Dusk descends upon Mt Sanford Station’s near 250,000 hectares. Hundreds of noisy Corellas argue among the giant fig trees. Station hands emerge dressed in their ‘Sunday Best’ and I’ve arrived with ROADBOSS photographer Alastair Brook, wielding cameras.
What has stirred such excitement at beautiful Mt Sanford Station? Simply, the arrival of Lyle and Helen Kent and their red dust-stained Hino. The humble Stanthorpe-based husband and wife saddle makers who’ve been touring and providing the nation’s ringers with their outback essentials for 34 years.
Out here, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t know someone with a saddle or a bridle, a belt or a whip that hasn’t been crafted by Lyle.
And being 10 hours from Darwin, it’s been months since these ‘young’ ringers have had the chance to get to town to restock on work supplies, so the sight of Lyle and Helen Kent is a welcome one.
They’ve been travelling for more than eight weeks, hopping from station to station and are staying at Mt Sanford for a few days before pushing on towards South Australia.
Stanthorpe-based husband and wife saddle makers Lyle and Helen Kent have been touring and providing the nation’s ringers with their outback essentials for 34 years. Images: Alastair Brook
The return to Mt Sanford station is a special one for Lyle and Helen, a reunion of sorts with Paul and Kate Watts, the station managers they first met in the early 2000s. Then, just young ringers from NSW, Paul and Kate have since established themselves as well-credentialled managers, working their way up the ladder at Heytesbury Pastoral, the company that owns Mt Sanford and was founded by Australia’s first billionaire, Robert Holmes a Court.
And now in their seventies, this could be Lyle and Helen’s last big trip out west, and the chance to travel with them through the NT was one I simply couldn’t miss. But I wouldn’t worry, they said that about their tour in 2021.
Lyle parks the truck into position on the grass near the wonderful homestead and declares he’s open for business – a not-so-ordinary Hino, housing some of the finest leather work and craftsmanship you can find that seconds as a mobile home, saddlery workshop and pop-up store.
Wallets at the ready, the ringers get to work exploring the range that’s on offer. One ringer purchases a new belt, which Lyle carefully trims and cuts to size on his workbench in front of him, and another buys a stock whip.
Station manager Paul even points to his belt, a Lyle and Helen original from a station visit in the 2000’s; Kate his wife, a pair of spurs dating back to 2002.
Read the full story in the Spring Issue of ROADBOSS Magazine, out soon. Click here to subscribe.
