to you by the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists West Australian committee, in partnership with the Southern Rangelands Pastoral Alliance, and Regional Development Australia Midwest and Gascoyne.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Addressing the United Nations about women in pastoralism is a long way from day-to-day life on a station in the Southern Rangelands of Western Australia. But that’s exactly where Debbie Dowden has found herself — one of three women from around the world invited to take the stage in Mongolia and share her perspective on pastoralism.

We first heard from Debbie on the podcast back in 2022. Since then, Debbie and her husband have made the difficult decision to sell Challa Station, bringing more than 130 years of family ownership to an end. But leaving the station hasn’t meant leaving pastoralism behind. In this episode, we talk about Debbie’s involvement in the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, what’s happened with wild dogs since we last spoke, and the book she’s written about her experiences on the land.

This episode is proudly brought to you by the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists West Australian committee, in partnership with the Southern Rangelands Pastoral Alliance, and Regional Development Australia Midwest and Gascoyne.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In recent episodes, we’ve heard from women who have spent decades on stations, carrying with them generations of family history and a lifetime of knowledge about the rangelands. This episode is a little different.

Sisters Jasmine and Codie Henville are new to the game. In 2025, their family traded the familiar for the unknown, purchasing Cunyu Station near Wiluna. Overnight, they went from being fourth-generation farmers to first-generation pastoralists. They're not drawing on generations of station knowledge—they're building it from the ground up, one lesson at a time.

This episode is proudly brought to you by the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists West Australian committee, in partnership with the Southern Rangelands Pastoral Alliance, and Regional Development Australia Midwest and Gascoyne.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is proudly brought to you by the Shire of Murchison, in celebration of 2026 being the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists.

Meg Officer's journey from Scotland to the Murchison was only ever meant to be temporary. Instead, she found a life, a family and a place that would shape the next 35 years. In this episode we talk about life on Woolgorong Station and why her connection to the region has endured long after she left.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Julia Foulkes-Taylor moved to Yuin Station, she wasn't just moving to a new home—she was stepping into a family with deep roots, a multi-generational pastoral business, and a way of life unlike anything she'd known before.

After studying costume construction, life on a  sheep station wasn't exactly the career path she'd imagined. In this episode, we talk about carving out her own identity in the pastoral industry, blending her passion for clothing construction with inspiration drawn from the landscape she now calls home, and how representing Australia at the Global Gathering of Pastoralist Women challenged her to think more deeply about a surprisingly simple question: what actually is a pastoralist?

It's a conversation about belonging, purpose, and the many different ways people contribute to life on the land.

This episode is proudly brought to you by the Shire of Murchison, in celebration of 2026 being the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode was recorded as part of a Centralian Land Management Association project - which they have kindly shared with our listeners.

In this episode, we hear from John Hagan — someone who knows the Territory not just by map, but by memory.

Over the course of 87 years, John has witnessed the Territory change in ways few others can truly grasp. Raised on cattle stations in the VRD during World War II, he came of age in a time when cattle were still walked thousands of kilometres to market. 

He travelled vast distances across the Territory, Queensland and South Australia as a drover, working first for Peter Sherwin, before later going out on his own.

At just 27 years of age, John stepped into the role of manager at Brunchilly Station, where he spent the next 26 years quietly transforming it into a benchmark operation on the Barkly.

John has spent his life on horseback, in stock camps, and behind the scenes — quietly contributing to the backbone of Australia’s pastoral industry. It’s a story not of fanfare, but of grit, commitment, and deep knowledge earned the hard way.

Red Centre Reflections is a Centralian Land Management Association project, supported by FRRR through funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode was recorded as part of a Centralian Land Management Association project - which they have kindly shared with our listeners

The Hayes family is one of the most iconic and historic in the Northern Territory, and in this episode, we sit down with fourth-generation Territorian, Mickey Hayes.

Born and raised on Undoolya Station, Mickey grew up immersed in the rhythms of station life, following in the footsteps of generations before him. But unlike his father and brothers, Mickey’s journey would eventually lead him beyond the boundaries of the family property. While his bond with the land has remained steadfast, his journey has taken him across Australia and abroad, shaped by a spirit of curiosity, adventure, and taking life as it comes.

To begin our conversation, I invited Mickey to reflect on the early days of the Hayes family and share some of the stories that have helped define their remarkable legacy.

Red Centre Reflections is a Centralian Land Management Association project, supported by FRRR through funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.