The man who made Gina Rinehart's brand

Mr Elliott has made brands from everyone from Gina Rinehart, to the Broncos’ Wayne Bennett, as well as making whips, training working dogs, and running a small herd of cattle on agistment. 

He said after his accident, he had to revaluate how he would spend his days. 

“I used to ride saddle bronc horses and did that for ten years, but sort of finished that pretty sharply,” he laughed.

“We don’t do that anymore.”

At the AgGrow working dog sale, Mr Elliott sold two of his 12 working dogs, which he trains in the mornings before using the afternoons to make brands and stock whips. 

“It’s one step after the other, I’ve always been around stock all my life and once I had my accident I started using the dogs to help me out doing a bit of mustering,” he said.

“I had a bit of a passion for branding irons, so I made a friend of mine one of those once, she was working in a produce shop, and I’ve ended up making 417 so far.”

His brands are all over Australia – and he said demand is growing each and every year. 

Spare time is a novelty – and one he uses to pursue his passion for working dog trials. 

With Santa Gertrudis/Charbray cross cattle on agistment, Mr Elliott said he keeps his hand in the beef industry by helping a friend look after his property, and said while he lives in town on the “back streets of Winton”, he was happy with the arrangement. 

Mr Elliott was also selling whips at the dog sale – to great success. 

“I had a bloke who came in at home one day checking out the dogs, and he was a whip maker and taught me how to do that, so I thought it wouldn’t be a bad job sitting around the fire with a beer in the afternoon and making some whips,” he said. 

“I don’t know how many of them we’ve made – they’re getting more popular.”

After growing up in Winton and living there his entire life, Mr Elliott said his biggest “holiday” was the seven months he spent at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane following his accident. 

He said trips to towns like Emerald for field days and events were always a great excuse to get away and catch up with friends.

“This is about the fourth year (coming to AgGrow); it’s a great show, a great cattle dog trial, and the surface is good for the wheelchair – we test her out from time to time,” he laughed. 

Mr Elliott’s two dogs sold for a gross of $5000 at the working dog sale at AgGrow. The entire sale made a gross of $23,450, average of $2345, and a top price of $5500.