Introducing Wallal Downs Station
Host: Warrawagine Cattle Company
Written by Jacinta Mills – Owner, Warrawagine Cattle Company.
Before I take you on an adventure around Wallal Downs Station I want to take the opportunity to introduce you to the people that make this place work – our staff!
Cattle grazing at dusk.
Geoff and Lynda are the managers here at Wallal. Lynda is always on the go and never seems to stop. Whether she is preparing and cooking meals in the kitchen, got her green thumbs on out in the garden or lending a hand out mustering; she does it all with such ease. She has transformed a slightly overgrown jungle of a garden into a beautiful neat and green oasis at the homestead. We have four meals a day here at Wallal and no matter what time of the day it is, there is always a delicious smell coming from the kitchen or BBQ. Always 10 steps ahead of everyone else, Lynda is the one who keeps Wallal ticking along at a nice steady pace.
Lynda.
Geoff is the man on and off the field. His brilliant business skills are put to use behind the scenes and his never-ending knowledge of all things station has earned him the nickname of the “Wallal Encyclopedia”. He can tell you almost anything from mechanical info on motorcars, motorbikes, and machinery, what type of grasses are growing in the paddock to what the GPS location is of the best fishing spot. He is also pretty good at guessing what sort of cake Lynda has in the oven from just the smell. Geoff thinks outside the box and he is always coming up with new ideas to help improve the land and how we run things here at Wallal.
Geoff turning the bore on at the pivot.
After a longer than planned holiday at Warrawagine in 2013 Simon, his wife Kristy, and their two children Ellie and Lachie fell in love station life. So with the 2014 season at Wallal looking to be full on we asked if they would be interested in coming to work for us. So Simon joined the team here at Wallal. Hailing from Northern Victoria Simon is all things trucks and farming. His experience with producing hay and irrigation has proven to be invaluable and he has been keeping our centre pivot production running at full steam ahead. He is even a pretty good fisher.
Simon showing us his great fishing skills.
Nearly every pastoral station or farm has a handy man. These men truly are a “Jack of all trades”. Dave is a Port Hedland local and throughout the week he is our “Jack ”. Checking bores, cleaning troughs, starting generators, welding, tractor driving, building, and more are all in a normal days work for Dave.
(Dave is a little camera shy)
The 3 musketeers: Darren, Paul, and Brad (or as we know them Dazza, Pauly and Northy) all hail from the same town in the south west. Together they make up the rest of our team here at Wallal. It doesn’t matter what job is asked of them they get it done without a fuss. They are also pretty good at getting the rest of us in fits of laughter from the jokes and stories they tell. These guys currently spend their days at our centre pivot taking on the role of master builders and putting our 36m x 15m x 5m shed together.
Dazza.
Northy.
Pauly.
Now that the introductions are over we can get onto the more exciting stuff. So stayed tuned as I’ll be taking you on the road with me and showing you what happens out and about here at Wallal.