Jerry rides hard to keep
traditional ways alive
JERRY KELLY HAS
THE BARKLY
REGION RUNNING
THROUGH HIS
BLOOD,
DISCOVERS
TOURISM CENTRAL
AUSTRALIA’S
PAIGE NGUYEN
JERRY Kelly is a Warumungu
Man and traditional owner
from the Barkly Region.
He was born under a prickly
bush on Alroy Station, in the
autumn of 1958.
His mother worked as a
cook on the station where she
met his father, an Irish
butcher.
Shortly after Jerry’s birth,
his father left.
Despite the departure,
Jerry’s childhood was largely a
happy one.
Growing up on Alroy and
then Banka Banka Station,
north of Tennant Creek, Jerry
never felt that he was missing
much.
Surrounded by his mother
and the traditional, older Aboriginal stockmen who “grew
him up” – the void left by his
absent father was filled with
the reassuring presence of his
Warumungu people.
“When I was on Banka
Banka Station I speak Warumungu, if you put Warumungu
in a book I can’t read it, I was
taught straight from the Warumungu people,” he said.
“The language is not something you can learn at school
or in a book.”
From the age of six, the
older Aboriginal men on the
station taught Jerry stockman
skills and how to survive on the
land.
“I learnt how to muster,
rodeo, drive cattle – these old
people showed us the way to
do things out bush, breaking
horses, riding, building yards,
fencing, making damper, cutting up a killer – everything old
ways.”
It was also common in the
1960s for remote cattle stations
to have silver bullet caravans
where children were educated.
This was where Jerry received his formal schooling.
Out of school, Jerry spent
his time making toys out of
boxes, wire, tobacco tins and
learning from the stockmen.
This training groomed Jerry
for life as a stockman and as a
grown man he worked on remote cattle stations throughout Northern Territory and
outback Queensland.
Working with horses has
Jerry Kelly, a Warumungu Man and traditional owner from the Barkly region, taking kids out on a trail ride.
always been Jerry’s passion but
it was not until he met
Georgina that he discovered a
way of using his passion to help
others.
Born and bred in Sydney,
Georgina Bracken was an exhibiting visual artist who often
travelled to the desert to paint.
Inspired by the natural colours, the raw beauty of the
landscape and the outback
characters she made Central
Australia her permanent home
in 1990.
“It’s inspiring – it’s raw, it’s
beautiful,” she said.
“It’s such a luxury to have
space, fresh air and yes it can
be harsh – hot and dry but it is
a last frontier, a rare and subtle
gem, a refuge, a wilderness – a
place to make your soul soar.”
Georgina spent her first
nine years living and working
in remote communities before
she settled in Tennant Creek.
She was managing Nyinkka
Nyunyu Art & Cultural Centre
when a young colleague requested to matchmake Georgina with her father.
She met Jerry and sparks
flew.
It wasn’t long before they
were looking to buy a house
together.
Georgina wanted a place
that was on the outskirts of
Tennant Creek and Jerry
wanted a property that was
large enough to accommodate
horses.
They found their home and
named it Kelly’s Ranch.
And it’s here, at this special
place just outside Tennant
Creek where Jerry, Georgina
and their horses have influenced and shaped lives.
With Georgina’s management skills, Kelly’s Ranch was
set up as both a tourist and
training facility.
For visitors passing through
Tennant Creek, Jerry takes
them out on horse rides to
show them the beautiful and
grassy open plains of the Barkly region and also how to find
bush tucker.
As a training facility, he
teaches the local Indigenous
youth (many are correctional
kids) horse and cattle handling
so that they could gain employment at cattle stations in
the Territory.
Jerry is giving them the opportunities that he was given.
“I’ve been with horses since
I was six, I’ve never left them,”
he said.
“Now I’m training kids to
work with horses.
“What I was taught as a kid,
I want to carry that on to other
young kids.
“I can see some of the problems that the kids have and I
try to get them out on the stations around the Barkly.
“I train them here and then
send them out.”
Jerry is passionate about his
role as a mentor.
And he firmly believes that
by providing these kids with a
career pathway through working with horses – it keeps them
out trouble.
“I’m teaching the kids to
make them feel better so that
they don’t have to worry about
anything else – not the family,
the troubles and not to run
when they see someone
coming.”
In addition to his work at
the ranch, Jerry also trains
youth at Nyinkka Nyunyu.
He teaches them how to
make boomerangs, nulla nulla,
coolamon and clapping sticks.
Jerry teaches them cultural
traditions so that certain practices are not lost on future
generations.
Both Georgina and Jerry
are passionate about the Barkly. For Jerry, it’s the only place
that he’s ever called home. His
connection to horses is as deep
as his connection to land.
“I like the landscape, it’s all
black soil country and freshwater.
Picture: SUPPLIED
Georgina Bracken and Jerry Kelly.
“I like the animals out here;
we have the brolgas, the whistleducks and the black soil
goannas.
“The open plains speak to
me better than the desert rocks
and mountain country.”
And for Georgina, Sydney is
but a distant memory, faded
out by the brilliant night skies
of the Barkly.
“I love walking or riding
across desert country, being
able to have adventures and
experiences that few would
dream of,” she said.
“For me, I love the wide
open spaces, beautiful night
skies, the outback characters
and the relationship of people
to land and land to people is
endlessly inspiring.”