The cattle grid marking the end of the "town side" of Undoolya Road that travels east through Alice Springs opens the gate to the oldest cattle station in the Northern Territory.
On February 13, 1872, Undoolya Station became the territory's first pastoral lease when Adelaide socialite Edward Mead Bagot Snr signed a contract with the South Australian government.
"He was a fairly prominent bloke in South Australia," sixth-generation cattleman of Undoolya Station Ben Hayes, who runs the property with his wife Nicole, told ABC Rural.
"His son and stepson [Edward Mead Bagot Jnr and James Churchill Smith] brought the cattle up."
A long journey
The two men bought a herd of cattle from Pewsey Vale in the Barossa region of SA and began walking them north, following the telegraph line to Alice Springs.
"They say it was one of the biggest droving feats ever," Mr Hayes explained.
When they eventually got to Alice Springs, there was no infrastructure at all, other than the telegraph station.
In 1873 when the men and cattle arrived, the country — jutted with beautiful escarpments of red rock ranges and sweeping plains of spinifex — was home to the local Arrernte people and a small crew which worked on the telegraph station.
"It [Undoolya Station] was originally developed to supply meat for the overland telegraph line, to feed the people [working]," Mr Hayes said.
"There was bugger all really.
"Once they got them here, they had a hell of a time [keeping the cattle], they were forever looking for them."
Legacy for NT beef
President of the Northern Territory's Cattlemen's Association (NTCA) David Connolly said stations like Undoolya built the NT cattle industry.
"Those early families who spread into this great northern land did so not knowing what they would find or how they would handle what they would find," he said in his NTCA conference address earlier this year.
"What remains from these periods are those of us here today, our industry, our people and the land.
"A land bought and paid for by the very sweat that has dripped from the brows and the hands of those who have gone before us."
Undoolya Station was part of the unspoken agreement between the government and pastoralists that still remains to this day.
"We will pay for the right to run our cattle, we will build towns and communities and manage the land … in return the government must provide protection for these things that we've built and nurtured on their behalf," Mr Connolly explained.
100 years of Hayes
Two thirds of Undoolya's history has been in the hands of the Hayes family, which took over the property in 1906.
According to Nicole Hayes, the old records kept and handed down through generations of Undoolya cattlemen demonstrate a keen understanding of land management.
"They understood that you do have to treat it very carefully," she said.
"Pastoralists are criticised a lot for not being sustainable … 150 years is pretty sustainable, I think," she said.
Whilst looking through over a century of old photos, Mrs Hayes reflected on Undoolya's legacy in the Northern Territory's cattle industry.
"It just goes to show the longevity of our industry in the Northern Territory and Central Australia," she said.
"I think I'm pretty lucky actually … I've only been here for last nearly 30 years and I feel as much a part of Undoolya as anyone.
"Undoolya's home to so many people and I'm pretty proud to be a part of it."
