Judy Camm, was born in Rockhampton in 1946 as Judy Flora Angel, and grew up on Belbroughton near Kunwarara, a cattle property located 110 kilometres north-west of Rockhampton.
It was here with her parents, Jim and Violet, and siblings, Lynette, Bruce and Ross, that Judy’s deep love for the land, horses and cattle began. Very much her father’s right-hand man, she loved the long car trips to cattle sales with Jim, and despite his gruff manner, Judy adored him.
Jim and Violet ran some of the first Brahman cattle in Queensland alongside their Herefords and through Judy’s teenage years and early twenties she regularly exhibited the family’s cattle at agricultural shows. As an independent, forward-thinking, busy young adult, Judy didn’t have a lot of time for social outings. Despite a love for fashion and style, unless the event involved horses or cattle, this striking young woman wasn’t really interested. Judy’s eldest daughter Ainsley McArthur explains further: “If she wasn’t showing cattle she was competing in horse events or instructing at the Marlborough Pony Club”. This girl from Marlborough would boldly head off to the Sydney Easter Show in a short dress, long boots, a beehive and false lashes.
When Jim decided to buy two cattle stations in North Queensland, Judy, in her late teens, was ecstatic. Adding to Belbroughton, they purchased Victoria Downs near Charters Towers and Picardy Station near Moranbah. For Judy, this was the real deal. This was the big country where she could fulfill her dream of living and working with cattle in the bush.
Judy was introduced to David Camm by a mutual friend. Their courtship was defined by limited time between working cattle and carting water in a dry spell. They married in June 1971 in Rockhampton. David’s family had sold their home, Broadmeadow, in 1968 to a coal mining company and bought Wonga Plains and later Ashvale Station in south-east Queensland near Dalby. Settlement day for Wonga Plains was on the Monday following the couple’s wedding, and without time for a honeymoon, they moved in on that same day.
Ainsley says her parents were a couple made for a mixed farming and grazing operation. “Dad’s family had been in cane before moving into cattle at Broadmeadow,” Ainsley explains. “Dad looked after the farming while Mum looked after the cattle.”
Judy and David fattened cattle on oats and lucerne with great success at Wonga Plains and in the same year of their arrival decided to start a feedlot—one of the first in Queensland. They built four small pens and hand-loaded bags of feed for the cattle. From there, the business grew significantly and the feedlot was set to become a cornerstone of Camm Agricultural Group. David and Judy put together an enviable portfolio of grazing, irrigated and dryland farming assets. Judy strongly believed in building a legacy for the future generations of her family. The magnitude of this woman’s strength, tenacity and zest for life was put to the test and then proven, when she recovered from in life-threatening horse-riding accident in 1999.
- If you’d like to read the rest of Judy’s story and others, you can purchase Cattlemen in Pearls online at www.cattlemeninpearls.com
