Lily Farrell – Gallipoli Station N.T

“Improving every year”

It’s not surprising to hear Lily Farrell, into her 5th year at Gallipoli Station N.T. in 2013, talk about “riding horses since I was a baby” and her love for wide open spaces.

The youngest in a family of five sisters and one brother!, Lily left school at fifteen and moved from her home in Terico on the far South Coast of N.S.W.

She worked in Forestry, spent two years in a café in Bellingen, inland from Coffs Harbour N.S.W and then acting on a dream of “going where I could work and ride,” she and her sister Lorna travelled together to the Northern Territory to begin a cattle station career move.

Lily has worked with numbers of people during her five years at Gallipoli Station, an outstation of Alexandria Downs. Ray Ferguson “Fergie” has always been her boss. (See 2013 Story on Ray Ferguson, “Born at the right time”.) Fergie affirms that Lily is “dedicated to her work, and is one hundred percent reliable. She’s improving every year.”

At the top of Lily’s preference list are riding horses for mustering and recreation and camping out at Number 36,Gallipoli’s main out station and drafting yards.

Asked about a future in the industry, Lily’s satisfaction with where she’s at is clear “I love it here … I’ll see where it takes me, I guess!”

In the last few years Robyn Peatling of Alexandria Station, along with other willing helpers, has been compiling a Year Book for NAPCO’s Alexandria, Gallipoli and Soudan Stations. Lily was happy for Kent Saddlery to include a short story which she’d contributed to the latest edition…

Learning to do a ‘Killer’

I came to work at Gallipoli in March 2009, and have gone with Fergie on many occasions to get a ‘killer’. For a long time I only helped in getting the hide off, taking the tongue, tail and rib bones, but late last year Fergs gave me the opportunity to take the brisket, and it was a pretty funny episode. When I am learning new things I am not the most confident person, so Fergie started the cut and showed me where to go in with the knife. I remember having a conversation that went something like this …

“Cut in here Fergs?”
“Yep in there”
“Keep going down here Fergs?”
“That’s right follow that seam”
“This seam Fergs?”
“That’s the one”
“Where do I finish it Fergs?”
“Just through there”
“Here Fergs?”
“You got it”

On the way home Fergs told me that once I learned to take the brisket without asking questions I could have a go at another cut. Since then I have learned to take the shoulder, silverside, round and topside. I laugh at the thought of how many questions I am going to throw at him when he starts teaching me the rest of the cuts and I look forward to it.

Lily Farrell, Gallipoli Station, 4-10-2012

Image caption:

1) Number 36 Outstation