Article by Alice Armitage Images by Zoe Thomas

Like many country kids from farming families, Sam Fryer was born of the land.

His was a rough and tumble childhood spent on horseback and around bush campfires, mustering with his grandfa- ther and shadowing his dad. “I remem- ber growing up and being told, ‘This will be yours. This is what you can do one day. You can take over,’ It really imprints on us as a younger generation coming through. I grew up with the feeling that this property was going to be mine and I couldn’t wait to run it.”

But amidst the fun of growing up on a cattle property, there was often an un- dercurrent of stress and pressure in the household – something that is all too common for those of us raised on the land. “I’m very lucky, I had a beautiful childhood. I had a lot of fun, but shit it was tough.” For Sam, the support of friends and neighbours throughout those tough times laid down the impor- tance of community, friendships and the bonds forged in rural Australia. These relationships became a big part of why he wanted to come home as an adult. “You go through hell with them and they come through the other side still standing there.”

Where Sam wanted to be was living and working on the only home he’d ever known – his family’s fifty-two thousand acre cattle property near the tiny town of Prairie, three-hundred and thirty ki- lometres southwest of Townsville. When Sam finished boarding school, his dream hadn’t changed a bit. “All I wanted to do was head west, chase cows and have fun,” he says. “Nothing beats it.”

His first stop was Longreach Pastoral College, finding a mentor in legend- ary horseman and trainer John Arnold. “That was amazing because my love of horses and my love of cattle were mixed in together,” Sam says. “It was also one of those things that really convinced me that I was where I needed to be, with cattle in the Northern beef industry. That was cemented the following year when I went up north and worked with Fred Shepherd at Boomarra Station.”

Following a stint contract mustering and working as a livestock agent, Sam and his family started having conversations about his path back to the farm. Soon after Sam and his wife, Emily, drove into a partner- ship with his parents – one that ultimate- ly wasn’t the right fit for them all.

“It was a really good setup to work through a succession process because we were going to transition over the cattle and then essentially slowly start buying out land. The plan was perfect on paper,” Sam says. “We threw absolutely every cent and every investment we had into the business to buy-in and show that we were committed.”

Sam was a business partner, but in reality that looked like him working under his father, with communication breakdowns and an untenable clash of expectations. “I didn’t see my daughter for the first six months of her life because of the pres- sure from my family,” Sam says. “I had to be there at a certain time, leave at a cer- tain time and I’d get back and she’d be asleep. I really regret that. Of everything in my life, that’s the one regret. I wish I’d backed myself sooner and got out.”

There is one thing that inevitably ties all farming families together and that’s the complexities of succession and, for most, it often feels fraught with danger. Once you start to walk down that path, it feels impossible to rewind if things aren’t working out. But to his credit, Sam had the courage to advocate for an alternative future for himself and everyone else when things weren’t all that crash hot.

“When you continue to make sacrifices and don’t show up as a parent, you can see that effect on your child. That’s when I made the choice – probably one of the biggest choic- es of my life – to get out,” Sam says. “I was sacrificing my family for the dreams of my parents. All I ever wanted was to continue the legacy, but I had to get out for the sake of my own family. It was one of the hardest times in my life – being so heavily invested emotionally, financially and then in the end, having to get out.”

And so began the two-year process of untangling the partnerships and starting again. But our boy Sam is a fast learner and it didn’t take him long to realise there’s always more than one way to skin the proverbial cat. His dream of living on the land hadn’t quite played out as he’d hoped, but there was no giving up. Sam simply got to work fig- uring out another way.

All Sam ever wanted was his own piece of paradise – a place to build a future for his family and a place to call home. He soon found plenty of people who had reached that goal, not by taking the traditional path home to the family farm but by discovering an alternative one. Discovering that in many cases, taking a different approach not just necessary but also a more fruitful way of going about things.

This subsequently led Sam to start a podcast, A Place to Call Home.

“The podcast became an extension of the research I was doing for myself and a way for me to share stories and information to help others along their own journey. I interview people who have made this dream a reality for themselves, as well as industry experts who give advice on how to most effectively and productively set up your own primary production business from scratch.”

You don’t need to spend much time with Samto understand that he is innately kind, compassionate and impressively resilient. His genuine desire to do better and help those who have found themselves in similarly difficult situations is abundant. He is making a real difference by helping people feel a little less lost and alone in their journeys building a home and a future for themselves in farming.

A few rough years later, Sam is now running the podcast, building on his career in agri- business, has a herd of his own cattle and leasing land back from his parents. Not only has Sam worked to mend the fractures in his relationship with his parents but is also rebuilding the business relationship as well. This time, taking an alternative approach – one much better suited to everyone’s needs. It’s a true testament to the strength of his character.

It’s clear that Sam has a genuine desire to do better for himself, his family, his community and the industry at large. Feeling in control of his future and proud of the legacy he’s building for his own children, Sam has these words of encouragement to those dreaming of a place to call home: “You can do it – just believe in yourself and hook in.”

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