Sally Warriner

Author, country woman, mother, nurse, traveller, inquisitor and lover of life.

Not Just the Wife of the General Manager is a rollicking memoir of one woman’s life on outback cattle stations, and an homage to the many unsung women like her. 
 It was the 1980s and Sally was in her mid 20s when she returned from a backpacking sojourn in Europe and hitchhiked to Australia’s far north. But instead of moving back to Canberra as planned, she stayed. After marrying a cattle station manager, Sally lived and worked with him on various stations until she was 50, ingraining herself into the lives of the characters who inhabited these isolated places.
With wit and sass, Sally tells the story of how she was so much more than just a wife of a station manager (despite what some of the top end blokes thought). Among other things, she was a nurse (dealing with local accidents, assisting the Flying Doctor service and making emergency 400 km round trips through the outback with sick children), a mother (bringing up several children, not all her own), a travel agent, a social secretary, a host and an organiser (including of Kerry Packer’s New Year’s Eve parties).
 This is a story about adventure, resilience, the unexpected journeys we need to go on to find ourselves, and having the courage to do something for yourself. In Sally’s words: ‘Life’s like that, fellas. You may spend a lifetime trying to find yourself but, at the end of the day, you’ve been there all along.’

Testimonials

“Sally Warriner has written a fascinating book of revelations and contradictions about life in Australia’s sprawling and majestic but unforgiving northern outback; a book reflecting the well-earned pride of a strong woman more than holding her own in an unremittingly tough and macho world of wild maverick cattle, of split heads and drunken fights and regular plane crashes—a world of elite wealth and privilege at the top and shameful Indigenous deprivation just down the road.”
Kerry O’Brien, journalist and author

“Shining light on the unique and often bonkers world of the Australian cattle station, this is an engrossing, funny and poignant memoir about one woman’s resilience and positivity while facing life in the outback and beyond.”
Hugh Bonneville, actor and author

“A bold and honest writer with a ton of cheek and charm. And a story as refreshing as a plunge into an outback waterhole.”
Robert Drewe, author 

“Kerry Packer, Ken Warriner and Newcastle Waters Station were names instantly recognisable as representing big business in Australia’s Top End. Now Sally Warriner, the wife of the general manager for two decades, has gone behind the scenes and written a cracking account of life in the outback – and in the top echelons of business. It is unputdownable. A strong woman’s memoir full of hilarious, sometimes frightening, anecdotes . It provides an insight into a life most of us will never experience, or could even imagine.”
Colleen Ryan, former editor of Australian Financial Review

“Wit, energy, empathy, compassion, derring-do. It’s all here — in the life and in the telling.” 
Darleen Bungey, author 

“It’s all about Australia – the Kimberley and the Territory – and cattle.
But the real focus is on the people – the locals, the indigenous, the blow-ins and the urban cowboys.
Lots of colour, humour, adventure, tragedies, trials and triumphs – big names are littered profusely but none bigger than Kerry Packer and the story around him is a delight.
It’s an easy read – and Sally is a natural storyteller.”
Kerry Lonergan – journalist, founder and former executive producer of ABC TV’s Landline 

“A riveting and personal memoir filled with poignancy, love and humour of a Top End woman who was naively thrown in the deep end after a whirlwind romance with a real Kimberley cowboy.”
Susan Bradley OAM JP CMC

“A story for all Australians of a life fully lived (to date) with a wicked sense of humour and insights into a life about which most people have no experience. A great read.”
Hon Peter Dowding SC, former premier of WA and author 

Available at your local book store – Shop local first
Can be purchased online here : Booktopia

Published by @hardiegrantbooks