Lured by the beauty of the surrounding landscape, three generations of the Cadzow family have spent 30 years transforming the Northern Territory’s Mount Riddock Station into a showcase cattle-breeding property.
Story By Kerry Sharp
When Dick and Ann Cadzow first drove off the Plenty Highway into Mount Riddock Station in 1986 to inspect their prospective new home, they were captivated by the peaks of Harts Range draped in a purple haze, and native wildflowers carpeting the landscape from “boundary to boundary”. The Central Australian station’s rock-solid reputation for producing quality stock was a good enough reason to buy the property but the beauty of the place sealed the deal and now three generations of the Cadzow family are raising Poll Hereford cattle in the shadows of the range. “It was very rundown but it did have a great reputation and that’s the main reason we bought it,” says Dick, who’s now in his 80s and showing no signs of slowing down. Dick married his South Australian sweetheart Ann, from Goolwa, 53 years ago when she was a young station governess near his hometown of Keith and he was clearing 40,000 hectares of scrub on Kangaringa Station next door. He calls her his greatest achievement.
This story excerpt is from Issue #91
Outback Magazine: Oct/Nov 2013
