Ringer From The Top End Bull Catcher

This was the bull catcher used on the back cover of Slim Dusty's iconic RINGERS FROM THE TOP END album in 1992… with him at the wheel is a young Richard Bradley (see below), son of David & Susan Bradley who owned Carlton Hill Station at the time in the East Kimberley.

Peter Bryant, found the wreck in the dump at Carlton Hill back in 2008 (image c/o Richard Knox above). He and a few off-siders arranged for it to be brought back to QLD, rebuilt and taken down to the Slim Dusty Centre. Off siders were John Green, CPC, RTA and Wagners Toowoomba. It was a big undertaking but very rewarding. (c/o Rosie Bryant, FB).

Returned to her former glory, the bull catcher is permanently on show at The Slim Dusty Centre near Kempsey, NSW.

I had the pleasure of meeting Slim and his wife, Joy McKean whilst working on Carlton - the photo shoot for the album was done in the main yards. I first started the RFTTE group in 2007 to find old mates from Carlton and chose the name RFTTE as a tribute to Slim.

Included are some shots shared by Richard Knox of the bull catcher in 1998 at the tip near Carlton Hill; plus 'old yella' down at the Carlton Hill work shop, this catcher was also used on the station for many years, it was the 'sister bull catcher' to the white one - looks like they used the white bonnet from Slim's catcher for a few more years on 'old yella' too!