Australian Story: Mar 5

Monday’s Australian Story tells the story of a young man from remote Western Australia, a young woman from the Melbourne suburbs and the battle to save an historic grazing property in one of the oldest landscapes on the planet.

David Pollock was just twenty-seven when his father chose him over his older brother to take over the family’s pastoral lease in outback Western Australia. Originally the size of a small town, Wooleen station had fallen on hard times as over-grazing and drought decimated the landscape.

David’s radical plans to remove the cattle from the half million acre property and regenerate the country shocked his neighbours. The project may well have failed but for the unexpected arrival of a young woman in her gap year from Melbourne.

The story starts when grazier’s son David Pollock unexpectedly finds himself in charge of the family pastoral lease at the remote Wooleen Station, on the southern rangelands, eight hours’ north of Perth.

In an agonising decision, his father Brett bypassed David’s older brother and decided to support his youngest son in a radical plan to restore the land for future generations.

Once highly productive, the rangelands had been devastated by years of over grazing and poor land management.

But David Pollock’s bold plan to destock the property and nurse the land back to health was proving too difficult – until an eighteen year old woman called Frances Jones turned up from Melbourne on an outback adventure.

To the horror of her parents, Frances Jones fell in love with both the property and David Pollock The young couple joined forces and combined their talents.

Together they are implementing progressive new land management approaches that his once sceptical neighbours are now watching with interest.

It’s a race against time but they believe they are in with a chance of saving the property and restoring the degraded landscape.

8pm Monday ABC1