Tanya Heaslip

Possibly, but as kids, we didn't know that.

They just sort of came from everywhere.

But where we were, the majority were local stockmen, although there were some that came and went from all over.

But it's interesting, they'd come out there and nobody talked about their background.

I did not, as a child, know the background of any of the stockmen other than our one, this wonderful guy, Charlie Gurry.

We knew he came from Queensland and he seemed really old, but he wasn't that much older than us.

They were mostly silent but very good men.

Tell me about one of them called Tommy Burroughs.

Oh, God, Tommy was a great stockman.

He had a terrible horse accident, injured his brain, was never the same.

And so all the cattle stations around Alice took it in turns, taking him on for a couple of months and letting him come into the stock camp and helping.

But he was a shocker.

He'd chase us kids because we wouldn't eat his rabbit stew because it was always off.

And he'd get the fry pan and go, you kids, and he'd run down the flat after us.

What do you mean rabbit stew that was off?

How off are we talking about here?

We're talking very off.

We're talking maggots.

We'd run out of beef, so he caught a rabbit.

We're in the stock camp, and we had rabbit stew quite a few nights, and he was that wild because we wouldn't eat the last of his rabbit stew.