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ABC News
3 days ago
- Sport
- ABC News
Rockhampton's Callaghan Park celebrates more than 125 years of racing
Cut from scrub on the banks of a river at the end of the 19th century, a unique Australian racecourse boasts a history like no other. From a plane crash, crocodiles taking residence during extreme flood events and bachelor and spinster — or B&S — balls, Rockhampton's Callaghan Park in central Queensland has a rich and colourful past. The present location of the racecourse, a stone's throw from the mighty Fitzroy River, was established more than 125 years ago by a dapper group of racing folk. Rockhampton Jockey Club (RJC) chief executive David Aldred said 60 hectares of thick bushland was selected for the racecourse in 1898 for its proximity to the town centre. "There were actually two racecourses in Rockhampton in those days, west of the CBD past Rockhampton Airport, but it was too far out of town to go to the races," Mr Aldred said. "They picked this site beside the river and a team of guys were engaged to carve out the track from scrub and within a few months had a racetrack." The opening of Callaghan Park was celebrated with a two-day race meeting, the first of which was on June 2, 1899. "They had 3,000 people each day for the first meeting, which is a big thing when you consider how those people had to get to the races," Mr Aldred said. The first properly constituted racing body in the Rockhampton region was the Fitzroy Jockey Club, formed in 1863, before the RJC was established in 1868. While horse racing is the club's bread and butter, colourful characters and international news stories also hold a place in Callaghan Park folklore. In 1912, a race around the track between a Bleriot monoplane and car attracted a crowd of 7,000 spectators. The main attraction was Hollywood stunt man and famous American aviator Mr A.B. "Wizard" Stone. At the conclusion of the race on the final lap, the crowd was horrified to see the plane crash land on the nearby cricket ground. Mr Aldred said patrons rushed to the site and were relieved to see Mr Stone climb from the wreckage uninjured. The course has also endured times of hardship and tragedy. Major floods over the years have engulfed Callaghan Park. In the record 1991 Rockhampton flood, the grass track was completely destroyed and rebuilt with a new type of grass to better withstand weather events. "If you have a look at the water marks we've got engraved on the buildings downstairs, they've come up to the roof of those buildings," Mr Aldred said. In the 2011 floods, authorities had to issue warnings about marauding snakes and crocodiles in the murky, brown floodwaters around the course and surrounding flood-hit suburbs. From floods to frocks, Callaghan Park hosted modern B&S balls in the 1980s and 90s before growing concerns about insurance and liquor licensing saw events dry up. "That's what people forget, racecourses are seven-day-a-week venues and we host a lot of events here," Mr Aldred said. "It's a unique facility that has catered for a lot of interesting people over many, many years." While Sydney's Royal Randwick racecourse is recognised as Australia's oldest key racing venue, established in 1833, Callaghan Park has also hosted racing royalty through the decades. Trainer Gai Waterhouse, world-class jockey Craig Williams and former Melbourne Cup winners have graced the popular country Queensland track. Racing Queensland acting chief executive Lachlan Murray said the venue was one of the state's oldest and most important regional racing hubs — hosting more than 30 meetings each year. "Callaghan Park is at the coalface of racing in the region both on race day and as a vital training facility for in excess of 30 local trainers," Mr Murray said. "Thoroughbred racing in the Rockhampton region also plays a significant role in the Central Queensland economy, contributing close to $70 million in value whilst supporting almost 450 full-time roles in the wider region. "We look forward to another 125 years of gallopers thundering down the famous Callaghan Park straight."
ABC News
22-05-2025
- General
- ABC News
Station owner's unlocking of graveyard a step forward for Christmas Creek reconciliation
Cliffs and fertile river flat valleys mark the landscape of Christmas Creek. ( ABC News: Andrew Seabourne ) Stretching for more than a million square kilometres across Western Australia's far north, the Kimberley is a region of stories, some stretching back thousands of years. Olive Knight among the gum trees on Christmas Creek station. ( ABC News: Alys Marshall ) In its centre, on a dry sandy river bed on Christmas Creek station, Olive Knight gathers eucalyptus leaves for bush medicine. Casting a shimmering light, the branches above her sway and shift. Olive Knight has called Christmas Creek home for decades, but it isn't her country. ( ABC News: Alys Marshall ) The land is always talking to you, she says. "You have to listen, because you can hear the wind, but what is the real story?" When Jane visits the cemetery, she feels a physical pang of sadness at its unkempt state. ( ABC News: Alys Marshall ) This country is burdened by some of Australia's most recent colonial history. A history still being lived today. This story contains images and descriptions of Aboriginal people who have died. Flowing through its heart, the Fitzroy River, which Christmas Creek flows into, brought life and sustenance to thousands of people over the course of the region's history. Over the past century, it has also been the lifeblood of the region's cattle industry, still one of the Kimberley's most iconic industries, but with a dark legacy. If there's a physical embodiment of the divide between the two, it might be Christmas Creek — particularly a small plot of graves near where Olive stands. But under the station's new owners, it's also the start of a small yet growing attempt to reconnect and reconcile the history. The story of this country weaves through Olive's life. But this is not her land. White settlers named this place Christmas Creek, but Aboriginal people have known it long before it became a mark on a map. "Every part of this river has a name where people have hunted and fished and lived," Olive says. "They survived here, on this country." Before white man came, Gooniyandi people were the only ones to call this part of the river home. Now, they are joined by Wangkatjungka, Walmajarri and Bunuba people too. How and why they built a home here is a complicated story of pastoralism, colonialism and survival. And it lies in an overgrown graveyard. The white pastoral industry is still considered new here. In the late 19th century, cattlemen first marched their livestock inland to settle in this valley. "The government issued out pastoral leases to the people who settled this area, who followed along the river to come here," Olive says. She remembers stories from her old people about these early days. Aboriginal Australians at No. 50 Well, the Canning Stock Route, 1940. ( Supplied: State Library of WA ) Stories of unrecorded massacres in the desert, along the Canning Stock Route — the track formed to drove cattle in and out of the region. Stories of Aboriginal people fleeing their desert home to the south of Christmas Creek, heading north to the Fitzroy Valley, where word had it you could work on a station in exchange for safety. "People became used to the idea that if they wanted to survive, they had to migrate to these areas, even though they were going to face the consequences of the pastoralist being friendly or not friendly," Olive says. Handout day at the store, Cherrabun Station. ( Supplied: State Library of WA ) Friendly, she explained, meant a life of servitude. Not friendly meant beatings and death. "You were not treated human. And if you were not human, then you could just be put out of the way." This was the life Olive was born into. "We were slaves just working for meagre rations like flour, tea and sugar and a little bit of meat." While she watched her father and brothers head out to build fences, break horses and muster cattle, she and the other women conducted back-breaking labour around the pastoral homestead of Christmas Creek's neighbour, Gogo Station. At the time, up to 75 per cent of Aboriginal people's wages could be withheld by an employer under state policies that were not overturned until 1972. "We were either seen as assets, or something else," Olive says. "If you did the wrong thing, you could just be put out of the way." Cattle at Billiluna Pool, circa 1940. ( Supplied: State Library of WA ) Aboriginal stockmen working with horses, Gogo Station, circa 1957-58. ( Supplied: State Library of WA ) Horses being broken in at Gogo Station circa 1957-58. ( Supplied: State Library of WA ) After wage reform was made in Western Australia in the 1970s, station owners stopped using Aboriginal labour, saying they couldn't afford to pay the Indigenous workforce. But the communities of displaced Aboriginal families stayed, living in small settlements on the stations, like Wangkatjungka. They remained, and so too did the historic tensions. Modern-day Wangkatjungka. ( ABC News: Andrew Seabourne ) In 1993, the ABC's 7.30 program travelled to Wangkatjungka to cover the disagreements between the then-owner of Christmas Creek and the Aboriginal community. The community told 7.30 they were locked out of their graveyard and denied access to hunting grounds and sacred places by the station. They alleged it was a clear breach of the international covenant on human rights. Land laws in WA stated Indigenous people had the right to hunt and forage for their native food on all unclosed portions of pastoral leases — the people of Wangkatjungka were surrounded by fenced lands, meaning access was at the lease owner's discretion. "It's not restricted to Christmas Creek, this access problem is widespread across the Kimberley," Professor Peter Yu said at the time. "But certainly in terms of the magnitude of the problem and the seriousness of it, I think Christmas Creek would have to be one of the worst." More than three decades on, the Wangkatjungka cemetery still stands. But you would be forgiven for not knowing it was there. It is overgrown and in a state of disrepair. When Jane visits the cemetery, she feels a physical pang of sadness at its unkempt state. ( ABC News: Alys Marshall ) For decades, the families of those buried were refused access to maintain the graves. ( ABC News: Alys Marshall ) Graves of Bunuba, Walmajarri and Gooniyandi people were behind a locked gate. ( ABC News: Alys Marshall ) It's a sight lamented by Olive's daughter, Jane Bieundurry, as she sits in front of her son's grave. He died almost seven years ago. "My son passed away from suicide. Suicide is a hard thing to get over. I still grieve. I still ask these questions of why," Jane says. "As a mother you can't get over it because of your jinjil." Jane has only been able to see her son's grave when the station owners unlock the gate for her. ( ABC News: Alys Marshall ) She touches her abdomen and translates jinjil to mean the physical connection a mother has to her child through the umbilical cord. "Your jinjil is still connected to your child no matter what, you'll still have that feeling even when you've lost your child." When she buried her son, Jane had to go to the then-station owner to ask for permission to enter the cemetery. She and other members of the Wangkatjungka community said for decades that funerals were their only opportunity to tend to the graves of their loved ones. In the meantime, they were locked out. Jane Bieundurry lived in Wangkatjungka for decades before tensions and sadness drove her away. ( ABC News: Alys Marshall ) The graves became overgrown, hidden by the surrounding bushland. "Grass growing all over them make me no good," Jane says. "Just like they're singing out for help. "I can feel it now, they're calling out, 'Do something about this place.'" But things are changing at Christmas Creek. And that change has come in an unlikely form — a cattleman, at home among the fertile river flats of north-west New South Wales. The Kaputar Valley is a region also defined by the river that runs through it. John Manchee looks out onto the Namoi River which runs through his home property in NSW. ( ABC: Cam Lang ) John Manchee has always found himself heading to its rocky banks to mull things over. "This is where I would come to play as a child," he says. "We've been here for 101 years on this property; my grandfather and my father are both buried here. "It's a very significant place for us." With a mountain range on one side and a river on the other, this valley has been home to the Manchee family — and their stud cattle — for generations. "It's a place that has treated us very well." The Namoi River flows through the Manchee property in NSW. ( ABC News: Alys Marshall ) Sorghum is among the crops grown in the Kaputar Valley. ( ABC News: Alys Marshall ) The Kaputar Valley in north-west NSW. ( ABC Landline: Cam Lang ) But part of John has always been drawn northwards, to shift his cattle genetics to the allure of wide, open plains. A stint in the red centre on stations around Alice Springs as a young man did not scratch the itch. And then, decades later, he saw Christmas Creek up for sale. "The history of Christmas Creek is everywhere. Everyone's got a Christmas Creek story and I'd always heard of Christmas Creek being the sweet country. "I fell in love with it instantly, and I can just see agriculture being such a dynamic resource for the Kimberley into the future." John Manchee purchased Christmas Creek station in 2023. ( ABC: Cam Lang ) In 2023, he bought the station lease. "I'm a big believer of things happening for a reason … and it was one of those things that came along. "You know, once it happens and then you go, 'Right, this is what I want to do.'" When John took over Christmas Creek, tensions between the community and the pastoral station had been running hot for decades. But a simple gesture changed the mood in a heartbeat. "I just said open up the gate to the graveyard — it's their graveyard," he says. "It was a no-brainer. If that is their heritage, then they're entitled to that for sure and certain." The cemetery is now open for the community to visit whenever they want. ( ABC News: Andrew Seabourne ) John wants this mending relationship to continue across the station home they share. "It's a matter of getting on with your neighbours," he says. "We've got to have respect on both sides so we can work together." Now, Jane Bieundurry brings her grandsons to visit their father's grave without needing permission. "My grandsons were small when my son died," she said. "With the previous owners, we couldn't even come out here." Even with the gate now unlocked, it still isn't easy. "As they grow older they're asking questions like: 'Why did he do that?' "Or they'll look up in the sky and say, 'He's up there, he's watching us.'" John Manchee has unlocked the gate to the Wangkatjungka cemetery. ( ABC News: Alys Marshall ) Jane's grandson visits his father's grave. ( ABC News: Alys Marshall ) But for residents of Wangkatjungka who have been fighting for this for decades, it's been worth it. "There is a very strong mutual understanding of each other," Jane says. "It may have taken a long while to get here, but it's here now. "And I'm just happy the younger generations can enjoy the benefits of what's been fought for in the past." The family of the previous owner of Christmas Creek station were contacted for comment. They declined to be interviewed. Credits
The Guardian
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘The river keeps us alive, we keep the river alive': new documentary captures the Kimberley and its custodians
The Kimberley's winding ochre gorges, coral sunsets and celadon crocodile-filled rivers feature in a new ABC documentary series about one of Earth's last great tropical wetlands. Filmed on cinema-grade cameras in the remote and vast north-west Australian region, The Kimberley captures an intimate portrait of its ancient landscape and offers ecological and cultural insight across three episodes. The series follows the six seasons in the Nyikina calendar. The Nyikina people are the traditional custodians of the Martuwarra, also known as the Fitzroy River, the Kimberley's largest river system. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Actor and Nyikina man Mark Coles Smith, the series' narrator and host, describes himself as deeply connected to the land, his mother's country. He introduces the Martuwarra as a 'literal ancestral entity' that has sustained the cultural, spiritual and physical life of First Nations people in the area for tens of thousands of years. The crocodile is a 'revered spirit of the riverways' in the Kimberley. Photograph: ABC TV At the end of the hot, dry season of Lalin – colloquially called 'married turtle season' because it's when the reptiles mate – a crocodile ambushes a thirsty wallaby, snapping it into its jaws before its tail disappears through the croc's teeth. Director Nick Robinson describes it as one of the most astonishing sequences he has ever filmed. The rare footage was taken during the six months he and the series' director of photography, Jack Riley, spent camping, rafting and trekking throughout the Western Australian region. Director Nick Robinson and camera operator Paul Bell shoot a scene with Mark Coles Smith and Gooniyandi elder Mervyn Street. Photograph: ABC TV 'We were just talking to a random fisherman,' Robinson says. 'He mentioned having seen a croc take a wallaby. I'd never seen that in the wild, and I've spent years filming crocs. 'That tip turned into one of the most amazing sequences I've ever shot.' Coles Smith, who won an Australian best actor award for his role in Mystery Road: Origin and is a Gold Logie nominee, explains the crocodile is a 'revered spirit of the riverways', playing an important role in the ecosystem and symbolising the 'raw power of nature'. The tiny crew worked alongside Indigenous rangers, traditional owners and scientists, including the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, to capture animal behaviour and landscapes never before filmed – from frill-necked lizards sparring in their quest for love to humpback whales arriving in the cool, dry season of Barrgana. Some stories came unexpectedly. A planned shoot of northern quolls, small carnivorous marsupials, was derailed when cane toads arrived, likely devastating local populations. Coles Smith takes viewers to the riverbanks of the Martuwarra: kids splash and fish in green-mirrored waters as an elder sketches shapes in the earth for young children and kangaroo tails cook on a fire. A still from the documentary of a northern quoll. Photograph: ABC TV As she untangles a line in her lap, one woman says: 'That spiritual connection we have – with the river, the land, all these things – it heals you. You hear the birds, the river, and the calmness of it … your body is meditating.' skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion A man, tending smouldering flames with a shovel, explains: 'You come up here and sit down, have a feed, go fishing, maybe catch a barramundi if you're lucky; those things, are really, really good for the heart, good for the mind, good for the spirit.' The Martuwarra is one of the most pristine river systems on Earth. Photograph: ABC TV When peaking humidity brings in the rainy season, Wilakarra, it revives the Martuwarra for a stunning rafting expedition – a journey that Robinson says requires helicopters, small planes, and local knowledge to access rarely seen gorges and rapids. Despite damage caused by European farming in the last 150 years, the Martuwarra is still one of the most pristine river systems on Earth. 'I can't fathom the generations behind me, through my mother's family, that begin and return to the river – that's what I think of when I'm out here,' Coles Smith says. But the series also documents the looming danger the Kimberley faces. Aerial shots show mining, water extraction and fracking equipment cutting into the wilderness. 'It's an existential threat,' Coles Smith says. 'You hear the birds, the river, and the calmness of it … your body is meditating.' Photograph: ABC TV In response, local leaders have formed the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council – a 'coalition of hope' – advocating for the river's rights. 'There are many nations that make up the length of the Martuwarra,' Coles Smith says. 'All of us have a cultural obligation to protect these waters for future generations. 'The river keeps us alive; we keep the river alive. That's the deal.' The Kimberley airs from Tuesday 13 May at 8pm on the ABC and ABC iview.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
One Fitzroy River Insider Raised Stake By 20% In Previous Year
Looking at Fitzroy River Corporation Limited's (ASX:FZR ) insider transactions over the last year, we can see that insiders were net buyers. That is, there were more number of shares purchased by insiders than there were sold. Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. See our latest analysis for Fitzroy River Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by insider Troy Harry for AU$283k worth of shares, at about AU$0.13 per share. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at above the current price of AU$0.13. Their view may have changed since then, but at least it shows they felt optimistic at the time. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock when an insider has bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price. Troy Harry was the only individual insider to buy shares in the last twelve months. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction! Fitzroy River is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find small cap companies at attractive valuations, this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket. Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Fitzroy River insiders own about AU$6.7m worth of shares (which is 49% of the company). Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders. It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Fitzroy River shares in the last quarter. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. Judging from their transactions, and high insider ownership, Fitzroy River insiders feel good about the company's future. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. At Simply Wall St, we found 3 warning signs for Fitzroy River that deserve your attention before buying any shares. But note: Fitzroy River may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt. For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Sign in to access your portfolio
