Tess Camm, Jess Edwards and Jack Nelson: Australia’s best jackaroos and jillaroos
From mustering cattle in the outback to agricultural innovation; these are some of the nation’s brightest jackaroos and jillaroos.
Striving to learn the tricks and tools of Australia’s agricultural trade, eager jackaroos, jillaroos and ringers are the next generation of the nation’s farming industry.
In The Weekly Times’ list of 15 of Australia’s best jackaroos, jillaroos and ringers some have award-winning craft, others have innovation beyond their years and some have devoted their work to raising money for charity.
Despite their spread across all corners of our vast land, they all share one thing in common: a willingness to learn and gain practical experience to take their farming to the next level.
ALEC BIDWEE
Barkly Tableland, NT
Kununurra-born Alec Bidwee is an accomplished cattleman from the NT, and a young industry leader.
In May 2020, Mr Bidwee was presented with the Alward Foster Memorial Emerging Indigenous Pastoral Leader Award at Brunette Downs Station.
At the time Brunette Station senior operations manager Rick Morrison said Mr Bidwee was a role model on the farm.
“Alec’s no-worries attitude is as infectious as his big smile and his sense of humour can calm cultural differences that are bound to arise in any modern multicultural stock camp environment,” he said.
“Alec is a proud indigenous man and mentor to young men and women from his community, making him an emerging leader there and on the station.”
Mr Bidwee started at the Brunette Downs Station in July 2018 on a placement with the NTCA’s Pastoral Real Jobs Program, graduating in late 2020.
LAURA BRYANT
Northam, WA
With a burning passion to ensure Australia’s food supply is secure, Laura Bryant has risen through the ranks with Western Australia’s Muresk Institute.
Growing up on her family sheep and cropping farm in Western Australia’s Midwest, Ms Bryant quickly developed a passion for agriculture.
“I feel very lucky that even as a kid I got to be involved with working on the farm – most of my weekend and school holiday memories are of helping out with sheep work,” Ms Bryant told the Muresk Institute earlier this year.
“Growing up on a farm is hard work but it is very rewarding and as a result I developed a strong work ethic early on.”
In late 2021 Ms Bryant joined Muresk where she combined her passion for teaching and agriculture.
In the past 12 months she has spent time working as a farm technical officer, before being promoted to assistant farm manger.
As part of her role she spends time managing their Dohne sheep flock.
“The shortage in workers in the ag industry has become very clear in recent times and I’m excited to be a part of the solution here at Muresk,” she said.
TESS CAMM
St Lawrence, QLD
As a fifth-generation grazier and beef producer, Tess Camm has spent a life on the land in outback Central Queensland.
At just 25 years old she took the reins as the general manager of successful branded beef company Signature Beef.
In this role Ms Camm was responsible for the co-ordination and production of livestock to meet market requirements and create new product development and sales.
In 2019 she was the recipient of a 2020 Nuffield Scholarship, supported by The Yulgilbar Foundation, to investigate ways to increase the value of beef co-products.
Prior to joining Signature Beef, Ms Camm worked as a grazing co-ordinator and station hand with McArthur Holdings where she handled cattle, property and book work.
“At St Lawrence, my family runs a regenerative beef cattle aggregation,” she said in a 2019 interview.
“As a child, like most bush families, we grew up riding horses, learning to work with cattle, and how to care for our land. This background has given me a unique perspective to working in the processing sector.”
Recently, Ms Camm and her fiance marked a major milestone as they purchased their first farm.
LUCY COLLINGRIDGE
Armidale, NSW
Lucy Collingridge has been working in agriculture since she was 15, working as a jillaroo and station hand before progressing to her current role as a biosecurity officer.
Ms Collingridge is based in the NSW Northern Tablelands near Armidale but worked as a jillaroo on a Victorian fine wool Merino stud.
She was based in their breeding centre making sure each of the ewes lambed safely.
In addition to her first-hand experience, Ms Collingridge has a Bachelor of Agriculture and was named a 2022 R.M. Williams RAS Rural Achiever Award finalists for her work.
Ms Collingridge has also addressed more than 1000 students as she spends her time volunteering to speak with children to inspire them to pursue farming.
Ms Collingridge has moved off-farm and is working with the NSW DPI Western Tracks Project where she is researching vertebrate pest management and numbers for landholders.
“My on-farm experience allowed me to get an understanding of how to produce food and fibre on Australian farms,” she said.
“It gives me respect for the industry and how things run and it has been beneficial for me and them to be able to work with landholders.”
JESS EDWARDS
Mount Jukes, QLD
With more than 43,000 Instagram followers, Jess Edwards is one of Australia’s most recognisable jillaroos.
From driving road trains to mustering cattle, snake handling to horse riding, “Jillaroo Jess” has done it all.
Originally from Brisbane, Ms Edwards has forged her career in Outback Australia working as a station hand in some of the nation’s harshest conditions.
When Ms Edwards started as a trainee on a cattle station she adopted the pseudonym of “Jillaroo Jess” for an online blog she used to share her experiences in the Outback.
In 2020 Ms Edwards used her platform and partnered with The Naked Farmer to team up for a campaign that raised almost $40,000 for drought-affected farmers.
Currently Ms Edwards is working at Mount Jukes, near Mackay, Queensland.
After an incident with a cow and subsequent surgery last year, Ms Edwards is only just getting back in the saddle.
She has recently bought her own Kenworth, with which she intends to cart cattle.
JOSEPH GORDON
Victoria River, NT
After undertaking placement at the Australian Agricultural Company’s Delamere Station, 170km southwest of Katherine and 500km south of Darwin, Joseph Gordon earnt the prestigious 2021 Alward Foster Memorial Emerging Indigenous Leader Award.
During his time at Delamere Station, Mr Gordon’s job was to train, mentor and support young Indigenous people in the Real Jobs Program and Indonesian students from the NTCA Indonesian Australia Pastoral Program.
After making an award-winning impression, Mr Gordon returned to the station as a full-time employee last year.
This year Mr Gordon is working for Whatdidya Rural Contracting servicing cattle stations such Montejinni in the NT’s Victoria River Region.
KELLY GORTER
Albany, WA
Late last year Kelly Gorter was named as the WA Rural Ambassador ahead of the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
A key figure with the Wagin Woolorama and the state’s livestock industry, Ms Gorter was awarded the title of the Perth Royal Show 2021 Rural Ambassador.
Ms Gorter grew up on a farm in Kojonup and now runs an electronic sheep ID tag consulting business out of Albany.
Before starting consulting, Ms Gorter worked on a broadacre dryland cropping property at Wagin, WA, managing a self-replacing Dohne Merino flock.
During that time she also started her own business, KG Livestock Services, which offered sheep and cattle producers advice on electronic tagging of livestock, data collection and data management services.
SAM HUGHES
Maleny, QLD
At just 19 years old, the self-proclaimed “Travelling Jackaroo” Sam Hughes is on the adventure of a lifetime, travelling across Australia in a 1957 Chamberlain 9G tractor, to raise funds for charity.
So far on his journey he has raised more than $85,000 for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
Since March last year Mr Hughes has travelled over 10,000km, going through northern Queensland, the Northern Territory and down Western Australia’s coast.
He is planning to travel from Geraldton to Perth, across the Nullarbor to Port Augusta and then traverse the southern states before heading back up to Queensland.
Most recently he has been paired with the Great Moscow Circus where he has been raising money.
He was also nominated as a finalist for the 2023 Queensland Young Australian of the year Award.
CAMILLE McCLYMONT
Kalyeeda Station, WA
In Western Australia’s Kimberley Region, fourth-generation stockwoman Camille McClymont works on her family’s 122,000ha Kalyeeda Station.
Alongside her father and brother, Mrs McClymont has spent multiple years as head stockwoman on Kalyeeda, running a herd of more than 9000 Droughtmaster and Brahman cattle.
From Kalyeeda Station, Mrs McClymont and her family target live export markets to Indonesia and Vietnam via the Port of Broome.
Growing up on the station, owned by her parents, Peter and Cheryl Camp, Mrs McClymont has gained their LiveCorp Onboard Stockperson accreditation, which allows her to travel with stock en route to southeast Asian countries.
Five years ago Mrs McClymont also started posting pictures of her jillaroo and stockwoman journey, to her Instagram account cattlemans_daughter which has grown to 37,200 followers.
The self-confessed horse and cattle enthusiast is passionate about animal welfare standards in the industry.
KASEY MULLIGHAN
Hilltown, SA
It has been a big year for Kasey Mullighan who has seen her farm work recognised with two major awards.
At the 70th Hay Merino Sheep Show, Hilltown young farmer Ms Mullighan was announced as an inaugural recipient of the Future Merino Breeder Scholarship.
Earlier this year Ms Mullighan took part in the Australian Young Farmer Challenge to be held at the bicentennial Sydney Royal Easter Show where she represented SA.
In 2021 she was part of the seventh intake of students to graduate from the Hay Inc Rural Education Program renowned farmhand education group.
Ms Mullighan grew up on her family farm at Hilltown, about a 15-hour drive from Hay, where she developed her skills with sheep management, fencing and operating machinery.
JACK NELSON
Shepparton, VIC
With the guidance of his father, Goulburn Valley jackaroo Jack Nelson is expanding his own commercial beef operation.
The 24-year-old runs his stud, Jackungah Speckle Park at Pine Grove near Shepparton, where he receieved a world record price of $57,000 for a cow and calf at their inaugural BluePrint Opportunity Sale.
It is fair to say Mr Nelson has invested a large chunk of his young life in the Speckle Park breed and carving out a viable full-time business.
In 2018 Mr Nelson also received the Matthew George Young Stockman Award.
LAWRENCE SEHMISH-LAHEY
Goondiwindi, QLD
Plying his trade with Nindethana Pastoral, located northeast of Goondiwindi, Lawrence Sehmish-Lahey is one of the most well-regarded cattleman in the Darling Downs region.
In 2021, Mr Sehmish-Lahey was named the Darling Downs Sub Chamber Rural Ambassador at the Toowoomba Royal Show.
Later that year he was named the Community Spirit winner at the 2021 Queensland Rural Ambassador awards.
In 2019 he was named the Chief Steward of the Stud Beef Cattle Section for the Goondiwindi Show.
TERI SOMMERFIELD
Charleville, QLD
Despite a stint in the city to study a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, Teri Sommerfield was drawn back to work on the land.
Since mid-last year, the 2021 Queensland Rural Ambassador winner returned to Charlsville to work as a grazier with her family’s H Sommerfield and Son operation.
But from the age she could work until 2017 she was a station hand on her family’s cattle station completing stock handling, mustering and general maintenance of fences and machinery.
At the 2021 Queensland Rural Ambassador awards, Ms Sommerfield, took home the top prize after being nominated to represent the South West sub chamber.
LILLI STEWART
Marble Bar, WA
From Victoria’s Western District to the WA Pilbra region, Lilli Stewart has been mustering cattle and knee-deep in other on-farm roles.
At 10 years old Ms Stewart was running her own Angus stud, Waterlilli.
When she was just 16, Ms Stewart won the reserve champion interbreed senior bull at the 2016 Royal Melbourne Show’s beef cattle judging.
During her career in livestock, Ms Stewart spent some time with Pardoo Cattle Company at Barongarook, in Victoria’s west before joining Te Mania Angus at Hexham as a stockperson.
In 2019 Ms Stewart finished third in the Beef Cattle Judging State Finals where she represented the Colac Show.
This year she made a move to Yarrie Station in WA, where she has worked as a station hand.
In October Ms Stewart was part of the Yarrie Station team who won the Kimberley Pilbara Cattlemen's Association 2022 Livestock Handling Cup at the Sandfire Roadhouse.
SEAN TORTA
Katherine, NT
Sean Torta has climbed through the ranks, beginning as a ringer, then a head stockman at Delamere Station to his current position as the operations manager at Brunette Downs Station.
Located in the middle of the Barkly Tableland, 350km northeast of the nearest town, Tennant Creek, Brunette Downs spans 1.2 million hectares. Mr Torta has been managing operations since July this year.
Raised in metropolitan Queensland, Mr Torta was first introduced to agriculture through school holiday trips to his cousin’s farm.
“I love working with the animals and the people foremost,” he said.
Now he is a key part the Australian Agricultural Company working with the business since 2018.
During his career Mr Torta has predominantly worked on breeding, backgrounding and live export in Northern Australia’s red meat industry.
Since leaving Queensland, Mr Torta has built a passion for the industry, which has helped him be selected for the Georgina Pastoral Future NTCA program.
Mr Torta is also a member of Young Live Exporters Network.
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