WHEN 11-year-old Georgia Auricht took out the Rabobank Encouragement Award for skills in exhibiting cattle at this year's Alice Springs Show, she was elated.
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She had another good reason to be excited - her prize included $1000 to attend the prestigious Landmark CGU South Australian Junior Heifer Expo in Adelaide this week.
Georgia, whose dad Owen is the local policeman at Kulgera, has been leading cattle for only two years. But her parents say whatever Georgia sets her mind to, she gives it her all.
Owen said Georgia had already set her heart on attending the expo show and had spent the past 12 months after school recycling cans and raising money so she could travel to Adelaide.
"She wanted to pay her own way, which gives me so much pride as her father as everything she does is for her animals - and if she wants something she strives to do it herself," he said.
Owen and his wife Gail are self-confessed "bush people" and have a strong affiliation with Centralia and agriculture, having only recently sold their farm in SA. They say they love the isolation of the Northern Territory.
Given the remoteness of Owen's posting, Georgia learns on School of the Air, and says it was actually friends from neighbouring station Umbeara who suggested she may like to have a calf and try her hand at leading and handling cattle.
Georgia jumped at the idea. Owen says that she now eats, sleeps and plays with her 18-month-old steer Toby.
"I am so happy," she said. "I train hard every week. It is my favourite thing to do.
"I just love cattle - they are lovely creatures. When I grow up I want to be on a station and have only Poll Hereford cattle - they are my favourites."
*Full report in Stock Journal, July 11 issue, 2013.
