Jim and Suzy Martin
Co-Principals

Jim was born & raised on ‘Illalangi’. At age 18, Jim worked as a Jackaroo on Coonong Urana, NSW, a merino stud and commercial cattle operation. In his twenties, Jim worked as a shepherd in the Central South island of New Zealand at Clayton Station on the edge of the MacKenzie plains.

Suzy’s father left the sheep and cattle property he managed for his father in the Riverina to go to WWII. Upon his return he decided on a career in retail and worked for the Myer Emporium. This saw the family live in several Australian cities. Suzy was born in Brisbane then moved with the family to Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney before returning to Melbourne for good in the late 1970’s. After attending university, Suzy began a career in retail with Sportsgirl in Melbourne in 1978. She worked her way up to a buying position, then onto become merchandise and marketing manager for the designer label David Lawrence, before leaving in 1992 when she and Jim married.

Brett Walker
Livestock Manager

Brett was born & raised on his parent’s farm just outside Benalla. Brett’s family have a long history of horsemanship & cattle handling.

Brett began doing contract stock work at Welcome Swallow from its inception in 1994. As stock numbers have grown so has Brett’s involvement. In 2002 Brett took up the fulltime position of Livestock Manager. Over this time Brett has made an enormous contribution to the development of Illalangi and Welcome Swallow.

Brett has also toured the rodeo circuit team roping both here & in the US .In addition Brett has played Polocrosse at a State and International level.

In 2003 Brett’s livestock skills were sought by the film industry. Since then Brett has continued to work on occasion both on screen and off screen working with livestock.

Toby Burgess
Farmhand

Toby was born and raised on his family property which has since relocated to be neighbours to Illalangi.

Toby began his apprenticeship at age 15 – 4 years ago. In that time Toby has acquired skills with machinery, stock handling & fencing.

Toby completed his apprenticeship in 2009.