The BBC is in the midst of screening a TV series on the world’s grasslands, called ‘Grasslands – Roots of Power’. Included is a clip featuring Australian chopper mustering, called ‘Australian Helicopter Cowboys’. It features Territorian Ben Tapp and another chopper pilot, Rankin Garland, mustering a couple of thousand head last year on the Tapp’s Maryfield station. Beautifully filmed over ten days and edited for maximum dramatic effect, viewers would be left with the unfortunate view that cattle are galloped from one end of the paddock to the other – apparently 50km in this case. No cattleman canters the fat off cattle if they can possibly avoid it; there are times when cattle may be hurried up, for example when being yarded, but the rest of the time they are left to poke along quietly at their own pace. Viewers would also be left with the view that helicopter mustering is more dangerous than it is, due to the voiceover statement ‘every year about 10 pilots crash and burn’, which may be taken literally. Few crashed mustering choppers catch on fire, and while there are a number of accidents each year (some fatal), pilots and passengers often escape with minor injuries or even completely unscathed. As the saying goes, ‘there are old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are no old, bold pilots’. The vast majority of chopper mustering accidents are due to pilot error.
So it’s great dramatic viewing and no doubt is an interesting comparison to migrating African herds (as mentioned in the voiceover), but ‘Australian Helicopter Cowboys’ gives people with no first-hand knowledge quite the wrong impression of Australian cattle mustering.
And I really wish visiting English film crews would use locally used terms. Instead, so often, cattle stations are called ‘ranches’, swamps ‘billabongs’, ringers/stockmen ‘cowboys’ and mobs ‘herds’.
The visit to Ben Tapp’s cattle station was organised by rancoutuer Phil O’Brien, author of the very witty book, ‘101 Adventures that got me absolutely nowhere’.
Presumably it’s sheer co-incidence, but Ben Tapp’s Maryfield station was put on the market for sale late last year.
A 4-part BBC programme screened in 2008 and more recently on SBS television in Australia, is called ‘Tropic of Capricorn – Australia’. It features a clip filmed on Peter and Donna Batt of Eldwick station, southwest of Stonehenge (Western Queensland). So named of course because it’s a naturally bare, stony region. It is mentioned that the Batt’s have not had good rain for 7 years, however it is not mentioned in the clip that rainfall in this region has always been very variable. In fact it’s often said that in western Queensland, in any ten year stretch, there will be 3 good years, 3 absolute horror years and 4 so-so years. Droughts and floods are not new inventions. And this is amply explained by the large size of properties and low stock carrying capacity in the region. The closer the settlement (smaller properties and closer towns), the more historically reliable the rainfall has been and the better the soil. And the converse is true – large properties running few stock mean the soil is not particularly fertile and/or the rainfall has always been unreliable. Presumably the long-term weather variability is mentioned before or after this film clip, but maybe not, if the BBC is intent on promoting the belief that Global Warming is responsible for the long dry spell.
Fortunately, Peter and Donna Batt are still on Eldwick and they’ve since had good rain.
It must be said that the presenter of the ‘Tropic of Capricorn’ series Simon Reeve does an excellent job, with a sensitive and diplomatic interviewing manner. Africa, Madagascar and South America are also visited in the series circumnavigating the Tropic of Capricorn, and it’s great viewing.
Giving television viewers a misleading view of the Australian bush is so easily done – and the viewing public tend to believe that what is presented to them in a television documentary is the whole truth, and not slanted in a particular direction. It pays to remember that the full story and important facts are almost always glossed over or omitted in pursuit of maximising compelling viewing, and television production crews often arrive on site with plenty of pre-conceived opinions and plans.
Tags: Australian cattle stations, Rural properties for sale and ownership, Image of the bush, Mustering Choppers, Australian outback TV and film