Bullo River cattle station is famous for the larger-than-life characters who've lived there. Located on the West Australian and Northern Territory border, its new owners are determined to prove cattlemen and women can work alongside conservation scientists.
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00:00 The Kimberley is known for its heart stirring landscapes, the dust haze, earthy waters,
00:10 the beauty of the boa trees combining in a magical call of the country.
00:19 Booloo River Station boasts it all, along with the legendary stories of the dreamers
00:25 and larger than life characters who've called this place home.
00:30 For Charles English Henderson III, this is his last stand.
00:38 He's a man who's lost and made more fortunes than most since his days as a wartime flying
00:43 ace with the American Navy.
00:45 But in Henderson's eyes, Booloo River has always been more than just a cattle station.
00:53 The 400,000 acre property will be familiar to those inspired by his widow, Sarah Henderson's
01:00 starkly candid account of raising three girls on Booloo alone.
01:04 I've been told so many times if I stay here five years I'll never leave.
01:12 I doubt if I'd last five years.
01:16 While the Hendersons might have put the far flung station on the map, the new tenants
01:21 could make an even more lasting impact.
01:28 Alexandra and Julian Burt bought Booloo River Station in 2017.
01:34 Both have prominent pastoral ancestry and wanted to own a piece of northern land.
01:38 But their joint vision extends well beyond just running cattle.
01:42 And that's where Booloo River Station has been the perfect stomping ground.
01:51 I think I woke up one morning and thought it would be nice to own a bit of land in northern
01:55 Australia because I thought well there's an opportunity to restore something, to fix something.
02:04 The Australian Wildlife Conservancy has been engaged under a 10 year agreement to demonstrate
02:09 how conservation and pastoral activities can co-exist.
02:12 For some, it's a controversial notion, but it's something the Burts want to prove.
02:29 The whole idea with Booloo is to consider both and not to degrade the country, to look
02:34 after it, to make it better than it was, to have more biodiversity than when you found
02:39 it, to leave no animal behind.
02:47 They've reduced cattle numbers to three and a half thousand to assist with the rehabilitation
02:51 of land.
02:55 Some grazing areas have been returned to native bush to increase wildlife and the wetlands
03:00 are being restored.
03:05 It's one of the few partnerships of its kind and the ambition is to create a model for
03:11 other pastoral operations to apply.
03:13 At the end of the day, pastoral can't be run just with grass.
03:19 You've got to be able to manage your country, manage your grasses, manage your soils, manage
03:23 your waterways.
03:24 Otherwise, it's more like planning for the future because you see so much devastation
03:32 throughout, whether it is in a conservation area or pastoral area, wherever it is, we
03:38 all need to work together to make it happen.
03:40 If we can't work together, it's going to be a very long road.
03:44 [Music]
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