Myer family cattle station takes top Ekka honours

A cattle station owned by one of the richest families in Australia and that is home to a 160-year-old castle has taken top honours at the Ekka beef competition.

Brett Ellem grew up on his parent’s cattle station in the fertile Northern Rivers of NSW where he preferred riding horses with his dad on weekends to playing football.

The 35-year-old now runs the nearby historic Yulgilbar cattle station that has been in the hands of the Myer family since the 1960s and is home to 5000 Santa Gertrudis cattle as well as a 160-year-old castle. It’s been a tough couple of years for Yulgilbar that has suffered through drought, bushfires and more recently floods.

But things are looking up with the station taking out one of the best weight gain top honours at the Ekka paddock to palate beef competition sponsored by meat processing group JBS.

Ellem tells City Beat at a gala producers dinner this week at the Regatta Hotel featuring Yulgilbar’s gold medallist beef that the win at the Ekka was an important benchmark for the station as it carved out a growing reputation for its product.

“First and foremost it is a measure of our genetics against some of the leading producers in Queensland, Northern NSW or wherever they come from,” says Ellem who lives on Yulgilbar with wife Lucy and children Hunter, Jewel and Dusty. “It helps us going forward because we can market cattle that can compete against the best in the country.”

Yulgilbar in the Clarence Valley.

Ellem is one of many cattlemen heading to the big smoke this week for Ekka where they compete against each other for honours as the best beef producers across Australia.

Yulgilbar, located along 80km of the Clarence River, has long held a reputation as some of the best cattle country in Australia.

Founded in 1840 by Edward Ogilvie, the property was initially a 81,000 hectare acre sheep station. In 1949, the property was purchased by Sam Hordern, the first president of the Santa Gertrudis Association before being taken over by Sarah and Baillieu Myer.

After the death last year of Baillieu, the son of the Myer department store founder Sidney Myer, the property is now run by Sarah Myer and her children.

The castle on the property was built in the 1860s by Ogilvie, who was said to have been inspired by architecture in Italy where he regularly visited.

The castle took four years to build and is constructed of more than 110,000 handmade bricks. City Beat hears the Myer family still regularly stays at the castle, flying in from Melbourne on a private jet and landing at the property’s private airstrip.

Yulgilbar Castle, circa 1930s.

“There is so much history on the property,” says Ellem. “The castle was refurbished by Mr and Mrs Myer and family members still stay there when they visit.”

Ellem, who has worked at Yulgilbar for 15 years, says his children are now enjoying a life similar to what he experienced as a boy.

“I always had something to do with horses and cattle,” he says. “Even when I was small I would prefer riding horses on the weekend to playing football. My three children are now getting involved, which is great. Our oldest fella Hunter loves horses.”

JBS business development manager Denis Conroy, himself a fourth-generation cattleman, says the return of the Ekka after a two-year absence due to Covid-19 will be welcomed by the rural community, who use the event not only to showcase their produce but network with other farmers. JBS is a major sponsor of the paddock to palate beef competition and each year hosts a dinner to promote the winners.

BUILDING UP

Melbourne-based engineering firm FSC is setting up a Queensland office in the Riverside Centre as it prepares to take advantage of major projects leading up to the Olympics.

FSC, which bills itself as a design, engineering and project management consultancy, already has won work on Cross River Rail and the Garth Prowd Bridge upgrade in Noosa.

The firm has appointed experienced project manager and engineer Niall Keown as its Queensland manager. Keown has returned to Brisbane recently after a stint in Melbourne where his experience included senior contractor roles on major infrastructure projects.

FSC has signalled its intention to diversify its geographic locations further, with Sydney also firmly in its sights. The firm now has more than 70 staff across Australia.

Founded in 2015, the firm has worked with CPB Contractors, John Holland, Laing O’Rourke and McConnell Dowell. It has managed design teams on the West Gate Tunnel Project, Metro Tunnel, CityLink Tulla Widening Project, and provided environmental and engineering advice for the closure of the Hazelwood Mine.

Niall Keown is heading up the new Qld office of FSC

WEDDING BELLS

Love is in the air for Jack Hutchinson Jnr, the scion of the Queensland construction giant. Hutchinson has married Indonesian-born Fatya Junissa Azlika, according to the ‘Matched and Hatched’ section of the Hutchinson company newsletter Hutchies’ Truth.

City Beat understands the couple met while studying at the London Business School in the United Kingdom and it was instant attraction.

The wedding ceremony was held on the rooftop of the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, followed by a reception for more than 250 guests at The Fortitude Music Hall.

The day and night reception featured performances by local bands Suicide Country Hour, Millions and Collar.

Guests travelled from far and wide to be at the happy occasion, including Fatya’s family and friends from Indonesia. The happily married couple, with Aussie family and friends in tow, then travelled to Bali for a Sumatran cultural wedding ceremony at the beachfront villa, Phalosa, on the island’s south-west coast.

This smaller second celebration on July 2 was held to respect Fatya’s family heritage as a part of the Mandailing cultural group from Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Jack Jnr and Fatya then flew to Europe for their honeymoon.

Love for Hutchinson scion.

MINING TALENT

The engineers, geologists and drone operators of tomorrow could be in the ranks of year seven students at St Joseph’s Nudgee College.

The Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy (QMEA), the education arm of the Queensland Resources Council, held two industry-based workshops at the college last week to encourage the boys to consider a career in mining.

Nudgee has joined 90 other Queensland schools to become a QMEA partner school, which opens up opportunities for students to explore the career possibilities of a trade or tertiary pathway into the state’s highly-paid minerals and energy sector.

QRC director of skills, education and diversity Katrina-Lee Jones says about 40 year 7 and 8 students are working alongside industry experts from Glencore Coal as they complete resources-related activities.

St Joseph’s Nudgee College principal Peter Fullager says the school is excited to be hosting its first engagement since becoming a QMEA-affiliated school.

The QRC’s eduction arm The Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy is trying to encourage more young people to consider careers in the mining sector.