Goannas and Guitars
Host: Myroodah Station
Written by Pam Daniell – Manager, Myroodah.
Myroodah Station staff Ian Long, Corin Greenwood, and Byran Malay.
Welcome back and Hello to the readers of Central Station and the week of stories from “Myroodah”. You can go back through this site and read our previous blogs from 2013 and also read our profile page which gives an introduction to who we are and what we do. But to ease you in again this year I thought I’d start with a brief description to set the scene . . .
Myroodah Station is just over 400,000 hectares and we are situated in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia. Broome is our closest major centre which is just under a three hour drive during the dry season. It is a LOT further in the wet season as we cannot cross the Fitzroy River which is our northern boundary and a low causeway crossing on the main access road.
The Indigenous Land Corporation owns Myroodah Station and although the core business is running 22,000 beef cattle, the other main focus is on training and employing Indigenous staff. My husband Chris is the Manager of Myroodah and we have been here in this role for three years now.
This year we have a great group of staff who have predominantly returned from the previous year/s. We have many new faces also, as our new intake of students undertaking a Traineeship in Agriculture has now commenced. There are 22 staff in total currently on Myroodah.
Most of our employees here work from daylight to dusk, apart from our cook who starts well before daylight but gets to rest during the day. There is not a whole lot of spare time for anyone during the mustering season. At the end of the day I wonder where the blokes get their energy to bound around the floodlit basketball ½ court before or after dinner. Their skills always amaze me! On a quieter evening I love to see them sit around playing the guitar and singing along.
Staff playing basketball after work.
Harrison Skinner on the guitar unwinds after work.
On a day off, the staff will often go and find some traditional bushtucker – Goanna is a favourite – and they will cook it up on the coals down on the sand bank at the Fitzroy River and relax the rest of the day away.
The crew genuinely seem happy to be here. They love the bush and have common interests and a similar cultural background. Most are here because they want to be away from town and community life and the negative influence and pressures that come with that . . . and they want to follow in their grand-father’s footsteps and lead a fulfilling life in the bush.
Byran Malay with dinner!
Cooling off in the Fitzroy River.
Relaxing at the river on a day off.