Ms Toni Tapp Coutts

Toni Tapp grew up on the massive Killarney Station, where her stepfather, Bill Tapp, was a cattle king. But there was no 'big house' here. Toni did not grow up in a large homestead; she lived in a shack that had no electricity and no running water. The oppressive climate of the Territory—either wet or dry—tested everyone. Fish were known...

Having grown up on the massive Killarney cattle station near Katherine, NT, Toni Tapp Coutts was well prepared when her husband, Shaun, took a job at McArthur River Station in the Gulf Country, 600 kilometres away near the Queensland border. Toni became cook, counsellor, housekeeper, and nurse to the host of people who lived on McArthur River and the constant...