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Welcome to Humans of Agriculture. This podcast series is dedicated to discovering more about our food system, from the people involved in it.
Along the journey we'll be meeting people from all walks of life from Australia and from afar. Join us as we find out how our communities and our culture shape what we eat, and ultimately who we are.
​More people, More often, Identifying with Agriculture
Oli Le Lievre 0:04
G'day and welcome back to another episode of the humans of agriculture podcast. This week I'm at home finally, and I'm down on one run country. This is where this podcast has been produced and recorded. Now it's not every week that the podcast is disrupted by the sound of road trains that are shuttering the offices of our guests, but that's just what happens when your office is on the main street in Catherine in the Northern Territory, it's just part of the office ambience, or some people like elevator music, slightly different for our next guest live Thompson lives with La WA. She's originally a territory kid, having grown up on cattle stations across the north, but she wanted to experience and see the world after having a start in real estate. She realised she didn't want to be a yappy agent, and the dream of writing cutting horses. And the lure of potential big cash in Texas was too good to refuse well to live, although the writing and experience was amazing, the cash certainly wasn't what it was tucked up to be. Nonetheless, she spent more of her money fixing tires and at one stage even had to go without food that was all just part of the adventure in shaping who she is and what she's doing today. Today, she's a director with La WD out of Katherine, she loves her community and the jobs that she's found her way into. So let's jump into this one.
We've got David Thompson from law. He's a director based in Catherine the Northern Territory. For the people who aren't familiar with the pop rocket cafe. Check it out. Leave, I want to know you've been in the territory for four years now. What was it that drew you up there?
Speaker 2 1:36
I just wanted to come home. So I spent my childhood on cattle stations in the Northern Territory. My parents had the lease at Phillip creek for a while, which is new Tennant Creek. And My early childhood was at Emory station, and then spent a lot of time sort of around the Vic River District. And Lynn banya was another place that I lived at when I was a kid, which I'd love to so last year, which was a nice sort of full circle coming back home and spend a little bit of time in the Kimberley as well, mom and dad used to manage el Questro station in the early days.
Oli Le Lievre 2:08
Well, what is it about the territory in northern Australia boy?
Speaker 2 2:12
Well, some say it's the last frontier, I have to agree. I don't know, it just feels like home, when I smell rain in the desert, or, you know, you see the wet season clouds rolling in the monsoon and you just have months and months of hot weather. And then all of a sudden it's the dry season. And it's just perfect. It's, you know, I guess from that point of view, I love the territory, but the painful. I've never been in a more entrepreneurial town than Katherine. Nobody just has a job, they have a business and then they have these side hustles. And then they have investment properties. And you know, and even in the pastoral industry, it just amazes me that you would never know if somebody was a truck driver, or they had a string of properties. And were an absolute millionaire. So you just can't judge a book by its cover very key people.
Oli Le Lievre 3:02
Well, and I feel like things. And this is coming from a complaint outside of the things I've heard of Catherine is like crime rates and challenges with like the locals and whatnot. It must be an interesting place to work kind of as a cross section town for so many other people. But also it does have its challenges.
Speaker 2 3:22
Yeah, look, I guess we are going through a bit of a phase at the moment, and it probably is getting a lot of media coverage. Because Oh yes, because people are trying to be proactive and address the problem that I think there's a lot of board use. And I guess you know, it sort of picks up a little bit over the wet season when people come in from surrounding communities to being Katherine as well. Just overcrowded living that kind of thing. But the community of Katherine is probably one of the things I love about living here. I've never been in a more charitable places. As far as fundraising or event Scotland, just, there's a lot of want amongst the people.
Oli Le Lievre 3:58
The thing like I definitely miss about living in country towns and that I loved I was in Roma only recently. And yeah, like literally everyone knows each other, but you actually know things about the people, as opposed to I think, down the street here in Geelong or whatnot, you might see people that you know, but it's literally superficial compared to what rural towns have. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 4:20
And I mean, the territory itself is you know, quite a small place in that sense of people sort of knowing each other and you know, there's I often do that trip down the street and highway you know, from Darwin to Ellis kind of thing is my stretch, and you know, the places to stop because you're gonna run into people and and deceive him with my job driving people around. You know, I've had the most amazing stories, success stories of you know, well, I started out here and this is how I ended up with five cattle stations kind of thing.
Oli Le Lievre 4:51
So tell me a little bit about your career. So you obviously grew up in the territory, but what were you interested in as a young attacker and look Do I guess start to build a career? Well, the
Speaker 2 5:01
truth is I'm probably was like any 20 year old actually 19, I'd finished school and I really didn't have any idea what I wanted to do at all probably just go to Melbourne because all my friends, I finished off high school and that Chica Victoria, and all my friends went to Melbourne. So I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I'll probably just wanted to follow the pack. And Mum and dad moved to Darwin. So followed them up here. And my first job was actually in real estate. I did a traineeship and worked as a PA for an residential agent for a couple of years. And then had an opportunity to go and work as a Lopa for cutting horse trainer in the States. So when did that for a couple of years. And I think good combination of I think it's good to get a bit of a skill and a bit of an idea of a career, I guess. And then go into a job where you're working really long hours and not getting paid very well. Even though it's fun, you kind of work out pretty quickly that if you're going to work hard that you want to make good money. So after that, I did have a stint where I worked in a motorbike shop still a bit lost went to Cannes, at about I think it was 23 then went to Cannes instead of working for a property developer and selling residential land.
Oli Le Lievre 6:16
Just do a quick snapshot for those people who are listening and have no idea what a cutting horse trainer is. So obviously you cut your teeth in real estate land and then thought actually, I'm gonna go on Chase cattle and horses and whatnot. How did the opportunity come up over in the States, our friend
Speaker 2 6:30
had been over there. And he said a good writer like you would earn 70,000 a year, you know, which was saying was a really a lot of it was a lot of money like 20 years ago. And for a 20 year old. I was like, Well, why would I keep working as a PA, I applied for a job over there. And it was actually $200 a week that was the guy that was really good for us. It taught me to save as well. And yeah, I had done a lot of a lot about racing as a youth and the dream is to always go to the States. And you know, whilst wasn't in barrel racing, it was another avenue and I loved it so much. So I did stay two years, but I think it's a good young person job.
Oli Le Lievre 7:10
And he's everything bigger in Texas.
Speaker 2 7:13
Well, I didn't even know how to answer that. Yeah, I guess everything about Texas is big in personality in nature. Yeah. And I think once you've been a Texan euros a Texan as well. It's definitely my favourite state.
Oli Le Lievre 7:26
What are the similarities between like Northern Australia and maybe that I guess, true, iconic cowboy that we see out of Texas in America,
Speaker 2 7:35
I don't even really think is that similar. I felt like I'd gone to Japan when I got to the states, like just the culture shock was almost a bit overwhelming. I thought we speak the same language, they have an accent, I didn't realise nobody was going to be able to understand me or just their, you know, going into the supermarket was a big experience of like, not knowing what I had no idea what any of their food was. And I lost 10 kilos, because I didn't realise I ate so much chilli and I grew up on such a bland diet of like corned beef for stews and really, you know, three veg and meat kind of diet and then to move there and everything sort of got a Mexican influence. And what I love about Texans is I love their manners. I love how courteous they are towards each other. I love that when they shake each other's hand, they take their glove off first. And they have those kind of old fashioned values. And I guess, yeah, probably a similar lifestyle, the ranch ranching to cattle stations, very different, but I guess similar in their love for the land.
Oli Le Lievre 8:39
So you mentioned you came home to Australia and you went back into the property world? What was it that like with the skill set you had in the interest that didn't take you back to working on the station or on farm?
Speaker 2 8:50
So I just I think that to be honest, I'd probably like the salary package of of real estate better than working on a station. And I just like that, you know, you could almost be your own boss as well. And you know, the more you sold, the better your income was. So you kind of have a little bit more control in your destiny to be.
Oli Le Lievre 9:08
So how's that evolved for you in the real estate world?
Unknown Speaker 9:12
How has it evolved?
Oli Le Lievre 9:13
Yeah. How's your career evolved in real estate? And what are some of those opportunities that have popped up for you?
Speaker 2 9:19
I moved across in 2019. And I've had a really great year in 2018. And another company had offered me a job opening an office then had the exposure in real estate, or property sells for a long time. And anyway, I was a little bit delusionally positive about how great it was going to be. And I think my first year I made $960 Commission, then my savings account was dwindling away. And then I had some really great people give me an opportunity. And I even had a couple of people say yeah, you can list our cattle station as well which, to be honest, I was totally clueless. You know, I grew up on the land. We've got a lot of great info It says in my life when it comes to cropping and cattle, that kind of thing, but I just had no idea when it came to selling. So obviously, it's evolved a lot in that sense.
Oli Le Lievre 10:11
So when Millie chatted to you a few weeks ago, she did mention that was a bit of a funny story about a dairy opportunity in Northwest Australia that was worth asking you about?
Speaker 2 10:21
Yeah, well, you know, I'm just the messenger. So I did get an email that was somebody looking to set up a dairy in Australia. But can I say, How do I have not sent out that ridiculous email to our entire database? I wouldn't have got I actually had a lot of people contact me. And I listed two stations out of it.
Oli Le Lievre 10:43
So like, what was the feedback you got out of that?
Speaker 2 10:46
Well, silence was the probably the strongest barometer there. But I did have some people reach out and say, Oh, hey, welcome to the territory, or, you know, I do sell stuff around Catherine, or, you know, or even had someone from the Kimberley. Just elderly gentleman needs to call me every now and then just to sort of give me an update on what's happening in the Kimberley market. And, yeah, it was really productive in that sense of getting my name out there definitely caught people's attention. And like I said, I'm going to go into who started Brett's car rentals actually contacted me and said, Well, you can also list Scott Creek and Maryville West.
Oli Le Lievre 11:21
Does he have a son Marty?
Unknown Speaker 11:22
He does. Gotcha. Yeah, I
Oli Le Lievre 11:24
met Marty. In Darwin ones.
Unknown Speaker 11:26
Oh, okay. Yeah,
Oli Le Lievre 11:27
yeah, there you go. So like, and I think one thing with our audiences, there are lots of younger people that listen live. And I think, although were you wanting to topple over with embarrassment, initially, it actually turned out to be something quite good.
Speaker 2 11:42
Absolutely. And I think like anybody that looks back on their career, kind of cringes at their early days. And from that, I actually did an inspection at Scott crate. And I had no idea about how to do an information memorandum or really didn't know, I just sort of treat it like any other inspection that I would take them out. And if there was any questions, I'd follow up on it. And I got quite told off actually, because I was unprepared, but you don't know what you don't know, I guess. And I made it my mission to know after that. And I actually showed that same buyer a couple properties in recent years. And the first one, I was so proud to give him my information memorandum, which was quite an extensive one. And he actually said last year, he said, You know, we've really watched your career. And, you know, we're really proud of what you're doing. And yeah, it was nice to have that support.
Oli Le Lievre 12:32
Do you look back on that? I guess, being in the deep end, swimming, and just trying to stay afloat? Often to actually look at how far you've come?
Speaker 2 12:39
Probably not really, I guess it's when you sort of think of those little stories like the story I told me where you sort of go, oh, geez, rookie error. But I think you've just got to be bold, and get out there and give it a go. And not be afraid of making mistakes, because you will, but sometimes mistakes can lead to listing two stations.
Oli Le Lievre 12:57
Yeah. Well, and I was gonna ask on that, because do you find like, it's not a? Well, I guess, not backing away from maybe not knowing it's actually going, Oh, if things don't work out something, it'll be right. Like, it's not the end of the world kind of thing?
Speaker 2 13:09
Absolutely. Yeah. You've just got to keep moving forward. You will cringe a little bit when you think about it, but you still have to keep moving forward.
Oli Le Lievre 13:17
So is there any other career highlights or stories, which kind of pop up that you think have been quite formative in terms of forming year over the years?
Speaker 2 13:25
How about this opportunity to work on the North Star pastoral portfolio showed me a completely different way of doing things. And it was yeah, it was just a remarkable experience was extremely proud to be a part of the process. And so at that stage, you you weren't working for law? No, I was working for another company at that point.
Oli Le Lievre 13:43
Yeah. Cool. And does it happen quite a bit in the north, where those different opportunities pop up with, I guess, different businesses and people working collaboratively to support local landholders?
Speaker 2 13:53
It happens occasionally. I think probably the benefit of that was that I was local. I was definitely the green Person of the team. But I was local, so I could do the inspections. And Danny brought, you know, his connections and his experience.
Oli Le Lievre 14:09
What do you think you've learned about that, I guess, willingness to live in quite rural parts of Australia and still be able to build a career.
Speaker 2 14:17
I think there's nothing like being at grassroot level with people that I can go into the supermarket and bump into, you know, people that go there's one deal I'm working on at the moment. And that happened because I happen to be getting lettuce the same time as you know, another person and and had a discussion. So you just never know where your opportunities are gonna come from. And also having an understanding, like, understanding of the process of properties, I feel like you need to live here to understand it. You need to be a part of that community. And, you know, this time of the year we're about to go into our really hard time of the year as far as, you know, cattle hanging on water and finalising, musters and potential for bushfires and the next couple of months it's really tough. I feel like if you don't live here, you don't really understand those elements as well. So it's the community, the environment, it's really beneficial. And I think I'm probably one of the only sort of corporates that actually is based in a rural town in the Northern Territory.
Oli Le Lievre 15:14
And that transition into Lord, we obviously know that the business hasn't been around for too many years. I think it was 2020 that it started. But what's it been like to join that team, the business working much more closely with Danny more often?
Speaker 2 15:29
Yeah, I'm really proud. I mean, this, as we discussed before, it's a fast growing company, or losing track of all the people that we have there. Now, I feel like every week, we've got new people joining, but just a lot of outstanding professionals, and love also the different sides that we have, you know, we've got a really strong transaction agric transaction team. But we also have an amazing development team that's based in Melbourne. And also, we've branched out to Sydney and have some great people there. So just sort of that cross pollination between the two groups and learning the intricacies of both of those businesses.
Oli Le Lievre 16:04
What is it for you live that's getting like, I guess, keeping you involved, but also getting you excited about where agriculture is at, but also where it's heading?
Speaker 2 16:11
I guess, like, how many places around the world? Can you buy large holdings with big herds like you have in the Northern Territory? Or, you know, even parts of Queensland? I think that's exciting. And I think it does make it quite unique. And it also reduces the cropping side of things as well. I mean, we're going through a bit of a cotton boom, as you probably no. And just seeing how that's expanding. You know, there's a lot more people getting out there growing cotton now and just seeing how it evolves as well, and how productivity is up here.
Oli Le Lievre 16:39
Yeah, well, I remember driving through there in July last year, I was with a fella who spent probably 15 years in the territory, and he's like, he's the first time I've ever crossed the Barkley seen just cotton on the side of the road that obviously come off trucks as driving through it. It certainly seems like there's a lot of excitement and chat about it.
Speaker 2 16:57
Well, hopefully there won't be too much more through the Barkley as our cotton gins faster coming to completion. And that's in Catherine too, isn't it? Yeah, it is. It's just about 30 kilometres north of Catherine.
Oli Le Lievre 17:09
Yeah, cool. Well, I've only got one other question and ask everyone that comes on live. And I'll be interested because you've definitely tracked around a little bit in terms of your career and different things. But if you had the chance to reach out to your 10 students about a career in agriculture, what would you say to them?
Speaker 2 17:25
Look, I just I'd probably say Don't think too much into it. Just go and see where it leads to just make a start somewhere, and see what area you enjoy and what interests you and where your career path goes from there. Awesome.
Oli Le Lievre 17:41
Well, that's it for another episode from us here at humans of agriculture. We hope you're enjoying these podcasts. And well if you're not, let us know hit us up at Hello at humans of agriculture.com. Get in touch with any guests recommendations topics, or things you'd like us to talk and get curious about. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend. Right subscribe, review it, any feedback is absolutely awesome. And we really do welcome it. So look after yourselves. Stay safe, stay sane. We'll see you next time.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai