These fantastic photos of life on a cattle station are by Lynette Lincoln (nee Gray).
Lynette confesses she is "an older lady, country at heart who spent many of my best years in the Kimberley".
A keen photographer who developed and printed her photos in the Station kitchen at night.
Lynette is now 78, living in Tasmania and is well known as a gardener. Lynette and her garden were featured in the Spring Edition of ABC Gardening Australia Magazine over several pages. She is also known across Australia in Garden Groups. She has two son's who are still in the Kimberley, Robert does contract mustering and Jamie is managing Yakka Munga Station (outside Derby, WA).
These photos were taken at Leopold Downs, Fitzroy Crossing - Kimberley WA in the period 1975 to 1982. They are too good not to share with the public and we thank Lynette for sharing them with us on the RFTTE.com Facebook Page.
The images of Peter Gray, Lynette says: "Posting for a man whose heart will always be in Kimberley. Now in his early eighties and retired in Qld, Station Manager, Leopold and my husband. There were many like him, it wasn’t ‘just a job’. Never to be forgotten, Peter Gray*.
I was in hospital in Darwin, 1975, he came to visit right after the birth of our fourth child...
"How long to do think it will take you to pack? I have taken a position on Leopold, we are going back to the Kimberley"
On Sunday afternoons, we had marinated rib bones for tea... a bottle of cider, home made bread, which was eaten down by the creek, a very special ‘family’ time.
Lynette's images were also used in the book and on the cover of Ride for the Brand - A Chronicle in Verse by KC Anderson
And be sure to scroll down to see the Lynette's images and story about the horse breaker, Alan Simpson.
N.B. These images are all subject to copyright and cannot be redistributed without express permission from the photographer, Lynette Wood.
Horse Breaking | Alan Simpson
Lynette says of Alan Simpson:"One of the toughest blokes I have ever met, bare foot and shorts for most of the time. When about to mount up he stepped into (without bending over) a pair of shoes you would never find on a horseman... have a look in my photos - (they may have been a pair of heavily altered Julius Marlow's!).
His saddlery appeared to be placed on a horse piece by piece, held together by a surcingle!
These photos were taken on Leopold Down Station probably 1976 or thereabouts.
He could handle the roughest horses and have them ready for the stock camp (half day horses) in record time.
Previously on Fossil Downs Station, Alan gave a demo for Princess Margaret and her husband Tony. Alan “Excuse me ma’am (kicking off his shoes) I just can’t work in these!“...to say they were completely enthralled with the demo is an understatement!
Shelter from the sun...
How many of us owe our survival to constructions like this...?
A sandwich of Spinifex between two layers of wire netting. A sprinkler on top and we have the coolest retreat from those high temperatures, spread out the swag after lunch, what could be better? Photo of a simple construction at Fossil Downs circa late 1960’s. Floor by limestone ‘floaters’...
Originally posted 27th July 2021
*Since posting this blog in 2021, Lynette advised us that Peter had passed away in April 2022. She posted this on RFTTE:
Peter Robert Gray...
You have earned your final rest, sleep well dear man, father to our 5 children, grandfather and great grandfather, there is so much that can be said and none of it would tell the whole story. You were a bushman, a stockman without equal. You were a well respected Station manager in the Kimberley and I know your heart is still there... it was a love that would never die. We have been apart for many years but the contact continued through to the end. There was so much we shared and I was fortunate to be part of your life through the good years... through hard times and pain, but there were times of happiness and laughter and that’s what Family is about I believe, with Love Lynette.
Vale. Peter Gray. Our many condolences from the RFTTE Family.