Far out in the heart of western Queensland, where red dust hangs in the air and the horizon stretches endlessly, Wendy Sheehan captures rural life in all its raw beauty.
A grazier, photographer, and storyteller, Mrs Sheehan lives on Trinidad Station, a 250,000-acre sheep and cattle property near Quilpie, with her family, surrounded by the vastness of the Australian outback.
Through her popular social media page Bulldust & Mulga, Wendy has amassed a loyal following.
With more than 26,000 followers on Instagram and 64,000 on Facebook, her photos and videos offer a look into station life, one that’s equal parts gritty and glorious.
Mrs Sheehan loves life on the station, the wide, open spaces, the quietness, spending ample time outdoors and working with animals all make station life extraordinary.
While the isolation offers peace and quiet, it also poses risks, especially with the nearest hospital being more than 200km away.
Almost everyone that she knows has had to use the Royal Flying Doctor Service at some point.
Her family, like many others in the bush, relies heavily on the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS).
Over the years, they’ve called on the RFDS for emergencies ranging from snake bites and allergic reactions to broken bones.
In an average year in southwest Queensland, the RFDS provides more than 5550 primary health care patient consultations, handles more than 2700 telehealth calls, conducts more than 650 clinics and transports more than 1200 patients.
The nearest hospital to Mrs Sheehan is hours away and when a medical emergency happens things can take a scary turn very quickly.
Providing a quality education for her kids was hard as schools in her area are scarce, meaning boarding school was the only option apart from home tutoring, which didn’t work out for their family. Lots of travel is also required living so remotely.
Another challenge this year in particular was the floods that hit western Queensland and caused widespread devastation.
Fortunately, the floods didn’t impact the Sheehans as badly as others as they are situated on higher ground.
Trinidad Station copped 25 and a half inches, which is close to their two-year annual rainfall average, in the space of around 10 days.
They had some stock losses as a lot of their feed was destroyed and stock died from exposure to the elements and bogging.
Despite the challenges that come with working in agriculture and living rurally, Mrs Sheehan says she loves living in western Queensland and the people and places is what makes it truly special.
No day on the station looks exactly the same.
Bookwork, stock work, and general property maintenance are all a part of her duties on the station.
Problems can also arise that can easily turn into an all-day job.
Mrs Sheehan’s interest in photography began when she was young.
She bought her first camera when she left high school and from then, her passion for photography and videography took off.
Her area of interest is landscape photos, capturing life on the station and the unique flora and fauna that she comes across.
She said she can get used to her surroundings but looking at the scene through a camera can help her rediscover the beauty in the everyday and pick up on the smaller details around her.
When she first began her page Bulldust & Mulga roughly nine years ago, she admits she was clueless about the vast world of social media.
“I mostly wanted to check out social media because I knew that my kids would be using it at some point,” Mrs Sheehan said.
“I had quite a negative opinion on social media at the time.”
She quickly found her niche and connected with accounts that posted agricultural photos.
She was stunned by the quality of agricultural photos she found on Instagram.
However, she noticed there wasn’t a whole lot of context attached to the images, which left space for people to make their own interpretation of what was happening in the photo.
One of her goals when starting her social media pages was to educate her audience about agriculture.
She uses captions to explain what is happening in the photo she has posted and share a wealth of knowledge with her audience from a lifetime on the land.
When she started her pages, there was a lot of negativity circulating in the media surrounding livestock agriculture.
Mrs Sheehan said there was a lot of coverage of animal activists breaking into piggeries, diaries and feedlots around the state.
She wanted to share real and accurate information.
Mrs Sheehan also encourages anyone with an interest in agriculture to enter the industry.
“The industry has a lot of traditionalists but there is also a lot of forward thinkers,” Mrs Sheehan said.
“There’s a lot of growth and advancements in technology happening and also plenty of opportunities for people keen to give it a go.”
Last year she entered the Royal Flying Doctor Service Outback Explorer Competition with her short video ‘Wonderful Western Queensland’.
Her video resonated with thousands across the state, from those within the agricultural industry to others simply captivated by the rural way of life.
She won the competition and took home $10,000 which she put towards getting a new camera and saving some of the earnings to go towards a long-awaited family holiday to New Zealand.
Winning the competition also exposed a whole new audience to her content and her social media following grew.
“Winning the competition was awesome and a lovely surprise,” Mrs Sheehan said.
She is returning this year as a judge for the 2025 competition and say she is keen to see the creative talents of fellow western Queenslanders.
Mrs Sheehan started the Bulldust & Mulga page to give other Australians an inside look at life working and living on a remote station.
With most of the population living on the coast, she wanted to share the facts, debunk common misconceptions, and offer a truthful perspective on rural life and agriculture.
“It’s a good way to share what we do, where we are and why we do what we do,” Mrs Sheehan said.
At its heart, her story is simple: it’s about love for the land, commitment to community, and finding beauty in the everyday.
Through Mulga & Bulldust, she invites others to see what she sees—a life full of dust, challenges, and breathtaking moments.
