Day of Kate

25-year-old Kate Nelder manages a 400 square kilometre cattle station in the Northern Territory. Alone. 

Words & Photography: Kate Nelder

5:30 am: The alarm on my phone cuts through the early morning stillness of my bedroom at Wyworrie Station, around 200 kilometres south west of Katherine in the Northern Territory. With no one to cuddle this morning, I roll out of bed. My husband Jake works away as a helicopter mustering pilot, so I grab a cup of coffee and some oats and watch the sunrise from my back verandah.

I’ve been working as the manager of Wyworrie, a 400 square-kilometre station (100,000 acres), since 2018. Living and working predominantly on my own, I rely pretty heavily on the company of my two kelpie border collie crosses, Rosie and Lucy. They’re never far from my side from sunrise to sunset. While no southern winter, it’s currently the dry season and for a born-and-bred Territorian, anything below 18 degrees warrants a sturdy jacket. Now rugged and booted up, I walk the short distance from the main house to the shed with my girls in tow.

Read more about Kate in Vol. 01 of Bush Journal.

Kate Nelder is a photographer and station manager from the Northern Territory.