Wave Hill Station in the Northern Territory is one of the most famous cattle stations in Australia. It is steeped in pastoral history and was key to the Indigenous land rights movement.
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00:00If you think mustering, drafting and loading more than 4000 head of cattle on 24 road trains
00:18over just 3 days sounds ambitious, well you haven't met the wave hill mob.
00:25So we loaded 9 yesterday, 6 today and we've got 8 tomorrow.
00:30That seems like a busy agenda.
00:33Yeah but it's a pretty efficient way to get it done, so if you're going to load 2 trucks you might as well load 8.
00:40They're long days for the women and men that make up the stock cab here on the 1.25 million hectare property, 750km south of Darwin.
00:50I don't know how it is but it's an addiction.
00:53Ask anyone, when I was a little kid all I wanted to do was work on the world's largest cattle station.
00:58At just 16, Rikki Leadingcoats might be the youngest on the books, but she makes up for her tender years in enthusiasm.
01:06I just love to learn everything I can, which is impossible, but I'd like to try.
01:14The stock campers spent the year sharpening their stock skills and refining their reflexes.
01:22They're alright, you do learn them, so once you do you just pick up on when they're going to snot you and when they're not I guess.
01:31Everybody's being snotted.
01:33Including yourself?
01:34Yeah, proper.
01:37And where else to learn the ropes but one of the Territory's most famous stations.
01:44To me it's probably the best property in the NT.
01:47Big call.
01:49It is a big call. When you've got the creeks and the rivers and the quality of the cattle here and the country, it's impressive.
01:58But it's not just the chops it carries as good country.
02:03The people seem to treat working here like a calling that goes beyond just running cattle.
02:09You can look at it and watch videos and read about it, but once you're a part of it, it's just a whole other thing.
02:16My new normal is just still unbelievable for everyone back home. Yeah, it's just incredible.
02:23Knowing everything that's going on down here, it's like you're sort of a part of something that's gone down in history.
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