December 27, 2018
The West
Cattle baron Gina Rinehart added festive reindeer antlers to her iconic red hat to belt out a special Australian version of Jingle Bell Rock with staff members from across her far-flung cattle empire.
The video, posted to YouTube, features 11 teams from Ms Rinehart’s cattle stations — including WA’s Ruby Downs in the Kimberley — with each contributing a verse of Australian-ised lyrics adapted to mention the cricket, Akubra hats, outback heat, meat pies and prawns on the barbie.
Ms Rinehart appears in three scenes filmed in NSW and Queensland, alongside Hancock Agriculture chief executive David Larkin, also enthusiastically singing the lyrics.
The staff Christmas carol has become a tradition for Ms Rinehart. For Christmas last year, Ms Rinehart released her Australian rendition of Jingle Bells, which required participation broader than just her agricultural companies, also including the Roy Hill mine site in the Pilbara.
This year, there’s a prize for the best contributor.
“Winning station property contributions will receive two fantastic massage chairs we’re told are the best, sent to the station or property, great for all to use after a long day in the saddle, or bumping around on bikes, doing fencing, or other manual work,” Ms Rinehart said in her December Hancock Kidman newsletter to staff.
While massage chairs may appear an odd prize, it seems Ms Rinehart was inspired by her new state-of-the-art creamery at Bannister Downs at Northcliffe in WA’s South West.
“The cows seem to like coming in for their automatic milking when they choose, and using the massage brushes too, which massage brushes I hope are already out being used on some of your stations and farms too,” Ms Rinehart wrote in the newsletter.
Article courtesy of The West