Meet the people
Meet the people
Reef Rescue has helped many Queensland graziers to continue to grow their business while improving water quality entering the Great Barrier Reef lagoon.
Read some of their stories here.
Reef Rescue helps Calliope grazier keep up his dream
Cattleman Bill Oram described himself as a traditional grazier with a new direction when speaking at an information session put on by AgForce, Fitzroy Basin Association (FBA) and Boyne Calliope Sub Region (BCSR) at Mt Larcom earlier this year.
Mr Oram (pictured here with his wife Toni Capell) said he has mixed cattle and tourism at his property Glassford Creek Station near Calliope in Central Queensland.
“I was always interested in working in the bush as a cattleman, but it wasn’t until I went to tourist resort Cooper Down at Banana that I discovered my niche in life: farm stays,” he said.
“A lot of us go through life wondering what our niche is and I knew straight away. I love teaching people how to ride horses and sharing my passion for the bush.”
Mr Oram and his wife started Glassford Creek Station’s farm-stay five years ago.
They said the Australian Government’s Caring for our Country Reef Rescue initiative has helped them improve and protect their property’s greatest assets, the creek.
“We’ve got four kilometres of creek frontage and we’re going to fence the vast majority of it this year, thanks to the Reef Rescue grant through the Boyne Calliope Sub Region of the Fitzroy Basin Association,” Mr Oram said.
“With the fencing, we’ll be able to control the paddocks along Glassford Creek. We have parthenium along the creek and the biggest enemy to it is grass competition, so by spelling the creek flats we’ll tackle the weed and improve pasture and run-off at the same time.”
Grazier’s 10-year plan achieved in two with Reef Rescue
Darcy Ward (pictured with Boyne Calliope Sub Region co-ordinator Kristy Dalton) says his 10-year plan for his property will be achieved in two years due to a grant.
“It was a project I had been planning for some time and it would have taken me 10 years, but with a bit of help from BCSR and FBA, I completed it in two years,” Mr Ward said.
“Having the new water points has helped improve land condition and pasture evenness. There’s no visual cow pads now as the herd is spread around, whereas before you could clearly see cow pads running down to the creek.”
Mr Ward, like all Reef Rescue on-ground grant recipients, provided 50 per cent of the total value of the project in in-kind contributions like labour and timber or financially.
“I was wary of the grants at first,” he said.
“But now I fully believe there’s no catch.”
Veteran pastoralists put two properties through Reef Rescue
Marlborough grazier Alf Collins Jnr says the Australian Government’s Caring for our Country Reef Rescue program is improving his property’s river frontage and boosting productivity.
For his family’s property ‘Belah Valley’, Mr Collins has received a substantial Reef Rescue grant administered by Fitzroy Basin Association Inc to fence to land types and add new stock watering points.
He has also applied for a second grant for his property ‘Tondara’, bordering the Bogie River near Bowen, through NQ Dry Tropics.
Reef Rescue grants pay for half the cost of new infrastructure such as fencing for gullies, riparian areas and stream banks as well as other initiatives which reduce sediment entering rivers and tributaries of the Great Barrier Reef lagoon.
“If we can improve our assets and save the fish and reef at the same time, we’re going to do it,” Mr Collins said.
“Tondara is like all these old properties – they set the water up where it was, not necessarily where it was best too.
“We put in 12km of pipeline and 15 troughs to improve our stock watering system and then we found out about the Reef Rescue funding and decided to apply so we can spread the water even further.”
The Collins also undertake a hoard of other innovative grazing practices such as regularly chisel ploughing paddocks to improve rain infiltration and pasture.
“On the coastal country, we get our rain in short bursts and cannot utilise it all,” Mr Collins said.
“We get a three inch storm and only use one inch of it, so if we can utilise all the water we receive by opening up the soil, it will dramatically improve the pasture.”
Glenalpine project ticks the box with Burke
Barry O’Sullivan’s Collinsville property Glenalpine has attracted visitors from far and wide.
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Tony Burke flew in to visit the property in October last year, along with Member for Capricornia Kirsten Livermore and AgForce representatives vice-president Ian Burnett and Central Queensland acting chair Chris Rolfe.
The O’Sullivans have significantly changed their farming practices to fence-off key sites from cattle grazing and allow native grasses to recover through funding from Reef Rescue administered by NQ Dry Tropics.
After just one wet season, grasses have regrown and now play an important role in capturing and storing rain water, which would otherwise wash loose soil into the Great Barrier Reef.
“I was very impressed by the O’Sullivans’ innovation in improving their business for the long-term, while delivering important environmental wins for the reef,” Mr Burke said.
Want to find out more?
To learn more about Reef Rescue grants or to attend a field day or workshop, contact your local AgForce Projects Reef Rescue project officer:
Rockhampton: Natalie Schick on 4927 6100; 0428 154 803; email.
Townsville: Joshua Schwarz on 0488 002 039 or email.
Mackay: Carrie Mayne on 0428 720 651; email.
Reef Rescue has helped many Queensland graziers to continue to grow their business while improving water quality entering the Great Barrier Reef lagoon.
Read some of their stories here.
Reef Rescue helps Calliope grazier keep up his dream
Cattleman Bill Oram described himself as a traditional grazier with a new direction when speaking at an information session put on by AgForce, Fitzroy Basin Association (FBA) and Boyne Calliope Sub Region (BCSR) at Mt Larcom earlier this year.
Mr Oram (pictured here with his wife Toni Capell) said he has mixed cattle and tourism at his property Glassford Creek Station near Calliope in Central Queensland. “I was always interested in working in the bush as a cattleman, but it wasn’t until I went to tourist resort Cooper Down at Banana that I discovered my niche in life: farm stays,” he said.
“A lot of us go through life wondering what our niche is and I knew straight away. I love teaching people how to ride horses and sharing my passion for the bush.”
Mr Oram and his wife started Glassford Creek Station’s farm-stay five years ago.
They said the Australian Government’s Caring for our Country Reef Rescue initiative has helped them improve and protect their property’s greatest assets, the creek.
“We’ve got four kilometres of creek frontage and we’re going to fence the vast majority of it this year, thanks to the Reef Rescue grant through the Boyne Calliope Sub Region of the Fitzroy Basin Association,” Mr Oram said.
“With the fencing, we’ll be able to control the paddocks along Glassford Creek. We have parthenium along the creek and the biggest enemy to it is grass competition, so by spelling the creek flats we’ll tackle the weed and improve pasture and run-off at the same time.”
Grazier’s 10-year plan achieved in two with Reef Rescue
Darcy Ward (pictured with Boyne Calliope Sub Region co-ordinator Kristy Dalton) says his 10-year plan for his property will be achieved in two years due to a grant.
“It was a project I had been planning for some time and it would have taken me 10 years, but with a bit of help from BCSR and FBA, I completed it in two years,” Mr Ward said.
“Having the new water points has helped improve land condition and pasture evenness. There’s no visual cow pads now as the herd is spread around, whereas before you could clearly see cow pads running down to the creek.”
Mr Ward, like all Reef Rescue on-ground grant recipients, provided 50 per cent of the total value of the project in in-kind contributions like labour and timber or financially.
“I was wary of the grants at first,” he said.
“But now I fully believe there’s no catch.”
Veteran pastoralists put two properties through Reef Rescue
Marlborough grazier Alf Collins Jnr says the Australian Government’s Caring for our Country Reef Rescue program is improving his property’s river frontage and boosting productivity.For his family’s property ‘Belah Valley’, Mr Collins has received a substantial Reef Rescue grant administered by Fitzroy Basin Association Inc to fence to land types and add new stock watering points.
He has also applied for a second grant for his property ‘Tondara’, bordering the Bogie River near Bowen, through NQ Dry Tropics.
Reef Rescue grants pay for half the cost of new infrastructure such as fencing for gullies, riparian areas and stream banks as well as other initiatives which reduce sediment entering rivers and tributaries of the Great Barrier Reef lagoon.
“If we can improve our assets and save the fish and reef at the same time, we’re going to do it,” Mr Collins said.
“Tondara is like all these old properties – they set the water up where it was, not necessarily where it was best too.
“We put in 12km of pipeline and 15 troughs to improve our stock watering system and then we found out about the Reef Rescue funding and decided to apply so we can spread the water even further.”
The Collins also undertake a hoard of other innovative grazing practices such as regularly chisel ploughing paddocks to improve rain infiltration and pasture.
“On the coastal country, we get our rain in short bursts and cannot utilise it all,” Mr Collins said.
“We get a three inch storm and only use one inch of it, so if we can utilise all the water we receive by opening up the soil, it will dramatically improve the pasture.”
Glenalpine project ticks the box with Burke
Barry O’Sullivan’s Collinsville property Glenalpine has attracted visitors from far and wide.Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Tony Burke flew in to visit the property in October last year, along with Member for Capricornia Kirsten Livermore and AgForce representatives vice-president Ian Burnett and Central Queensland acting chair Chris Rolfe.
The O’Sullivans have significantly changed their farming practices to fence-off key sites from cattle grazing and allow native grasses to recover through funding from Reef Rescue administered by NQ Dry Tropics.
After just one wet season, grasses have regrown and now play an important role in capturing and storing rain water, which would otherwise wash loose soil into the Great Barrier Reef.
“I was very impressed by the O’Sullivans’ innovation in improving their business for the long-term, while delivering important environmental wins for the reef,” Mr Burke said.
Want to find out more?
To learn more about Reef Rescue grants or to attend a field day or workshop, contact your local AgForce Projects Reef Rescue project officer:
Rockhampton: Natalie Schick on 4927 6100; 0428 154 803; email.
Townsville: Joshua Schwarz on 0488 002 039 or email.
Mackay: Carrie Mayne on 0428 720 651; email.