WHEN you meet 26-year-old Andrew Briggs it’s very obvious how dedicated he is to his work.
Working cattle is not only a job for Andrew but a lifestyle that both he and fiancée Carissa Cleeson never shy away from.
He spent most of his life at Rylstone, New South Wales, until six years ago when he followed his heart over to WA.
With a close tie to agriculture and livestock, both Andrew’s parents and grandparents grew up on properties in the Eastern States.
“I used to go out and work on the property with my dad and I got into cattle carting when I could drive,” Andrew said.
At 16 years of age, he started a carpentry apprenticeship that he completed by the time he was 20.
In 2012 Andrew met Carissa Gleeson, also from NSW, who was working at Mulga Downs station in WA’s Pilbara that was run by her parents.
When Andrew first arrived at Mulga Downs he drove a cattle truck for his future father-in-law and other places in the area.
Carissa’s family is no longer at Mulga Downs and now runs Marymia station in the Gascoyne.
Both Carissa and Andrew have a strong passion for cattle and all things involved with the station lifestyle.
“I was coming back over to WA for work and we started dating before that, so he followed me over here to WA and the rest is history,” Carissa said.
Together they spent a few seasons up north at Mulga Downs, as well as contract mustering around the country for a few years before finding a more permanent home at Muchea.
“We went to Mount Isa in Queensland and worked on a couple of stations over there, then we came back to WA and got offered the job where we are now,” Andrew said.
The pair worked at Mulga Downs at mustering time and also conducted mustering, with horses, at other stations such as Ashburton Downs.
Now they are joint managers of a family-owned company farm in Muchea where they have been for the past three years.
Andrew said they had the responsibility of overseeing the whole operation and workers on behalf of the owners.
The 1618 hectare property is great for running cattle although Andrew said it was hard work with 1011ha unusable for stock due to its terrain and limited access.
“The rest is just bush and old pine plantations,” Andrew said.
“You wouldn’t be able to run anything there, you can’t drive a car through there or ride a bike.
“You wouldn’t even ride a horse through there which makes it difficult.”
Currently the property is running 300 head of cattle and in the past has run up to 750, but 800 head is its capacity.
The property runs a 50:50 split of Murray Grey and Wagyu cattle.
Andrew and Carissa have put a lot of effort in over the past three years and they have been slowly increasing the amount of stock each year.
“If I was a plumber by trade rather than a carpenter I would be much better off,” Andrew said.
“Half our job here is running poly pipe and doing the plumbing.”
Since living closer to Perth he has seized the opportunity to get his helicopter licence.
Over the past two years he has worked on passing tests and practice flights so one day he can muster cattle from the sky.
Andrew said his ultimate goal was to eventually head back up north to get back into station work.
“The plan one day is to run a station, a few years down the track, which this job may lead us to,” he said.
Both Andrew and Carissa reflected on the lifestyle of living on a station and how rewarding it can be.
“It’s a different lifestyle with different values, and it is definitely a lifestyle you get used to, so much so that when you aren’t doing it you really start to miss it,” Andrew said.
Carissa said the character of the people on the stations and their personalities were what made it such an amazing experience.
“Stations are a lot more social than people think, if you get along with everyone,” Carissa said.
“You may be isolated from a town but not from people.”
She said living in station country was like being part of one big family and even though they were isolated, everyone made the most of what they had.
Carissa said being three hours from the closest town and driving to get groceries once a week was something that became normal and people adapted to that surrounding.
She said some stations did fortnightly or even monthly shopping trips into town where they stocked up on items and dry foods, while their produce came from vegetable gardens around the homestead.
Andrew hopes to remain in WA for a long time to come and is looking forward to their wedding later this year.
Not everyone can enjoy the hot, dry and cattle-stenched conditions, but for these two young guns there’s no place more like home.