Carnarvon Gorge. Bandana Station – Cattle Duffing Tales

Carnarvon Gorge impresses with a stepping stone entrance and the amazing sound of hundreds of chattering birds in the canopy accompanying us on the walk.

 
More beautiful streams and rivulets follow on the leafy path to the side valley of Moss Garden where ancient water squeezes through sandstone.

Bandana is a working cattle station which is close to Carnarvon Gorge and organises sunset evenings where family owners serve billy tea, damper and drinks whilst regaling guests with yarns and tall tales.

We meet bubbly Olivia and her father Bruce, plus William the grandfather, handing over reins to her as station owner with her husband Nathan, an ex-accountant and now a jackaroo.

With great gusto, Bruce spins a lovely tale of the heifer from hell that beat up the holding pen of his neighbour, smashed down his gate, then escaped from Bruce’s truck. Nobody knows for sure, but because the neighbour was a reputed good shot, she may just have been that tough piece of meat on the neighbourly barbie a year or so ago.

Bruce tells the story of the Kennedy Brothers – Paddy and Jimmy – the last local bushrangers who ranged far and wide in the area, poddy dodging, cattle duffing, and horse thieving. Eventually, they were chased by Policeman Dolby and station manager Dalton who apprehended Jimmy but then both pursuers disappeared. However, ashes, bone fragments and buttons were found in saddlebags on their packhorse which was also spattered with blood. Paddy hanged in 1902 though he proclaimed his innocence, Jimmy served time and later worked as a horse breaker at Charters Towers where he is buried.

To close the event, Bruce picks up a guitar and sings a song about Bandana Station, handing over to the younger family, and his feelings for the land.