Territory station owner dead in chopper crash near Timber Creek

A PROMINENT Territory cattleman has died after the helicopter he was flying crashed into a river bed near Timber Creek on Sunday morning.

Outback Truckers, Dougal Brett from Waterloo Station in the Victoria River region

A PROMINENT Territory cattleman has died after the helicopter he was flying crashed into a river bed near Timber Creek on Sunday morning.

Waterloo Station owner and father of three, Dougal Brett, 40, suffered “critical injuries” before he was flown by another helicopter in the area to meet a Careflight crew, including a doctor and nurse, at Kildurk Station.

Careflight spokesman Ian Badham said Mr Brett died en route to RDH in a fixed wing plane, despite the on-board doctor and nurse’s best efforts to resuscitate him, early on Sunday afternoon.

Police duty superintendent Bob Harrison said the R-44 helicopter — typically used for mustering — crashed between around 11.30am.

“It’s gone down on a river bed on the border of Waterloo and Kildurk station in Timber Creek,” Supt Harrison said.

The NT News understands Mr Brett, who had reportedly clocked up more than 10,000 hours in mustering helicopters, was flying solo.

The cause of the crash is yet to be determined.

Acting Superintendent Meghan Funnell said the circumstances surrounding the crash will be investigated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) in coming days.

Northern Territory Cattleman’s Association president Tom Stockwell described Mr Brett as “a wonderful man”.

“He was a proud husband and father and full of energy and enthusiasm for the north and the cattle industry,” Mr Stockwell said.

“It’s very sad news for the northern industry but the greatest tragedy for the family.”

Mr Stockwell said the well-known truck driver, helicopter pilot and beef producer “was going all the time at any number of jobs”.

“If you’re looking for a description of a northern family cattleman, Dougal was it,” he said.

“It says it all that he died in an accident while working on a Sunday.”

Mr Brett co-owned Waterloo Station, near the Western Australia border, with his parents Colin and Alison, his wife Emily and brother Hamish.

The family bought Waterloo Station, which boasts about 20,000 Brahman cross cattle across 600,000 acres, in 2004.

Mr Brett was “leading the charge” in a class action claim, potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars, mounted by cattle exporters against the Commonwealth over the 2011 live export ban.

Mr Brett and his family became the unofficial faces of the Territory cattle industry, featuring on various national television programs and in publications, on behalf of cattle exporters.

“Dougal and his family were prepared to put their whole situation on the national stage and really use that to show the enormous impact the suspension was having on farms and businesses across the north,” Mr Stockwell said.

“The Brett family were prepared on behalf of the industry to let the rest of Australia know how they were hurting. That was very brave.

“I think at that time people like the Bretts, getting up and showing our side of the story, very quickly started changing public perception of what was happening and to recognise how devastating the decision had been for Northern Australia.”
Mr Stockwell said Mr Brett will be remembered “as a very good husband father and a wonderful cattleman who did a great job on his own operations but was prepared to contribute mightily to the greater good of the industry and the Northern Territory”.