A young stockman sitting on a battered tucker box in a moment of quiet contemplation remains a defining image of Beef Australia expos, 30 years after it was chosen to become the official picture of Beef 1994.

The photograph was taken of Patrick Underwood by his mum Terry Underwood at a dinner camp while mustering at their home station Riveren in the Northern Territory’s Victoria River district, not long after Patrick had returned home after graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of NSW in Sydney.

The evocative image was selected by Beef Australia to become the “Face of Beef 1994″ and went on to appear all over Australia in event advertising and posters and on official Beef 1994 programs and catalogue covers.

Contacted about his recollections of the image this week, Patrick had a quiet laugh when asked how he had felt as a young NT cattle producer to suddenly find himself in the spotlight as the face of a major national beef industry event.

One memory he recalled was “feeling a little like a deer in the headlights” at having to walk out on stage in front of a huge backdrop of the photograph and an even larger crowd during the offiicial opening of Beef 1994 in Rockhampton.

“I remember feeling nervous,” he recalls.  “I think I had two lines to say which felt like two too many.”

But he also notes that the picture effectively captured a moment in his life, similar to that experienced by many young people at the same age, when he was contemplating his future and which career path to take.

An obvious next step at the time was to capitalise on his recently completed Commerce Degree and to work for an accountant.

“But I didn’t really want to do that,” he said, knowing that the northern cattle industry was where he really wanted to be.

My father said to me pretty early ‘You need a bit of luck in life, but the harder you work, the luckier you’ll get’, which I reckon is a pretty good thing to tell a young bloke

And now, looking back from the perspective of 30 years later, it turns out that the answer lay in combining his skill sets and interests to make the best of both worlds.

His career has spanned cattle production with his family to industry executive roles including becoming the inaugural CEO of the Northern Territory Livestock Exporters Association and then general manager of Meat & Livestock Australia’s global livestock export program for cattle and sheep. Since 2013 he has worked on the commercial side of the industry, becoming general manager of exporter North Australian Cattle Company and since 2020 establishing his own international trading business, Australian Cattle Enterprises (ACE), based in Darwin.

His 30-year-career since the iconic Beef 1994 picture was taken has tracked the expansion and modernisation of the northern cattle industry and the sharp ebbs and flows and highs and lows of the region’s cattle export trade to Asia.

The official theme of Beef 1994 was “Beyond Challenge Lies Success”, which seems poignantly apt 30 years later.

ACE launched into a challenging period in 2020 – COVID, record high Australian cattle prices and Lumpy Skin Disease and Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks in Indonesia.

However, having navigated that difficult period, the northern cattle industry is now facing a more favourable supply and demand outlook, one that Patrick is confident should hold the industry in good stead for the next few years.

“When I look back (to the time the picture was taken) I didn’t know where my journey was going to take me, let alone end,” he said.

“I have been fortunate.

“My father said to me pretty early ‘You need a bit of luck in life, but the harder you work, the luckier you’ll get’, which I reckon is a pretty good thing to tell a young bloke, and that is probably what has happened.”

Asked what advice he would give to young people similarly contemplating their future in the industry today, he said “work hard and surround yourself with good people”.

“Because there are good people out there who will help you in the direction that will best utilise your skills,” he said.

“That is what it really comes down to – once you get experience you will learn to make the right decisions at the right time, and if you can do that most of the time you will be successful.”

The enduring value of Beef Australia expos

Patrick said he has made it back to most Beef Australia expos at Rockhampton since Beef 1994, largely because of the opportunities each event provides for genuine and valuable face-to-face encounters with people across the industry.

“It can be a little hard to keep up at the bar these days, but they are important, it is a chance to sit down with people, look them in the eye and say g’day.

“It is a good opportunity to catch up with people, to spend some time together and share ideas.

“And at the end of the day it is a better industry if we all work together .

“I really do believe that we’re all one family, the beef industry, and I don’t care whether its processors, small producers, big producers, family or corporates, everyone has got a role and a place in the industry, and it is a good opportunity to celebrate Australia’s success as a beef nation, both as an exporter and local producer.”

• In addition to the picture which became “The Face of Beef 1994” many more Terry Underwood photographs taken at Riveren Station were featured at Beef 1994 in an exhibition of her work titled “The Cattle Kingdom”, held in the Robert Archer Pavillion of the Rockhampton Showgrounds – see pics below. In March 1994 the Brahman News published an article providing further information about the exhibition which can be read as a PDF by clicking here