John Brekelmans & the Dynasty of Duck horses 12th July 1954 – 7th July 2019

In 1971, at the age of 16 years old, John left home to pursue his childhood dream of working with horses. With no stock work experience he secured a job as a Jackaroo at ‘Bundure’ Station near Jerilderie, New South Wales, on a wage of $900 a year. As John commenced his ‘glamour’ job of a Jackaroo where he thought he would be riding a horse around the paddocks all day, he got a bit of a shock. “The pay was $17 a week and we worked from sun up to sundown, seven days a week. My first thoughts, when I had time to think, were not printable about a Jackaroo, but it was probably some of the best education I ever had”, he said in a 1999 interview with Colin Smith at Mareeba.

During his time at Jerilderie, John was fortunate to attend a Max McTaggart Cutting Clinic, which planted the seed for the future. ‘Bundure’ was primarily a sheep Station and there were not enough horses there to fulfil John's ambition, so after 18 months he moved to ‘Moray Downs’ in June 1972 until May 1973 to gain experience with rogue cattle and do a lot of horse work. The property was all scrub and was the school of hard knocks that people talk about. Keen to learn all he could, livestock in particular he transferred to ‘Armraynald’ near Burketown from June 1973. By this time, his pay had increased to $21 per week. John left the property in the Flying Doctor Aircraft bound for Mt Isa hospital with a broken pelvis from a horse fall.

In his photo-album from these early years on the stations, we