“Oh yeah …” he replies, “I guess I had some good teachers. But back then the horsemanship was kinda rough and ready. There wasn’t much science in what we did compared to today. In the last 20 years there’s been so much knowledge imported into Australia, some from America, some from Europe.”
John reckons the standard of horsemanship has improved markedly over the years. “The old Australian stockman was a good man with a rough horse, but today the horses are purpose-bred for the job.” We pull up by a huge corral where a small herd stand around swishing their tails and snorting. These are John’s personal horses which he fed earlier. I ask an obvious question, “so you must love horses John?”
“Yeah … you’ve gotta love horses. If you can turn what you love into your living, you’re laughing aren’t you? But they’re all different personalities. Good and bad ones. The American quarter-horse was brought over in the 1950s and a lot of cross-breeding went on with them – plus we still have the typical Australian stock horse which is a thoroughbred horse. You’ve got to be open-minded. The only horse I’m looking for today George, is a better one than I rode yesterday.”
He suggests we drive over to the Pastoral College facilities where he spends most of his working day. “Normally there’d be 50 or 60 horses waiting in the paddocks out there, hanging around waiting for us to work with them,” says John as we wander around the steel fenced corrals and buildings that make up the facility that is owned and funded by the State Government and managed by the Queensland Agricultural Training Colleges Corporation.
“Basically,” explains John, “we have young people coming here who are looking to work on a property. We don’t teach them management, we teach them the basic things like stock handling, horse riding, branding, fencing and vehicle maintenance. The sort of skills needed to work on a property.”
It’s quiet at the moment because the students have just been sent to their work placements. Some are placed on properties with as many as 50,000 head of cattle, working with staff getting practical experience in the industry. Students can start here as young as 16, with six and 12-month courses available, with a qualification at the end that is recognised nationwide.
“About 15 or 20 years ago the Government made up a syllabus called the National Training Packages, which meant that if you did a subject in the Northern Territory, it’d be the same as what they taught you in Tasmania,” he says in the soft, measured tone that I imagine has calmed many a nervous student over the years. We enter the tack room which has that unmistakable smell of well-looked-after leather.
He slaps a beautiful saddle, one of many sitting in a row on brackets, “This is your typical Australian saddle that we’ve used here for the past two hundred years. It was derived from the old English hunting saddle but because our horses are a bit wilder and we do some crazy things with them, we’ve put these knee pads in and also made the back a bit higher than the hunting saddle. Over the past 50 years of so we’ve also added some American features so this is called a half-breed saddle, half American and half Australian.”
A typical saddle here is worth around $5,000 which surprises me as there must be so much leather around. “Well, believe it or not leather is ridiculously expensive. With the millions of cattle that are slaughtered in Australia,” John says, “there are only two tanneries left here. The leather for most of these saddles would probably have been imported from America.”
John has been training jillaroos and jackaroos here for 32 years, but he gives the impression that he’s still as passionate as when he started out.
“It must give you a lot of satisfaction when you send a young person out, knowing that you’ve done a good job,” I venture.
“Yeah … when you see them go out and do a good job, it does give you a lot of satisfaction,” he ponders for a second, “A lot of young people these days are content to be Joe-averages so when I hear back that a young person from here has been a success, it’s good. I wouldn’t want to take all the credit, of course, but it’s nice to know that you may have fostered that desire to learn and improve.”
Some students become contract musterers, some use their new skills to go back to the family property, some become professional horse trainers and some use the qualifications as a stepping stone for vetinary college or University. “I’ve had students become anything from farriers and chiropractors to helicopter pilots; you name it,” says John, “the horse industry is pretty diverse, they could end up anywhere.”
I wonder aloud if young people today are that interested in getting their hands dirty and whether there will be enough people to fill the places at the college. “No George, Australia has a chronic shortage of rural workers and in January and February my phone rings off the hook with property owners looking for young people.”
I ask John if he’s ever been injured at work. “Touch wood, I’ve had a remarkably injury-free career considering,” he replies. “I broke a couple of ribs this year for the first time but there was no malice involved. The little horse just pulled its leg away as the flies were pretty bad and she accidentally bumped me in the ribs. But I’ve always tried to ride quality horses, use quality gear and follow sound equine handling philosophies and guidelines. A few people out there are getting broken bone,s but sometimes accidents just happen.”
With the growing trend towards people trying to eat less meat, I ask John how he sees the future of the cattle industry. “Well there’s such a shortage of protein world-wide,” comes the immediate response, “and with the growing world population, we’ve got to feed people. So as long as there’s one cow left in Australia, we’re going to need someone to muster it. You can have all the drones and technology in the world but you’ll still need workers.”
The Longreach area and western Queensland has experienced years of ongoing drought with summer rains failing for the past eight. I ask John how climate change has influenced the cattle industry. “Yeah … it’s become something that people have to work with,” he says. “Management and grazing strategies have had to change severely to work with the climate. But there was certainly no global warming this morning. It was only one degree!”
John tells me that there is no gender bias in the industry these days and there are just as many young women as men in his classes. In the last 20 years there’s been a huge increase in the number of females working in the rural industry. “Girls certainly can do it,” says John, “I even know of female head stockmen, which would have been unheard of 40 years ago.”
“Shouldn’t that be ‘stockperson’ John?” I ask tongue-in-cheek and we laugh.
Finally, I ask him how much longer he can see himself doing this. “Well,” he considers, “while I can beat those young fellas to the breakfast table and shoe more horses in a day, then I’ll carry on doing it.” Another thoughtful pause, “I don’t think I’m past my used-by-date just yet.”
Morning finds me roaming the streets, along with a throng of other tourists. The café on the main street has wi-fi and serves up a fair eggs, bacon and coffee – not a bad way to start the day. I love coffee shops, consider myself something of a connoisseur of them, in fact. I feel as comfortable ensconced in one, coffee, book or notebook and pen in front of me, as I do in my own living room. At times it can feel almost voyeuristic, this sharing of space with complete strangers. I love the unspoken contract between patrons – we’re sharing this space, sharing a few moments in time, yet we’re apart. A smile, a nod of recognition, an exchange of pleasantries, a statement of togetherness. A brief respite in a journey from A to B, or indeed one’s life.