Born on Roo Roo Station, with a family history dating back to the 1860s, and still working in the region, Gary Hill is one of the longest-serving members of the Anabranch Water board.

“We actually started at Sturt’s Billabong in the 1860s, but my grandfather went up to Roo Roo in 1936, that makes about 5 or 6 generations in the area.”

With his family, Gary Manages around 220,000 Acres with Roo Roo, Nertherby, Noola and Nulla Nulla combined. The operation is mainly Dorper sheep but now includes a couple of hundred acres of wine grapes, and a bit of cropping – along with the necessary machinery.

“My old man hated tyres and batteries, he’d curse them all the time (laughing) – Yeah, but we do all our own farming now, we used to use share farmers, but we’ve done it all ourselves since around the 2011 flood.”

Gary has been on the board (except for a couple of years break) since its inception and continues to contribute his experience and expertise to Anabranch Water

“I was one of the blokes looking after the lakes when it was ‘the trust’ and stayed on when it became Anabranch Water, so I’ve been there since the start really. I’ve lived on, and have been a part of the Anabranch community all my life, that’s the way it goes.”