Caroline Ashby is one of Australia’s toughest athletes.

She’s completed 10 Ironman triatholan events, qualifying for the World Championships 4 times, and been ranked in the top 1% of Ironman athletes across the world several times.

Caroline has accomplished all of this while raising a family on a livestock and cropping farm in Western Australia – far from any traditional training facilities.

Her training regime consists of swimming laps in a dam, riding her bike alongside roadtrains, and literally running around the farms gravel tracks.

And this isn’t a story about an athlete who grew up in the city and moved to the country for love – Caroline was raised on a sheep and cattle station 3 hours from Broken Hill, with no regular access to sports lessons or facilities.

So, how did this bush kid fall in love with athletics? And, what motivated her to pursue it at the highest level when she was living in the middle of nowhere?

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Born and raised in the Northern Territory, Toni Tapp Coutts has had a varied career, from working on cattle stations, to owning a variety store in Borroloola, a dress boutique in Katherine, being a Town Councillor, CEO, Author, and most recently becoming a Real Estate agent. Not to mention, she fought breast cancer and won.

As you’ll hear in this episode, Toni is a strong, resilient, Territory woman.

She’s also written 2 best selling memoirs; one about her childhood on Killarney Station, and the other about the years she and her husband managed MacArthur River Station in the Gulf.

Think of this episode as just scratching the surface on the mountain of amazing stories Toni has to tell, all of which you can find in her books.

She’s agreed to come back on the show for a few more episodes, so keep your ears out for them.

This episode was recorded a few days before Christmas 2023, so we started off with a Christmas story…

 

 

 

 

 

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When Connie Wood came off her horse and knocked her head, she initially thought not much of it. She hadn’t been doing anything particularly wild or dangerous in the moments leading up to the fall, it was just like any other day on her quiet, dependable horse.

What Connie would go on to experience was no bump on the head – it was, in fact, a significant brain injury.

In this episode, Connie recounts what she can remember of her accident, the unexpected aspects of her recovery, and we discuss the age old sticking point – can you wear a helmet in Northern Australia for extended periods of time without risking heat stroke?

If her voice sounds familiar, it’s because Connie is no stranger to this podcast – this is actually her 5th time on the show, so make sure you go and check out her other episodes.

Earlier in this episode I mentioned a condition that can occur from multiple head knocks and concussions. For anyone who would like to go and read more on it, it’s called Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and it is a brain disorder likely caused by repeated head injuries. It causes the death of nerve cells in the brain, known as degeneration. It gets worse over time. The only way to definitively diagnosis CTE is after death during an autopsy of the brain.

This episode isn’t intended to advocate for whether or not to wear a helmet – but as always, it’s up to each of us to weigh up the risks, and I hope no one feels socially pressured to avoid using one.

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[Reposted episode, recorded in 2021]

In December 2010, Jodie and Hamish McTaggart were looking forward to the chance to sit back and relax for a few days. The family property, Bidgemia Station, was in the worst drought on record, and the newlyweds had been working flat out all year to look after their cattle.

So, when news of rain in the forecast came through the Bush Telegraph, the sense of relief and joy was palpable.

However, those feelings were to be short lived, as floodwaters began to exceed anything experienced in the stations’ 130 years.

What happened next was both catastrophic, and the literal definition of a water-shed moment.

In this episode, both Jodie and Hamish recount their experience of the flood, 10 years later.

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In our last episode, Garry Riggs shared yarns from his early days growing up on cattle stations in the 60’s and 70’s. This episode is the second part of that conversation, and let’s just say I was not expecting to hear about lions, or UFO’s… but, as we heard in part 1 – Garry’s childhood was anything but ordinary.

I’ll be heading out to Lakefield Station over the wet season to record more of Garry’s story, so stay tuned for more episodes.

To start this episode though, Garry recalled just one of the times he’s been bitten by a snake…

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Station kids aren’t regular kids. What I mean, is that they are, more often than not, fiercely independent and impressively resourceful. And that is a recipe for adventure.

Garry Riggs is no exception here. He spent his childhood on remote properties across Northern Australia, with the sort of freedom most of us would lament only occurred “back in the good old days”. He’s had his fair share of adventures, including a number of close calls with snakes, motorbikes, horses, motorcars, and even deadly fevers.

Today, Garry owns Lakefield Station in the Northern Territory, where we recorded this episode. His journey from station kid to station owner is absolutely jam-packed with ripper yarns, and this episode is just Part 1 of several we’re going to be recording with Garry.

 

 

 

 

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When Ned McCord was a little boy, all he wanted to do was be among the stockmen working cattle.

And for the most part, that was his reality, until his father experienced a serious and debilitating illness which saw the family separated, and Ned sent to a town school.

He eventually made his way to the newly established Emerald Pastoral College in hopes of getting back on the land. Little did he know that the one class he thought to be the least relevant of his studies – first aid – would become his most important skill set.

In this episode Ned, he looks back on his early years and tells an incredible story involving a lightning strike on a Northern Territory cattle station.

 

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Tony Williams left home at the age of 16 to work on Nilpinna Station for his childhood idol Jimmy Nunn. That was almost 50 years ago.

Today, Tony is in his 40th year as the manager of Mt Barry Station, near the town of Coober Pedy in SA. In this episode, he shares yarns from the past 5 decades and what he has learnt along the way about life, love, and loss.

 

 

 

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Aticia Grey is best known for her team of working dogs and their adventures on her family’s cattle station in the Pilbara region of WA.

Given her cult following on social media, appearance on the ABC’s tv show “Muster Dogs” and release of a book by the same name, you’d be forgiven for thinking she’s been working with dogs her whole life.

But, that’s not the case.

In this episode Aticia tells the story of how she became the first person in her family, and local region, to use a team of working dogs on a cattle station.

A few months ago, Aticia and I had our first children just a week apart, and we recorded this episode while nursing our bubs, so you’ll notice there’s a few ad breaks and sound effects!

 

 

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Lamboo Station is unlike any of the other cattle station’s we’ve spoken about on this podcast.

Located just south of Halls Creek in the Kimberley region, Lamboo is owned by the Ngunjiwirri Aboriginal Corporation (NAC) on behalf of the Jaru people. The property was purchased in 1994 by the (then) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) through the WA Aboriginal Lands Trust (ALT) and handed over to the local people in the same year.

At the time of the purchase of Lamboo Station, the primary focus of the WA Government was to provide land for the Jaru people on which to live, rather than as a business enterprise. Little attention was paid to the standard of infrastructure or the number and quality of the cattle that were included in the sale.

For almost 30 years the Ngunjiwirri Aboriginal Corporation has been trying to turn Lamboo into a viable pastoral enterprise, and it hasn’t been smooth sailing.

In today’s episode I am speaking with Darrylin Gordon, who, quite frankly, is one of the most admirable, inspiring people that I know. Every time I catch up with Darrylin I find myself sitting in awe at her resilient nature, and the strength and conviction with which she speaks.

Darrylin is a Jaru woman who grew up on Lamboo and is the current station manager. Darrylin came on the podcast to share some of her personal story, the story of Lamboo, and the challenges and triumphs that lay ahead.

 

 

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