Mt Riddock
Mt Riddock Station
Mt Riddock Station is currently a 2,633 square kilometre certified organic cattle station in the NT, approximately 190km north-west of Alice Springs. Now traditionally owned land, Tywele AC.
A station was established by Benjamin Mark Webb and Joseph Louis Schaber in the early 1900s. They had originally planned to prospect for gold at Artlungsa but eventually found supplying the miners with meat to be more profitable. They built the first homestead on the station in 1910.
The Webbs started the annual Harts Range Races in 1946, now held each Picnic Day long weekend. The Webb brothers raced stockman Jack Schaber and the regional policeman Senior Constable Bob Darken over a distance of about a mile to the Ulgarna Yards to determine who had the fastest horse, inspiring an annual race meet.
In 1949 the Webb brothers purchased Golden Star for breeding on the station, a four-year-old chestnut Arab stallion with impeccable old bloodlines. His grandsire was the famous Skowronek. One of our most well-known Walers from Mt Riddock was stallion Brigadier, who excelled in Endurance competitions here and overseas. Caught wild and with a terrible injury when his owner Ros Sexton got him; she nurtured him back to health and gave him a chance to shine. He also sired some outstanding foals, one of his sons out of black Waler mare Britannia, was another outstanding endurance horse. Thanks to Golden Star one assumes!
Brigadier’s story is contained in this podcast for those interested in learning more.
Janet Lane and Ros Sexton’s quest to save the Waler horse – ABC
Foundation Waler Stations
