If you’d told me a few years ago that I’d be building software for the pastoral industry, I probably wouldn’t have believed you.

I grew up on a sheep and cropping property near the Victoria–New South Wales border, where hard work and getting your hands dirty were simply part of everyday life. I was always drawn to hands-on learning—fixing things, building things, and spending as much time outdoors as possible. AFL was also a big part of my upbringing and taught me valuable lessons in teamwork, discipline, and persistence.

I began my career as an Electrician, but at 25, I decided to take a chance on something completely different. I moved to Central Queensland to start as a first-year ringer with Consolidated Pastoral Company (CPC). It was a steep learning curve, but I quickly fell in love with the challenge, the lifestyle, and the opportunity to work in one of Australia’s most iconic industries.

That journey eventually took me to the Northern Territory, where I earned my pilot’s licence and stepped into a Station Hand and Pilot role. Flying across vast areas of country gave me a unique perspective on the importance of reliable water infrastructure. It also highlighted a recurring challenge: recording, managing, and making use of bore information. Every flight generated valuable observations, yet there was no simple and practical system for capturing that information and turning it into something useful over time.