Australasia > Australia > South Australia > Oodnadatta Track > Articles > The Great Australian Cattle Drive

Like any good cow pony, Kurt knew how to keep wayward bovines in line. Whenever one deviated from the course or paused to snack opportunistically on saltbush, he’d lunge, teeth bared, nipping her shapely bum to move it along.

Not that my pretty palomino had his work cut out for him. After four weeks on the road, the 500 head of Kidman-owned Santa Gertruda cows we were pushing down the Oodnadatta Track knew the score – home was straight ahead. Besides, with 70 horses and riders flanking the herd, there was little room for escape.

You could say the Great Australian Cattle Drive is the most over-staffed cattle muster in history. The job could easily be done by half a dozen men; instead, a large team of experienced drovers were joined by 120 horses, a huge support posse and 302 paying guests over a four week period (cut back from seven weeks in 2007, owing to the drought), all who believed their role in this epic journey was essential to get the job done. But that’s the point of this iconic event – the opportunity for the average city slicker to experience a lifestyle they’ve only ever dreamt about.

For just a few days, we were living our every Wild West fantasy, becoming real, working cowboys responsible for bringing the mob home safely. And it couldn’t have been more rewarding.

The Great Australian Cattle Drive is a massive undertaking that takes place every two years in outback South Australia. The idea is simple – to invite tourists to join a traditional working cattle drive, to introduce them to the Australian outback scenery and lifestyle, and to ride alongside real cattlemen and women. According to event founder Keith Rasheed, it’s an historical re-enactment of how things used to be in outback Australia – “the dust, the flies, the cold weather, the bullshit - this is the way it was.”

In this year’s drive, the cattle were brought 217 kilometres down the Oodnadatta Track from William Creek to Marree, one of two routes utilised by the event (the other being the Birdsville Track). While the journey is staged for tourists, it’s also the real deal – the cows, breeding stock owned by the cattle baron Sidney Kidman, had been agisted over summer at Anna Creek, the world’s largest cattle station, and were being transferred south for the breeding season.

The route followed by the cattle drive is determined by the most precious resource of all – water, found in a series of aquifers called the Great Artesian Basin Springs. With 2,500 underwater springs between William Creek and Marree alone, this is the single largest freshwater aquifer on the planet, storing the equivalent of 150 Sydney Harbours in its vast basin. This water course, practically invisible on the surface, is literally the lifeblood of the desert, supporting millions of years of indigenous culture, as well as the railway, cattle and mining industries.

Following these springs, the cattle are pushed around 15 kilometres a day, spending the night around a bore where they are fed and watered. Paying guests, however, are taken back to a fixed camp, their home for the duration of each five day/four-night leg of the tour. These camps are virtual mini-cities, featuring row upon row of blue tents, a massive mess tent, a bar and two semi-trailers containing flushable toilets and hot showers.

While some guests lamented the fact that they were isolated from the drovers, what these camps lacked in atmosphere, they more than made up for in comfort. And at the end of a long day riding in the dust and wind, there is nothing more welcome than a hot shower – with even some of the drovers sneaking back to indulge!

Despite the huge scale of the operation, everything on this Event SA trip ran like clockwork. The beds were comfy, the food exemplary, and transport to and from the drover’s camp practical and on time. Most impressive, however, was the professionalism of the droving team, who treated each and every guest with the utmost of respect and patience.

Every morning we’d arrive at the drover’s camp to find our horses fed, saddled and ready to hit the trail. Within half an hour, everyone was mounted, gear checked, and then we’d be off. Those who wished to take part in keeping the herd in line would position themselves accordingly, while a group of beginners, perhaps more nervous about working with cows or just intent on staying on board their equine friends for four hours times at a time, would head off in their own little group to one side.

Restricted by necessity and safety to a walking pace, there is plenty of time for interaction, both between fellow guests and drovers. Friendships were formed as we compared lifestyles, swapped stories and dreams, and learnt about outback life. The character of these rugged men and women of outback Australia are etched in their faces, and each has a fascinating tale to tell.

For 77-year-old Whitey (who rides a white horse called Blacky, naturally!), this is literally a trip down memory lane, having undertaken his first droving job on the Oodnadatta Track 57 years ago, when he was a strapping lad of 19. For this old timer, there is great joy in sharing his world with a bunch of wide-eyed city slickers like myself.

“I especially admire the women who do this,” he says. “I’ve been riding all my life so I can’t imagine what it’s like to be scared on a horse. But they do it. They are all human beings, and I love it.”

And as we ride in the icy wind and red dust, absorbing the flat, parched countryside that promises so little but delivers so much, Whitey sums up the experience: “Just another day in heaven. You get up before dawn, then look at that sun coming up and you’ll know what I mean. Heaven.”

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