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 sometimes walking on, crocodiles, to settling in the Northern Territory as a cattle truck driver. Paddy sure has lived life to the fullest. As you can imagine, there was no way we could fit his whole story into one episode, so keep your ears out for more in the coming months.

 

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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 impact it had on her life, and those around her. Tammy also shares how it all came to a head, and how she changed her life.

There were many hard lessons she learnt along the way, and she does not hold back in this episode.

Tammy and her team at Top End Leadership are dedicated to 'Setting Leaders and Teams in Agriculture up for Success.' We do this through customised face-to-face and online workshops, self-paced online programs, while offering tailored mentoring and coaching services. With our focus on practical leadership and communication skills across the three key areas of Leading—Self, Others, and Teams—we equip Leaders with the tools to build their confidence in being the leader that they aspire to be, enabling them to build high-functioning teams. Learn more at https://topendleadership.com/

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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

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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...

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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 approaches the mental side of competition, and his future goals, there is something we can all learn from Wayne in this episode.

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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 all the introduction of paid positions for managers wives. 

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For the longest time, Wayne Bean just wanted to get ahead. To achieve his career goal of managing a cattle station, to have his own land, and the time to pursue his passion for horses.

And, spoiler alert, he has, by all definitions, gotten ahead. After two decades of managing stations for Heytesbury Pastoral, these days he spends his time on his own property, breeding and training horses for the sport of campdrafting, (of which he is a formidable competitor).

So, when you see him, it’s easy to focus on the flash horse trailer, beautiful horses, and impressive scores in the campdraft arena.

What you don’t see is the 30 plus years of hard work, patience and sacrifice Wayne has put in alongside his wife, Rachel, to get to where he is today.

This episode is Part 1 of our chat with Wayne – where he shares stories from the early years of being a stockman with a young family, just trying to get ahead in life.

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This is Part 2 of our chat with Willie Cook. If you haven’t listened to Part 1, go back and listen to it first – trust me – you don’t want to listen to these episodes back to front – and yes, I know some of you do that…

In this episode, Willie shares what it was really like being filmed for the tv series Outback Ringer, and what he thought about the final product.

He also speaks candidly about the challenges he faced in 2023, and how its impacted his plans for 2024.

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Willie Cook is known for being the bull-catching, helicopter-flying Kiwi from the ABC tv series “Outback Ringer”.

He first came on the podcast in 2022, when he shared the incredible story of how the 2008 Global Financial Crisis saw his family lose absolutely everything they had, resulting in moving to Australia for a fresh start.

I caught up with Willie in late 2023, and we yarned for so long that I had to split our chat into 2 parts.

In this part, Willie gives us a lesson on catching wild bulls and water buffalo – the logistics, the technique and the psychology involved

In Part 2, Willies shares stories from his time being filmed for the television series “Outback Ringer”. He also speaks candidly about the challenges he faced in 2023, and what he’s got planned for 2024.

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Bill Tapp wanted to be the next Cattle King of Australia, and for a time he was.

In this episode, Toni Tapp Coutts shares the story of a man who was a pioneer, a visionary, a dreamer. A man who turned Killarney Station from a bare block to one of several thriving cattle properties.

But, as his empire grew, so did Bill’s battle with alcoholism. While the empire he worked so hard to build would eventually crumble, his legacy remains strong.

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