This picture best illustrates for me the vastness of Anna Creek Station.
The KIdman station is the largest in the world. The statistics say it is 6 million acres or 24,000 square kilometres and as big or bigger than some countries, but that is hard to imagine.
This scene, with the Margaret Range in the background is just a tiny part of it.
Anna Creek station’s Cessna 172 in action spotting cattle for the ringers on motorbikes below.
Without the flying experience of my friend Trevor Wright from William Creek, shots like this would be impossible to achieve.
Working cattle from the air is an essential part of cattle production these days.
On a vast property like Anna Creek Station in South Australia’s far north, using an aircraft to spot cattle spread out over big distances saves time, money and the efforts of the stockmen on the ground.
It is a fallacy the Australian Outback is a vast, flat featureless plain.
Granted, at times the gems may seem far apart but in reality it is an ever-changing landscape of colour…almost chameleon like.
Take for instance the Margaret Range, about 70 kilometres south of Oodnadatta on the Oodnadatta Track not long after a brief shower of rain and a cloudy sky.
The crows nest…synonymous with a lookout point high up on the main mast of an old sailing vessel has a different connotation in the cattle industry.
When big herds of cattle are brought in from far afield on outback stations, the crows nest is an important part of how they are sorted and processed either for market or recording.
It has often amazed me how few people actually work on a cattle station these days. I am on Anna Creek station where just eight people control thousands of head of Santa Gertrudis and Brahman cattle spread over a vast area in conditions that many would describe as inhospitable for much of the year.
Anna Creek is part of the famous Kidman empire and cattle are trucked here from the company’s properties in northern Australia. They spend about a year at Anna Creek before heading south again.
Sophie Evans from South Australia’s Clare Valley is a ringer on Anna Creek. Her grandfather was a manager here years ago and now here love of horses has brought her here to work.
It can take days to bring cattle to the yards, and camping out is a regular occurrence.
Once the cattle have reached the yards, this is where the crows nest is invaluable. Essentially the cattle are brought in stages to a run where each animal enters a circular pen.
Head stockman Gordon Warren assesses each of the animals. That’s Gordon behind all the rails while aboriginal ringer Gary Gibbs scrambles to safety.
Depending on size, age, and sex Gordon decides the fate of each animal and signals to Sophie, who is operating the crows nest, which gate to open that lets the animal into another pen.
These cattle are immensely strong and some far from docile, so the ability to manually sort them via the crows nest reduces the number of people involved.
The Margaret Range….Anna Creek Station…Outback South Australia.
The Kidman station’s Cessna 172 heads for mustering work on the world’s largest cattle station.
Aircraft are a must for modern day cattle production on Australian cattle stations that are often bigger than some nation states around the world.
Di and Geoff Mengersen from Depot Spring Station in the northern Flinders Ranges.
The Mengersens are about to start their annual muster and shearing which takes most of February.
Last year I spent about three weeks on and off, following the whole operation.
I was shooting a story for the R. M. Williams “Best of Outback Stations” publication which came out last July.
When you shoot for the R M Williams you agree to not use the images for 6 months and that time is now up.
Depot Spring is a family affair, still going while surrounding properties have succumbed to drought, floods and hard times.
The country is surprisingly beautiful too.
I’ll be running their story over the next few posts. I hope you will enjoy it.
The full moon…when tides are high and people act strangely, or so they say.
Out here, it is just a big, beautiful ball rising in the sky.
The imagination could take this photograph just about anywhere.
It is arid country under different circumstances from the previous post.
This time it is the effects of good soaking rains.
It could be a macro shot of patterns in the mud but is in fact desert country over Anna Creek station in South Australia’s far north taken from about 5,000 feet or 1500 metres.
The almost tree-like patterns caused by water run-off, combined with hardy scrubs along the water courses created this scene.
