Show AUSTRA LIA IN C I 1 STATIONS 6 eli k fl 0 nii australian cowboys mustering cattle bittle stock ranches of the down under continent measured in square miles prepared by national geographic society washington D C service UT in the more remote 0 OUT regions of queensland northern territory and western australia and in the arid center of australia cattle properties are still measured in square miles not acres picture a single cattle station larger than massachusetts and connecticut look at it also as a band five miles wide extending all the way from new york to san francisco or fantastic thought a land path more than a mile wide all the way from the farthest side of australla australia to maine 1 for it is square miles one cattle man whose station lies on the queensland northern territory border tells you quite casually that it is a mile horseback journey from his back porch to the back line of his property like many of the older holdings none of his land is fenced so the cattle often stray far afield during the summer months they move southward into the prevailing winds to rid themselves of the myriad flies that pester them consequently quent ly the station hands often have the task of riding miles to get their stock back to their own property the herds also may wander 40 or 50 miles in the direction of storms if they lack water early one morning a geographic staff writer flew out to a cattle station miles into the queensland interior landed in a field near the house and taxied up to the gateway what one station Is like the station was not large as many of the inland stations run but it was a goodly block of land 1200 square miles pasturing head of stock As he rode its ranges he saw one herd of 1500 steers that had just arrived from a four months trek of a thousand miles down from the gulf country from the fattening paddock where they grazed to market was still another mile overland journey upon food and water hinges success or failure how many times tragedy has stalked beside dried up water holes and pa parched ached pastures whole herds ha have ve perished in rigorous seasons and the strenuous labor of cattlemen has come to dramatic nought As shearing is the big event on sheep stations so mustering for sorting the chief activity on cattle ranches herds on this property are handled from 15 mustering camps and it usually takes four to six months to complete the work here where life is attuned to the ceaseless moan and bellow of cattle about water holes and in branding corrals the american wild west is reflected in ten gallon stetson hats that have come into fashion in the last few years but the swaggering cowhand with a handy lariat and a pair of six shooters strapped on his thighs is unknown australian cattlemen instead of roping their beasts for branding in most cases pen them and hold them in a system of gates why dulling duffing Is rare do you have any cattle rustling you ask we call it du duffing fring here replies the manager but its ve very y rare distances are too great it pay one story that you hear stands out as an excellent example it seems that two men desired to increase their stock so when rains had filled water holes along the way they rode miles to a station and drove off about cattle the ranch owners and police tracked the animals down and brought them back together with the culprits the men were then committed to stand trial in darwin nearly a thousand miles away eventually one man pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years imprisonment for lack of evidence the other man was released but by the time he got home again he had traveled nearly miles far out in in the interior remote from railways and easy means ol of transport station homes have fewer amenities there are no electric lights no refrigerators water in canvas sacks is cooled by evaporation on the shady verandas yet life is pleasant and afternoon tea is an established custom the radio magic destroyer of distances brings the worlds news and music to the family living eving room across the vast region popularly dubbed the back of beyond ether waves crackle in the evening with friendly chatter between neighbors perhaps 50 or miles apart for many stations are equipped with hand operated radio sending sets out here the airplane has likewise proved its worth for flying doctors now race hundreds of miles on their errands of mercy now and then too a flying parson may drop in on a station to hold a service stock routes well maintained the government maintains a system of stock routes and tends them with religious care for they are the arteries of a far reaching enterprise across dry areas they wind and twist to touch every available spring stream and billabong alias land map is sketched with a number of these long snaky paths which radiate out to railways and seaboard cities one begins up in the tablelands table lands of northern terri atory or y and reaches out to the railheads of longreach Lon greach winton and charleville to serve townsville and brisbane another starts up in southwestern queensland swerves through the northeastern corner of south australia and follows down the western boundary of new south wales until it contacts the railway at cockburn to find eventual outlet at adelaide A third trail connects the kimberley region of western australia with wyndham whose operate during the winter months in western australia too another seemingly endless meandering line ties the railheads thrust out into the interior with the expanses of northern territory on these tenuous channels hundreds of miles in length you see streams of steers moving out toward the ports eventually perhaps aps to provide chilled beef for the london market or bully beef for british tommies commies or jack tars unlike argentina where wild herds once ro roamed and men needed only to round them up the australian cattle industry has been built up gradually from small beginnings of half a century ago frozen meat contracts have provided the impetus in recent years however australia has seen new handwriting on her economic wall with improved pr oved refrigeration facilities and fast ships fresh chilled meat has come to england from the argentine against it frozen meat cannot compete learning to chill the meat so the commonwealth has turned to its scientists to learn whether it too can deliver chilled beef to the london market a distance handicap of miles in the brisbane abattoirs abatto irs experts have tackled the problem with test tubes and refrigeration chambers and with bacterial fungal and yeast growths under their microscopes they are learning the conditions necessary for meat to maintain its full freshness and color during the month and a half that it must be on the high seas |