Tash Ferrif moved from Sydney to North West Queensland to chase cows. She's living the dream.

Tash enjoys the North's social scene and attends local race meets across the district, where she noticed Fashions on the Field (FOTF).

A bit of a fashion lover, Tash decided to give FOTF a go. Despite the nerves, Tash enjoys jumping on the catwalk and has taken home a few wins. She might have even caught the fashions' bug.

More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay.

Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713 or Lachy Smith on 0401168915.

You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au

Or, you can send me an email [email protected]

A country race meet wouldn't be complete without a bustling bookie's ring.

You'll find bookmaker Denis Comerford at every race meet in North West Queensland. No matter the crowd size or the weather, Mr Comerford rarely misses a meet.

Mr Comerford has seen huge changes in his time on course, from full manual recording and teams of five or more per bookmaker, to being at the forefront of introducing technology to the betting ring.

The stories Mr Comerford recalls will give you a good chuckle.

More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay.

Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713 or Lachy Smith on 0401168915.

You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au

Or, you can send me an email [email protected]

Ray Smith is known widely across the racing industry in North West Queensland.

Despite being a steward, in charge of race meetings every weekend and ensuring everyone sticks to the rules, Mr Smith has created friendships in every town he has officiated in.

In the police force for 40 years, it made sense that Mr Smith would become a steward upon retirement from from the Force.

Very recently retired from his role as a race day steward, Mr Smith recalls many stories from his 20 plus years in the racing industry.

More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay.

Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713 or Lachy Smith on 0401168915.

You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au

Or, you can send me an email [email protected]

The initials K.B. are synonymous with country racing in Queensland.

Keith Ballard has been riding for 55(ish) years, celebrating his 70th birthday on race day at Corfield.

He's had over 9,300 race day rides and has well over 1,700 wins.

Keith Ballard is one of the most geniuine blokes you'll ever met, and North West Queensland is privileged to have had him as a leading rider for decades.

After years of snippets of conversations with Keith on race day, it was great to be able to sit down and chat at length about his career as a jockey.

More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay.

Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713 or Lachy Smith on 0401168915.

You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au

Or, you can send me an email [email protected]

Sedan Dip celebrated 75 years in 2023, and it was another brilliant weekend.

Formed in 1948, Sedan Dip Sports and Recreation Club began a race meet. Campdrafting and rodeo was added in later years.

Racing has taken various forms over the years, with the excitement of sprint racing drawing a crowd these days. This year's Sedan Dip Cup was hotly contested.

Events like Sedan Dip don't just happen, it takes hours of hard work from the committee and a lot of forethought by previous committees to ensure continous improvement.

Today we hear from Committee Member Luke Spreadborough and President Jake Webster.

You'll also hear from Tenneil Cody, whose family have strong country racing and Sedan Dip ties, and Shauna Royes, who was one of the first female jockeys and whose grandfather was a founding member of the concept.

Emmy Gallagher tells us what it's like to be a bush sprint jokey, and trainer Troy Gallagher relives winning three consecutive Sedan Dip Cups.

More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay.

Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713 or Lachy Smith on 0401168915.

You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au

Or, you can send me an email [email protected]

More Than Mail will be back next Saturday.

MORE THAN MAIL IS BACK!

It's been a while between episodes, but the wait is over.

Have a listen to catch all the details.

More Than Mail is proudly brought to you by Brodie Agencies, McKinlay.

Contact Jim Brodie on 0427468713 or Lachy Smith on 0401168915.

You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au

Or, you can send me an email [email protected]

It's a big task to bring a State Conference of any description as remote as Julia Creek. But hard work and determination saw the convening comittee get the 2023 ICPA QLD State Conference conference over the line.

Today we hear from those who put in the work to bring it all together, some of the guest speakers who travelled far to deliver their message, local ICPA members who tell us what ICPA gives to them, and Julia Creek's newest Life Member.

We also hear from those ICPA is all about - the kids.

Find out more about the ICPA.

Find out more about Julia Creek ICPA.

You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au

Or, you can send me an email [email protected]

Julia Creek played host the 2023 QLD ICPA State Conference. And after talking all things education advocacy in Ep. 20 | Advocating for education with Kimberley Wilson, I went along to see what it was all about.

In More Than Mail's first two part podcast, I speak to the organisers of the Conference, local ICPA members - current and past, and hear from State Concillors, as well as some special guests.

I knew very little about ICPA and so we go back to basics, and hear from a lot of passionate people.

Isolated Children's education is in good hands.

Find out more about the ICPA.

Find out more about Julia Creek ICPA.

You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au

Or, you can send me an email [email protected]

More Than Mail will be back on Thursday.

Educating kids in regional and rural Australia requires policy makers to understand the different and specific needs of the children learning.

From maintaining teacher accommodation to internet accessibility, education can look very different in the country. And that's where the Isolated Children's Parents' Association (ICPA) comes in.

Kimberley Wilson from Rutchillo Station is the current Julia Creek ICPA President, and a passionate advocate for education across the board.

When I caught up with Kimberley she was busy working on the upcoming ICPA State Conference, to be hosted in Julia Creek.

We talked about education, wet season shenanigans, heading to boarding school in year one, volunteering, the importance of art and craft and living with loss.

Find out more about the ICPA.

Find out more about Julia Creek ICPA.

You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au

Or, you can send me an email [email protected]

Carol Real and husband Don took up Carodon in 1968, drawing it in a ballot.

Originally part of Eulolo, Carodon had very little infrastructure when the Reals moved there, and so they literally had to start from scratch.

After 51 years, the Reals sold Carodon in 2019 and moved to Mt Isa.

The postcode changed three times while the Reals were at Carodon, receiving their mail orginally from the Gilliat post office (postcode 4830), then from McKinlay post office (postcode 4816) and finally Julia Creek post office (postcode 4823).

Carol tells me Carodon was hard work, but a lot of fun at the same time.

You can follow More Than Mail adventures on Instagram, on Facebook, or at morethanmail.com.au

Or, you can send me an email [email protected]

More Than Mail will be back on Thursday.