Giddy Goanna – Farm Safety for Adults & Children

January 12th, 2009

Giddy Goanna is a not-for-profit child safety promoting organisation that began with a focus on farm safety. 6 books have been published – three of which feature farm safety: 1. Farm Safety fun with Giddy Goanna (1995). Written by Pamela Brown and illustrated by Rebecca Berrett. 2. Giddy Goanna – Fun on the Farm (1997). […]

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Alternative Rural News Source – Agmates

January 6th, 2009

Agmates is a source of rural news that has gone unmentioned or only reported from one (very biased) angle, in the mainstream rural newspapers, which have a monopoly in most states. So as Steve Truman describes it, ‘Agmates’ is an alternative news source for rural Australians, in the same way that ‘Crikey’ is an alternative […]

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‘Beaten by a Blow’ – A shearer’s Story

January 3rd, 2009

Dennis McIntosh’s riveting autobiography is well written, funny, thought-provoking and very, very poignant. On top of that, it’s an exceedingly important historical record of shearing life from the 1970s to the early 1980s. It’s these rural cultural aspects that I enjoyed reading about most, because they are almost never discussed. This book deserves a swag […]

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AACo sale of properties to Primary Holdings International

December 31st, 2008

On 22 December 2008 the AACo announced that Primary Holdings International were buying 5 AACo stations, and it is speculated to be a cluster of properties located between Queensland’s Cloncurry and the Gulf of Carpentaria. Primary Holdings International is a bit of a mystery at present, with the PHI website still under construction, and stuff-all […]

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Consolidated Pastoral Company sale

December 31st, 2008

Apparently Consolidated Pastoral Company, the pastoral company (90% owned by Consolidated Press) built up by Kerry Packer since the initial purchase of Newcastle Waters station in 1983, is on the market for $425 million. James Packer and family wouldn’t sell the jewel in the crown, Ellerston, in a fit, however its not yet known which […]

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Ringers from the Top End – Facebook group

December 31st, 2008

Worked with someone on a cattle station you would like to catch up with again, but you have no idea where they live now? I’m often contacted by people seeking cattle station friends they don’t have contact details for. And there are quite a few people I’d like to catch up with myself – including […]

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Helicopter & Fixed Wing Mustering

December 20th, 2008

The use of helicopters to muster cattle began to increase after the Vietnam War. Helicopters had developed to the extent that they were suitable for mustering (Bells, usually), there were a number of ex-Vietnam pilots looking for flying jobs and the 1970s beef crash meant that stations were looking for new cost-saving strategies to remain […]

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Australian Utes

December 6th, 2008

The ‘utility vehicle’ or ‘ute’, as it has been shortened to, was invented in Australia in 1933.  Utes are called ‘pickup trucks’ in the U.S.   6 & 8 cylinder Holden and Ford 2wd utes have since poured fourth in the thousands, and are still common on farms in southern Australia, along with some relative newcomers […]

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‘Australia’ the film – responding to the critics

December 1st, 2008

The internet is now overflowing with articles written by film critics and journalists, full of innacurate information in regard to the film ‘Australia’. These are people who have supposedly viewed the film, yet they have made basic errors with the plot, geography, historical facts, etc. Unfortunately most people won’t pick up on the errors, unless […]

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‘Australia’ the film opened today (26th Nov)

November 26th, 2008

The film ‘Australia’ opened to the general public today. Wow what a film – fabulous scenery, excellent cinemaphotography, a great story (actually, more than one story), sad scenes (especially the row of little boy’s shoes) and best of all a great laugh. Well worth the 2 hours 45 minutes. I can’t believe that people have […]

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