Skillset gets a lift

The latest winner of the Roger Connellan award is a young mustering helicopter pilot based in Kununurra, WA.

Story Ken Eastwood  Photo courtesy Olivia Anderson

From an early age, mustering chopper pilot Olivia Anderson knew what job she was aiming for. “I was always that kid who got excited at the airport and thought planes were cool,” she says. Growing up mustering on her family’s northern Queensland cattle properties around Charters Towers and Richmond, she was occasionally given a ride in the helicopters. “I just thought, ‘This must be the coolest job ever’.”

Now in her mid-20s, with an exemplary record of flying on stations around Kununurra, as well as occasional stints in north Queensland and western NSW, Olivia has won the 2024 Roger Connellan Award, giving her $5,500 towards gaining her next aviation qualification – a sling rating, which will allow her to ferry loads slung below the helicopter. “There is definitely a lot of opportunities for work up here with it – even in the communities, helping out. For example, if they’re flooded in, we’ll sling in diesel to keep the generators running.”

Having just finished another 8-hour day mustering in the cockpit on Rosewood station, 100km east of Kununurra, Olivia says she doesn’t want to give up the cattle work, but just wants the extra opportunities that a sling rating would provide, particularly in the wet season when there is little mustering in the Top End. “Maybe I could do some firefighting over the summer,” she says.

Olivia attained her helicopter licence when she was 19, but continued to work for a few years mustering on the ground, knowing that mustering pilots are always more respected when they have spent time working with cattle on land. “During that time I was lucky enough to fill in a few times in the air here and there, doing things like bore runs and ferrying,” she says.

The Roger Connellan Award was established in 2017 by the Connellan Airways Trust in memory of the aviator with Connellan Airways. It aims to support aviation development for rural and remote people, recognising that bush pilots are vital to enhancing the capacity of remote places. The money Olivia receives will cover about 70% of the cost of the sling training – a competency-based course that should take a day.

“Olivia has demonstrated excellent aviation ethics and competency and is an example for other outback pilots striving to upskill within the industry,” says Connellan Airways Trust chair Liz Bird. “It is important that we support these skills to retain them in rural and remote areas.”