Marlee Ranacher is an Australian author. [1]
Ranacher is also a cancer survivor, wife, mother of two sons, pilot, cook, bull catcher and cattle musterer, bulldozer driver and accomplished horsewoman. She lives with her Austrian-born husband Franz and two sons, Ben and Franz. [2] [3] Ranacher's LinkedIn profile lists her as 'Director' of 'Farming' 'Industry' located in the Northern Territory of Australia. [4]
Ranacher is the eldest daughter of American ex-serviceman, Charles and his wife, acclaimed author Sara Henderson, and was raised on the remote topend cattle station Bullo River in the Victoria River District of the Northern Territory of Australia. She and husband Franz acquired the property in March 2001 from her mother after a legal battle documented on the ABC's Australian Story 2001. [5] The Ranachers hoped to create a unique ecotourism destination at Bullo River. [6]
Bullo River was put on the market for the first time in 2011, amidst the fallout from Indonesian live cattle export bans. [7] An interview with Ranacher was broadcast on the Nine Network's 60 Minutes program about the effect of the Gillard government's bans. This prompted the August 2011 Cattlemen's drive to Canberra from Perth and Cairns. [8]
In early 2012, Ranacher's small Cessna airplane's engine failed while she was searching for cattle on the Victoria River floodplain; forcing her to land wheels up on a mud bank of a three kilometer wide river with a fast incoming tide of 7.5 meters. She struggled through the mud, then swam 500 meters to the riverbank. Ranacher later said "our bad fortune losing the plane was in fact good fortune". Ranacher received an insurance payout from the crash of the Cessna and she said that this enabled them to hang on, though tenuously, until later in the year when with a second bit of luck they were able to sell floodplain cattle for a good price. "It gave us the option of turning away offers for Bullo that didn't meet our benchmark". Bullo was put on the market for the second time, and sold for $9-$10 million in 2016. [9]
Ranacher's first book Bullo: The Next Generation is biographical and coveys her deep love and connection for her home and land and details the hardships of both the bush and those between family members; culminating in the acrimonious court battle with mother Sara Henderson over the future of Bullo. [2]
A review of Bullo: The Next Generation emphasizes Ranacher's business wisdom and entrepreneurial spirit; along with her appreciation of nature and the complexities of outback life in Australia. It is obvious Ranacher was not a struggling station owner, but a wise business person making deliberate business decisions. [10]
Cover photographs for Bullo: The Next Generation were by David Hancock, SKyscans. [2]
Henderson, S., illustrated by Ranacher M. (1995). Some of My Friends have Tails , Pan Macmillan: Sydney, ISBN 0732908175
Ranacher, M. (2003). Bullo: The Next Generation Random House Australia Pty Ltd: Sydney, New York, Toronto, London, Auckland, Johannesburg, ISBN 1740511557
Ranacher, M. (2016). Bullo: Sequel , Bantam: North Sydney, ISBN 9780857984449
In Australia, a station is a large landholding used for producing livestock, predominantly cattle or sheep, that need an extensive range of grazing land. The owner of a station is called a pastoralist or a grazier, corresponding to the North American term "rancher".
Sir Sidney Kidman was an Australian pastoralist who owned or co-owned large areas of land in Australia in his lifetime.
Sara Jane Henderson was an Australian pastoralist and author who became an Australia household name after the publication of her autobiography From Strength to Strength in 1993 about rebuilding Bullo River cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia.
Reginald Murray "R.M." Williams AO CMG was an Australian bushman and entrepreneur who rose from a swagman to a millionaire, he was born at Belalie North near Jamestown in the Mid North of South Australia, 200 kilometres (120 mi) north of Adelaide CBD, into a pioneering settler family working and training horses. Willilams had many adventures in Australia's rugged outback as a bushman, and became known for creating an Australian style of bushwear clothing and footwear recognised worldwide and the company that bore his name.
In Australia and New Zealand, a cattle station is a large farm, the main activity of which is the rearing of cattle. The owner of a cattle station is called a grazier. The largest cattle station in the world is Anna Creek Station in South Australia, which covers an area of 23,677 square kilometres.
Ellen Liddy Watson was a pioneer of Wyoming who became known as Cattle Kate, an outlaw of the Old West, although the characterization is a dubious one, as subsequent research has tended to see her as a much maligned victim of a self styled land baron. Watson had acquired homestead rights on land with water resources vital to the wealthiest rancher in the county, Albert Bothwell, when she was accused by him of cattle rustling. She was abducted from her home and lynched along with her husband by Bothwell and some other ranchers he had incited against her. The bodies were left hanging for 2 days, and the reputation that attached to her until recently was quickly established by newspaper publicity. Accounts of Watson as a rustler are now regarded as highly biased. Her life has become an Old West legend, and inspired a number of television and film accounts.
Australia is a 2008 adventure drama film directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. The screenplay was written by Luhrmann and screenwriter Stuart Beattie, with Ronald Harwood and Richard Flanagan. The film is a character story, set between 1939 and 1942 against a dramatised backdrop of events across northern Australia at the time, such as the bombing of Darwin during World War II.
Henry Arthur "Harry" Readford, was an Australian stockman, drover and cattle thief.
We of the Never Never is an autobiographical novel by Jeannie Gunn first published in 1908. Although published as a novel, it is an account of the author's experiences in 1902 at Elsey Station near Mataranka, Northern Territory in which she changed the names of people to obscure their identities. She published the book under the name Mrs Aeneas Gunn, using her husband's first and last name. Over the years, newspapers and magazine articles chronicled the fortunes of the Elsey characters. Jeannie outlived all but Bett-Bett.
Ivanhoe or Ivanhoe Station is a pastoral lease and cattle station located just north of Kununurra in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Founded in 1893 by the Durack brothers, station is presently owned by the Consolidated Pastoral Company.
Balfour Downs Station is a pastoral lease and cattle station located approximately 132 kilometres (82 mi) northeast of Newman, 88 kilometres (55 mi) east of Roy Hill and 108 kilometres (67 mi) southeast of Nullagine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. At 6,395 square kilometres (2,469 sq mi), it is among the largest cattle stations in Australia.
Litchfield Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station. It is located about 44 kilometres (27 mi) north west of Daly River and 69 kilometres (43 mi) west of Adelaide River in the Northern Territory of Australia. Composed primarily of open grazing land the property occupies an area of 1,336 square kilometres (516 sq mi). The two adjoining sister properties are Elizabeth Downs and Tipperary Stations, all three currently operate as a single entity often referred to as the Tipperary Group.
Durham Downs Station most commonly known as Durham Downs is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in Durham, Shire of Bullo in South West Queensland, Australia. The property is situated in a remote and arid location along Cooper Creek where it often experiences drought and floods. It was originally established in the 1870s and now belongs to the Kidman family. In the 1940s, overgrazing by wild horses left little food for stock and led to the implementation of a culling program.
Dunbar Station is a pastoral lease that currently operates as a cattle station in Queensland, Australia. The homestead is located on the Burke Developmental Road, Maramie in the Shire of Carpentaria.
Bullo River Station also once known as Bullo River Valley Station, is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia.
Deep Well Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia.
Ban Ban Springs Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia.
Bonney Downs Station is a pastoral lease that was once a sheep station but now operates as a cattle station in Western Australia.
Marie Therese "Terry" Underwood is a best-selling Australian author who lived on a remote cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia.