Central Station - True Stories from Outback Australia
Episodes
John Hagan - Red Centre Reflections
15 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode was recorded as part of a Centralian Land Management Association project - which they have kindly shared with our listeners. In this epis...
Mickey Hayes - Red Centre Reflections
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode was recorded as part of a Centralian Land Management Association project - which they have kindly shared with our listeners The Hayes fam...
Gaynor Cleary - Red Centre Reflections
08 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode was recorded as part of a Centralian Land Management Association project - which they have kindly shared with our listeners In this episo...
Cameron Chalmers - Red Centre Reflections
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode was recorded as part of a Centralian Land Management Association project - which they have kindly shared with our listeners The pioneerin...
Di Martin - Red Centre Reflections
01 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode was recorded as part of a Centralian Land Management Association project - which they have kindly shared with our listeners In this episo...
Gil Bowman - Red Centre Reflections
28 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode was recorded as part of a Centralian Land Management Association project - which they have kindly shared with our listeners In this episo...
Tony and Pam Davis - Red Centre Reflections
25 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode was recorded as part of a Centralian Land Management Association project - which they have kindly shared with our listeners In this episo...
Steve and Bec Cadzow - Red Centre Reflections
21 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode was recorded as part of a Centralian Land Management Association project - which they have kindly shared with our listeners In this episo...
Col Stanton - Red Centre Reflections
18 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode was recorded as part of a Centralian Land Management Association project - which they have kindly shared with our listeners In this episo...
Gary Prior - Red Centre Reflections
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
*This episode was recorded as part of a Centralian Land Management Association project - which they have kindly shared with our listeners* In this epi...
David Bird - Red Centre Reflections
12 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
*This episode was recorded as part of a Centralian Land Management Association project - which they have kindly shared with our listeners* In this epi...
Libby Gooch - Sink or Swim [Voices of the Gascoyne]
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is part of a mini-series produced for the Gascoyne Catchment’s Group, who have kindly allowed me to share it with you. I hope you e...
Jos & Jenny Percy - From Wandina to Williambury [Voices of the Gascoyne]
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
**This episode is part of a mini-series produced for the Gascoyne Catchment’s Group, who have kindly allowed me to share it with you. I hope you...
Chris & Tim D'Arcy - The Lyndon Legacy [Voices of the Gascoyne]
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
**This episode is part of a mini-series produced for the Gascoyne Catchment’s Group, who have kindly allowed me to share it with you. I hope you...
Mick & Winsome Hearman - Treasured Memories from Middalya [Voices of the Gascoyne]
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
**This episode is part of a mini-series produced for the Gascoyne Catchment’s Group, who have kindly allowed me to share it with you. I hope you...
Jane & Lochy McTaggart - A big life at Bidgemia [Voices of the Gascoyne]
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
**This episode is part of a mini-series produced for the Gascoyne Catchment’s Group, who have kindly allowed me to share it with you. I hope you...
Margot Steadman - Sliding doors led me to Dalgety Downs - [Voices Of The Gascoyne]
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
**This episode is part of a mini-series produced for the Gascoyne Catchment’s Group, who have kindly allowed me to share it with you. I hope you...
In loving memory of Peter Ritter [Repost of Episode 144]
10 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On July 25, 2024, a tragic helicopter mustering accident claimed the lives of Peter Ritter and Gavin U’Ren. It was a privilege it was to not just kn...
Garry Riggs (Part 4) - Mercenaries and mid-air emergencies
01 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome back to our fourth episode with Garry Riggs from Lakefield Station in the Territory. When we last left Garry, he had just wrapped up his time ...
Garry Riggs (Part 3) - Blina and Calwynyardah adventures
17 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome back to our third episode with Garry Riggs from Lakefield Station in the Territory. In his first two episodes, Garry shared tales from his adv...
Munro Hardy (Part 4) - A licence to learn
03 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When Munro Hardy said he wanted to be a pilot, his year 11 careers advisor shut down the idea pretty quickly. So, Munro filed the idea in the back of ...
Ashley Dowden - Triumph after tragedy [Repost]
10 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One moment can change your entire life. Ashley Dowden learnt that lesson at age 11, when he survived an accident that claimed his mothers life and lef...
Pip Bain (Part 2) - Taking the long way around [Repost]
15 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The first year out of school is equally exciting and terrifying – you’re considered an adult by society, and with that comes both freedoms and res...
Pip Bain (Part 1) - Memories of my mother & Mt Clere Station [Repost]
08 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The time we spend with people and places doesn’t determine the impact they can have on our lives. That is so very true for todays guest, Pip Bain. A...
Nick Ormsby - Self made
01 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Nick Ormsby has flipped the script on what it means to be a "high school dropout". Despite leaving school at just 14 and having his teachers tell him ...
Paddy Heatley (Part 1) - A story like no other
25 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 lear...
Tammy Kruckow - A hard lesson to learn
12 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Col Greenfield - Life inside the Woomera Prohibited Area, and outside the Dog Fence [Repost]
04 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Steph travels to the centre of South Australia to Billa Kalina Station, which has been in the Greenfield family since 1938. Pastorali...
Felicity Brown - Tales from a 1990's stockcamp [Repost]
26 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Wayne Bean (Part 3) - A change of career and time for horses
19 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Wayne Bean (Part 2) - The Heytesbury years
12 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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....
Wayne Bean (Part 1) - Just trying to get ahead
05 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Willie Cook (Part 2) - Filming "Outback Ringer", and facing an uncertain future head on
29 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Willie Cook (Part 1) - Catching Wild Bulls & Water Buffalo 101
22 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Toni Tapp Coutts - Bill Tapp, The Cattle King
15 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Caroline Ashby - Training for Ironman Triathlons in the Outback
08 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Caroline Ashby is one of Australia’s toughest athletes. She’s completed 10 Ironman triatholan events, qualifying for the World Championships 4 tim...
Toni Tapp Coutts - Shaped by the Territory
25 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 Bor...
Connie Wood - When it's not "just a bump on the head"
18 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Hamish & Jodie McTaggart - The catastrophic Christmas flood of 2010 [Repost]
12 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
[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 d...
Garry Riggs (Part 2) - Snakes, Lions, and a UFO in the Kimberley
05 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 p...
Garry Riggs (Part 1) - The adventures (and misadventures) of a bush kid
27 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Ned McCord - First aid for a lightning strike
20 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Tony Williams - Life, love and loss on the Oodnadatta Track [Repost]
13 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 i...
Aticia Grey - The road to Pilbara Working Dogs
26 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 cu...
Darrylin Gordon - The long road to Lamboo [Repost]
03 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Stu Barker and Brett Otley - Working with feral animals
18 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to a special bonus episode. For those of you who don’t know, I am due to have my first child in July – so by the time you’re listening t...
Danny Hayes (Part 2) - The luckiest man alive?
13 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In our last episode, Danny Hayes shredd yarns from his childhood on cattle stations and some of the things he's learned from his 30 year career as a m...
Danny Hayes (Part 1) – Yarns from a long-time Chopper Pilot
29 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You can’t live and work in the Northern Territory and not have a story or two to tell. So, imagine how many stories Danny Hayes must have, having fl...
Rebecca Cadzow - The decision to downsize [Repost]
14 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With two cattle stations in the Northern Territory, a cattle property in Queensland, and a helicopter business, Rebecca and Steven Cadzow were in the ...
Tracey Hayes - Adapting to change to thrive, not just survive
12 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Tracey Hayes is best known for her role as the first female CEO of the Northern Territory Cattleman’s Association. But, it was a role she never inte...
Khory Hancock - No longer the "Environmental Cowboy"
26 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Khory Hancock knows what it's like to live in two different worlds at the same time. An environmental scientist by trade, Khory was born and raised on...
Tips for station newbies (let's talk about sex) [Repost]
13 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Apologies for not posting an episode for so long! As the count down to the podcast baby gets shorter and shorter, I have been "making hay while the su...
Munro Hardy (Part 3) - Connecting the dots, looking back
09 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Munro Hardy's pathway to his current career has not been straight forward. After a gap year around Australia saw him fall in love with agriculture (Ep...
Munro Hardy (Part 2) - Live export, Contract mustering, and THAT Egypt story
09 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As promised, here is part 2 of our chat with Munro Hardy. While he's only 35 years young, holy hatbox he has managed to fit a lot into a short space o...
[SNEAK PEEK] The time Munro Hardy kind of got kidnapped in Egypt...
01 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today I’ve got something a bit special for you – as you would have heard in Part 1 – Munro Hardy has had many adventures in his life so far. Whe...
Gus and Kim McKay – Travelling 40,000 km to start a family
24 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Starting a family is no longer as simple as meeting a partner and falling in love. I’m not sure if fertility challenges are becoming more common, or...
Munro Hardy (Part 1) - A gap year to remember
10 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Munro Hardy has been a busy man. At just 35 years old, Munro’s career has taken him from fencing croc-infested rivers in the Top End, to mustering c...
Nathan Dyer - The assignment? Adventure!
27 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Nathan Dyer has found himself in some crazy situations, in the most remote parts of Australia... on assignment. The job? Freelance journalist and phot...
Annabelle Coppin - Bringing her Paddock to Plate dream to life
14 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Since Annabelle Coppin was a child, she wanted people to eat the beef her family raised on their Pilbara cattle station. But, simply selling cattle to...
Fostering Indigenous children in the outback
27 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Would you ever take in a child that wasn’t your own? If you’re imagining a relative, or a friend’s child - the answer might be a simple, straigh...
Matt and Connie Wood - Their first year at Wave Hill Station
13 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When Wave Hill Station was sold in a $104 million dollar deal, Jumbuck Pastoral and its consortium of partners became the 4th ever owner of the iconic...
Natalie Bell & Jess Di Pasquale - The Mongol Derby that didn't go to plan
01 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The adventure of a lifetime, two best mates, riding side by side in the wild landscape of Mongolia. When Jess and Nat entered the world’s toughest h...
Shane "Lochy" O'Loughlin - How the Kimberley turned a boy into a man
06 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Shane “Lochy” O’Loughlin arrived in the Kimberley at the age of 16. He’d already left both home and school at the age of 12, and now he had so...
Chico Shaw - From an orphanage in Brazil to Bondi Beach and the Outback (Part 2)
02 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is Part 2 of our chat with Chico Shaw. If you haven't listened to Part 1, stop now and go back. In Part 1, Chico shared the story of h...
Chico Shaw - From an orphanage in Brazil to Bondi Beach and the Outback (Part 1)
21 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1987 a mechanic found a baby boy abandoned on the streets in Brazil. Today, that baby boy is a grown man living and working on a cattle statio...
Claudia Hiscox - Managing my mental health in the middle of nowhere
14 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This episode contains discussions about anxiety, depression, eating disorders and self-harm. It may be best to listen in the support of company, or sk...
Ian 'Rocky' Rockwell and Rob Mann - The trip that changed our lives
08 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 2002, Ian ‘Rocky’ Rockwell took a group of year 11 students from Sydney to Alice Springs for an “adventure”. The kids were to trek the Lara...
Olivia Thompson - The kickboxing, cattle station selling, cowgirl who learnt to walk again
31 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 2022, Olivia Thompson sold 3 cattle stations in the Northern Territory. Those 3 properties exceeded 1 million hectares combined. It’s a world awa...
Haydn Sale - Opportunity knocks but once [Repost]
25 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Haydn Sale manages one the largest aggregations of cattle and land in northern Australia – but chances are, you’ve never heard of him. Unlike...
Anika Molesworth - Electric cars in the outback, and cultivating climate courage
10 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Anika Molesworth is a farmer, scientist, and storyteller. And she's on a mission to cultivate climate courage. In an incredibly short period of time, ...
Tom & Annabel Curtain - Turning the hard times into adventures
03 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Golden-guitar winning Tom Curtain and his incredible wife and business partner, Annabel, were our guests on the very first episode of this podcast way...
Ashley Dowden - A stickybeak into Challa Station
26 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Back in episodes 150, 151 and 156, we heard the stories of Debbie and Ashley Dowden from Challa Station in the southern rangelands of WA.Now, two of t...
Tourists do the darnedest things [Best Of]
19 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
TouristsWhere do I begin? Tourists are part and parcel of life in the outback. And, while some are worth their weight in gold, others make life just&n...
Robbie Schmidt - The people and places who have shaped my life
12 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Robbie Schmidt is a self-confessed ratbag. The Alice Springs identity spent his formative years traveling between large properties in South...
Renee McBryde - Working in Child Protection to break the cycle
05 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
So often, stories about outback Australia revolve around people working on the land. But, not everyone who lives in the outback wears a big hat a...
Willie Cook - Before 'Outback Ringer' (Part 2)
28 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Everything in Willie Cook’s life was going to plan – he’d met the love of his life, he split his time between flying helicopters and working on ...
Willie Cook - Before 'Outback Ringer' (Part 1)
22 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Willie Cook is known as the bull-catching, helicopter-flying Kiwi from the ABC tv series “Outback Ringer”. I caught up with Willie at his home in ...
Nikita Morris - In real life
08 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nikita Morris doesn’t like being called an influencer. But there are tens of thousands of people who avidly follow her every move on social media - ...
Jane & Haydn Sale - Facing your own mortality [Repost]
01 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when we are faced with our own mortality, and that of the ones we love?Today’s story is just that, and so much more. It’s a story of ...
Walmajarrie Jimmy - Recited by Dr Dave Morrell [Poem]
31 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dave Morrell is a Kimberley icon. In addition to being a brilliant veterinarian, Dave is a brilliant bush poet. He recently released his first, and lo...
Dr Gregory Winterflood - The hitchhiker who became a Flying Doctor
25 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What could a hitchhiker and a flying doctor have in common?Well, as it turns out, a lot – because in this case, they are one and the same people.Our...
Jimmy McGlynn - A Traumatic Brain Injury, Broken Back, and giving up alcohol
18 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As a child, Jimmy McGlynn’s mother said he had “a lot of character”, but his aunt said he needed a flogging. He wasn’t a naughty kid though, j...
Dr Campbell 'Cozy' Costello - The nomadic flying vet
11 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
“When I grow up, I want to be a veterinarian”, said almost every kid, ever.Campbell ‘Cozy’ Costello didn’t think he had what it took to get ...
Dr Campbell Costello - The crises plaguing the Australian veterinary industry
04 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Warning: This episode discusses suicide and may be triggering for some people, so it may be best to listen in the company of support.Veteri...
Dr Campbell 'Cozy' Costello - Training cowboys in Kazakhstan
27 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Campbell Costello, aka ‘Cozy’, is a jet-setting veterinarian who has practiced not only throughout Australia, but all over the world.In this ep...
Ben Hayes - The mischief maker with a heart of gold
20 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We all have that one friend who is a total larrikin – and for the people of Central Australia, that friend is Ben Hayes.Ben is the fifth generation ...
Raine Holcombe - The long road to a DQ Alpha diagnosis
14 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Traveling vast distances to access services is second nature for Raine Holcombe – it’s part and parcel with living in the Northern Territory. ...
Ben Hayes - Undoolya is the oldest cattle station in the Northern Territory
01 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Undoolya Station was the first cattle station in the Northern Territory, and in 2022 it celebrates its 150th birthday.In this episode we sit down with...
Tanya Heaslip - My first job was the Lindy Chamberlain inquiry
23 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Tanya Heaslip’s childhood on an outback cattle station in Central Australia was full of adventures and extremes, so it’s no surprise that her firs...
10 lessons learnt from living in remote parts of Australia [Repost]
16 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is titled “10 life lessons learnt from living remotely”, and while the author wrote it about their time living on a remote cattle sta...
Ashley Dowden - Triumph after tragedy
09 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
One moment can change your entire life. Ashley Dowden learnt that lesson at age 11, when he survived an accident that claimed his mothers life and lef...
Evan Casey - Learning outside the classroom
02 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Graduating high-school is possibly the greatest pressure faced by young Australians. It's an un-challenged belief that without achieving this mileston...
Libby Finlayson - Rebuilding after a shock divorce
25 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Of all the jobs Libby Finlayson imagined herself doing, "Divorce coach" was not on the list.Growing up on a sheep station in the isolated Goldfields r...
Hamish & Jodie McTaggart - The Past, Present & Future of Bidgemia Station
18 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 138 we heard the story of the catastrophic flood that saw Bidgemia Station engulfed by floodwater for the first time in it's history. In th...
The Challa Mustering NDP [Short Story]
13 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Central Station [SHORT STORY] episodes bring the stories from our website to life through the authors themselves. Find the story from this episod...
Debbie Dowden - A series of serendipities (Part 2)
11 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In last week’s episode Debbie Dowden shared the story of how she found herself living a life she’d never planned on, but at the same time it seeme...
Debbie Dowden - A series of serendipities (Part 1)
04 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When the term ‘Serendipity' was coined way back in 1754, it was described as “the accident of finding something good without looking”.Debbie Dow...
Till the cows come home [Short Story]
31 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Central Station [SHORT STORY] episodes bring the stories from our website to life through the authors themselves. Find the story from this episod...
Sean D'Arcy - The Progressive Pastoralist
28 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
They say that "Australia rode to prosperity on the sheep's back". And for more than a century the Gascoyne region of Western Australia was sheep count...
Blythe Calnan - The Changemaker
21 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a warm summer’s day – you’re standing at a sheep market in a Middle Eastern country as tens of thousands of people descend upon the city ...