Life of a bushman
BREAKOUT QUOTE: "Before this land would not feed a rabbit- now it can feed a bullock."
AT 82 years Bob Forster has plenty of stories to tell about life in the North-West and Top End.
Cattle and horses have played a huge part in his time and today he is still a winner on the horse racing and beef producing circuits.
Mr Forster started jockeying at the age of 17 and continued to ride until 55, remnant of his family history.
"My family has been racing horses since 1900," Mr Forster said.
"My grandfather rode from Kapunda to Milo Station, Adavale, south-west Queensland, in 1890.
"Then he rode all the way up to my family's property, Gracedale, Richmond, with 37 thoroughbred horses, five draft horses and four pack horses."
Until 1990, Mr Forster had lived his entire life at Gracedale- a 24,281ha property now owned by Mr Forster's son David Forster.
Upon retiring from Gracedale Mr Forster moved to Kapunda, Charters Towers, with the intention of starting a Limousin stud.
"I found the Limousin breed is a bit surly," he said.
"Now I buy and sell steers at the Charters Towers saleyards."
His involvement in the beef industry may be less than his grand days at Gracedale, but Mr Forster maintains his winning connections in the horse racing world.
Surrounding the Kapunda homestead, a series of iron shelters and paddocks has been built on fields of green grass, where his five race horses' holiday during the off-season.
Mr Forster's formula for racing horses is simple: research and breed from the best stock.
While talking to the North Queensland Register, Mr Forster fed a foal and its eight-year-old mother.
He pointed out that the mare has a low-set back- a sign of good racing genes that will hopefully be passed onto the foal.
What you see today at Kapunda is a well-established property with the best infrastructure.
When Mr Forster first arrived at Kapunda the block was covered in thick wattle.
"Now the property has improved grasses and legumes," Mr Forster said.
"Before this land would not feed a rabbit- now it can feed a bullock."
Especially since recording 177ml from December 22.
"That is bloody good rain for the start of the wet season," Mr Forster said.
Pointing to a nearby dam, Mr Forster said that "this dam got that low before the rain came that you could see the red claws on the bottom."
Seeing the bottom of dams is nothing new to Mr Forster either.
When he was jackarooing in the Northern Territory the rains would be phenomenal but feed hard to come by.
Brumbies would graze paddocks to the bone and it was Mr Forster's job to cull the fast-breeding herd.
His formula for culling brumbies was to approach the animal during dusk from the direction of the setting sun, so the wild horses could not see into the near distance, and shoot humanely at the heart.
Other times Mr Forster talks about seeing empty dams filled with brumbies stuck up to their eyes in mud.
It was a long time ago and even harder to imagine as Mr Forster drives around the green pastures of Kapunda.
In the distance horses graze on the green grass, which serves as a testament to Mr Forster's pasture improvement practice- as do the race horses' results.
In 2009, Mr Forster won two races with People's Choice at the Townsville Amateurs and Hot Dice, who strived to victory for the Townsville Perpetual Shield.
Story and picture: MARTIN VOLZ
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