Tom Groggin station is a remarkable remnant of grazing history in the high country, freehold land completely surrounded by Kosciuszko National Park on the NSW side and the Alpine National Park in Victoria.
Story Kirsty McKenzie & Mark Muller Photos Ken Brass
The heavily timbered hills on Tom Groggin station are alive with a chorus of ‘Come orn cows’ as the Turnbull kids dispense salt, the time-honoured method for herding cattle in the alpine regions of Victoria and NSW. The calls of 15-year-old Taylor and Leah, aged three, harmonise with the lowing cattle and there’s a cheeky counterpoint dingo howl from seven-year-old Liam to keep things lively.
Sure enough, the glossy coated Angus respond to the choir and amble up to consume what is clearly catnip for cattle. “All cattle in the Upper Murray are salt deficient,” manager Adam Turnbull says. “The cattle will hang around wherever we put it out. You could practically cell graze in this country without the need for fences, just by putting salt out.”
Salt camps have been a consistent feature of livestock management in the Australian Alps since the earliest European settlers started taking up runs in the 1830s and ’40s. Mountain cattlemen found salt a handy tool for keeping their mobs together during the summer migration to their leases above the snowline. The stockmen would spread salt into hollowed-out logs or on flat rocks, certain that the cattle wouldn’t stray far from the source of the supplement. Old-timers recall cattle from as far away as 3–5km coming back to the camps when called. In those days, grazing cattle on the lush summer mountain pastures was the finishing process prior to sale. This is no longer the case, with the highest alpine leases terminated in NSW with the creation of Kosciuszko State Park in 1944, and grazing concluded by the late ’60s. Victorian grazing licences in the Alpine State Park were cancelled in 2006.
Tom Groggin station nowadays consists of 880ha of river flats and hill country on the Victorian side of the Murray River. Sitting at 500m and with Mt Kosciuszko on the northern horizon, the property boasts 5km of Murray frontage and supports a herd of about 450 breeders.
This story excerpt is from issue #166
Outback Magazine: Apr/May 2026
