Chch. Man Worked On Big Australian Station

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31248, 21 December 1966, Page 8

Chch. Man Worked On Big Australian Station

A Christchurch man, Mr R. Hiatt, of Rugby street, has just completed 16 months’ work on Australia’s second largest cattle station. The station, Victoria River Downs, in the north-west Northern Territory, is 5000 sq. miles in area and runs about 50,000 head of cattle.

Although 1000 miles of fence had been erected in the last six years, the station was still mainly unfenced, and the cattle virtually ran wild, Mr Hiatt said. The nearest town to the station homestead was Katherine, which was 275 miles away by road. Aircraft visited the station three times each week, coming from Katherine and Darwin. He said there were about 120 men working on the station, and many of these were Aborigines. Most of the others came from Queensland, Mr Hiatt being the only New Zealander there.

The men were divided into four camps, each camp working about 1200 sq. miles. For most of the year the men practically lived on their horses, riding two horses each day. No dogs were used, and for most of the year work continued from dawn to dusk every day. The camps were constantly on the move, but maintained radio communication with the homestead. Mr Hiatt said that at the end of March the men in each camp selected about 100 horses—six for each man. About two months’ rations were taken on a truck during the mustering and branding of the cattle, which continued until the end of May, when drafting began as well. By early September, many of tiie water-holes had dried up, and fences were built around the springs that were still flowing. One-way gates in these fences allowed cattle to come in but prevented them from leaving. In mid-October, mustering began again in those areas where there were no springs for trapping, and continued until the end of November, when the camp finished for the year.

Mr Hiatt said that in the summer the temperature frequently rose to 100 degrees, but the nights in winter were extremely cold. After the wet season, which came at any time between October and March, the grass on the station was very high and green, but by the end of April it had started to turn yellow.