Longitude 131°
Australian Pioneers and Explorers
'I have always taken care of the little things.
If the small things are let go amiss, so will the big things.'
Sir Sidney Kidman
1857-1935
Sid Kidman never let the little things get him down. As a determined 13-year-old, he ran away from a troubled home in the company of a one-eyed horse named Cyclops with a mere five shillings in his pocket.
The young kid who knew his way around never looked back going on to become a horse dealer, drover, cattle buyer and 'bush jockey' - eventually possessing the biggest cattle empire ever seen, anywhere in the world.
"Regret is a useless emotion. You can't rewrite the past so don't worry about it."
Joining his brothers, Sackville, George and Tom in 1873 at Mount Gipps station near Broken Hill, he worked as a rouseabout and soon began buying horses cheaply, conditioning them and then selling them at a profit.
In the years to follow Sid travelled throughout the outback running teams of bullocks to cart food and other supplies; opening butcher's shops to service the mining towns of Cobar and Broken Hill; buying and selling horses and cattle; moving into the mail coach business in New South Wales and Western Australia; and eventually in 1886 buying a half share in Owen Springs, a station near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.
It was now that the astute Sid Kidman hatched his long-term plan - a chain of supply.
He visualised a string of stations ranging from the Northern Territory through Queensland to New South Wales and South Australia. The concept was to fatten the cattle in the north and feed and water them at the various stations on the way to the lucrative southern markets.
The Kidman master plan of utilising the three great Queensland rivers, the Cooper, the Diamantina and the Georgina that empty into Lake Eyre, was brought into play.
"I know the three rivers like a miser knows his gold."
This Channel Country is still known as Kidman Country, for it was here that the 'Cattle King' built the stronghold of his empire.
By the time he died, Sid Kidman was a Knight who owned or part-owned 90 stations with an area around the size of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland put together, about 3.5% of the Australian continent.
And the legacy lives on. Today, S. Kidman & Co. is Australia's second largest private landowner with more than 12 million hectares of pastoral leases and agricultural holdings in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, Northern Territory and Queensland.
"Taking care of the little things" had paid off. Unspoiled by success, Sid Kidman never forgot his humble background. He gave a lot of money away to support up-and-coming young people, outback communities, the Inland Mission, and in World War I he donated wool, meat, horses, ambulances and even fighter planes to the government.
When the man, who did not drink and whose most profane word was 'tinker', turned 75, Kidman men honoured their boss with a bush rodeo in Adelaide. More than 60,000 people turned out for what remains the largest public birthday party ever put on in Australia to honour a private citizen.
"I've had a wonderful life. When the good Lord gives me notice I'll pack my swag and go."
Bookings
Enquiries
Tell a Friend