Heading north to pursue a dream

Friends, Millie Locke from Tocumwal and Bridget O’Dwyer from Shepparton, are heading 2000km north to Charters Towers in Queensland on February 4 to become jillaroos.

“We’re both from farms and love horses and stock work so we can’t wait to be spending half our lives up there in a saddle,” Millie said.

Heading north to chase cows on horseback is not a new concept in Australia, but it is a thrilling one, especially when you’re 18, well and truly sick of your home town and busting to escape the trappings of civilisation.

“I finished Year 12 at Goulburn Valley Grammar School at the end of 2022 and am hoping to study vet science at Wagga Wagga in the future,” Millie said.

With neighbours, cousins and family friends all spruiking the perks of ‘going north,’ Millie and Bridget are packing their swags, big hats and work shirts and jumping in the family’s old Prado to make the journey ‘straight up the guts’ with Millie’s dad, Rob.

“I spoke to my boss, and he said we’ll be living in dongas with a shared living space and from what I can tell, we’ll be doing a lot of stock work on the station,” Millie said.

“It’s a fairly intensive Wagyu operation that does artificial insemination, which will give me great experience for my vet studies.”

Millie’s love of station life was kick-started back in 2014 when her family travelled Australia, staying on stations in the Gulf of Carpentaria and in the Northern Territory.

Millie said she fell hard for the country, the people and the environment and could not wait to get back up in those wide open spaces.