When his father Bill Tapp, first
purchased Killarney Station in the
1950’s, it was a bare piece of dirt cut
from the old Victoria River Downs
properties. The property had no
fences and was just full of wild, clean
skinned Shorthorn cattle. When he
first started to muster and develop
Killarney the mustering horses were
mainly brumby cross with a small
infusion of thoroughbred.
At the twilight of Bill’s time he
purchased another great stallion,
Peppy View, by Peppy Snake.
Through this time Bill generally
had four to five stallions running in
paddocks with 40 to 50 mares each.
At the peak of his Quarter Horse
breeding program, Ben’s second
oldest brother, Sam Tapp, was the
studmaster and would have had 250
registered mares on the books.
Bill Tapp quickly realised to control
the wild cattle they needed better
horses. His first acquisition was a
thoroughbred stallion called Basalt
who went back to the great Star
Kingdom.
With the surplus of horses
from the early 70’s to the
mid 80’s they would run
their own horse sale on
Killarney Station, selling
up to 50 to 60 horses at
a time.
In 1969 he
purchased their
first Australian
Quarter Horse,
Quarter
Commando.
This stallion
made the
greatest impact
in their horses
for all the years to come. Commando
was by Tejano Chicko out of Gitna
Chicka, purchased from King Ranch
at Milton Park for the Australian
record price of $20,000. Bill Tapp
crossed him over the Basalt mares
and produced what Ben would say
were the best horses he recalls
riding. This first cross Quarter Horse
had everything they needed for the
long days of mustering cattle.
Through the late 60’s until the early
80’s Bill continued to purchase
Quarter Horse stallions from the
south. They used the Chickisha Dan
bloodline through their stallion,
Golden Valley Dane, and also King
Ranch Guinea who was by Vaquero.
Also standing was Tondarra Cracker
Jack who was by Bon Hand. Cracker
Jack was an exceptionally big, strong
stallion at 16 hands.
Bill Tapp also purchased the
imported stallion Tarzanna Man
from Jack Reilly, who was once the
president of the AQHA. Tarzanna
Man was by the world renowned
Zan Par Bar. Zan Par Bar was four
times World Champion Halter Horse
and was a prolific sire of roping
horses in the States. Tarzanna Man
really stamped his Quarter Horse
conformation back into their herd of
horses.
This became
a popular must
attend event, for horse people all
over Australia. Through this time Bill
realised to keep up with, or ahead
of the horse game they needed to
bring in outside people to train these
horses. Many trainers came and
went, but two people who stood out in
Ben’s mind and helped changed his
riding from being a good bush rider
to become a more performance rider
were Geoff Main and Tom Sheen.
What also made these horse sales
a great success was Bill bringing
in a great auctioneer - probably
the country’s best, a man by the
name of Tony Fountain. He had
the professionalism and charisma
needed for a successful auction.
By the mid to late 80’s helicopters
had all but replaced the horses for
mustering purposes.
In 1992 with the recession we had to
have with Paul Keating, and paying
22% interest and a lengthy legal
battle along with Ben’s father
passing they relinquished Killarney
Station.
At this point Ben and three other
brothers, Joe, William and Daniel
moved to Roper Valley Station.
Unfortunately most of the horses
were left at Killarney. They all took
their own camp horses and a few
broodmares. From here they all went
their separate ways with their horse
breeding.
Ben acquired his helicopter license in
1991 and started his own helicopter
and contract mustering business. For
the next 15 years he was kept busy
with his mustering and purchasing
cattle properties that he never had
time to breed or break and train
horses of his own. He then decided
to purchase two or three well
preformed Quarter Horse mares to
keep his Campdraft passion alive.
When they were all younger, Ben and
his brothers would go Campdrafting
in the Northern Territory. They
would only do three or four at the
most for the year. It gave Ben the
taste and he knew from an early age
that he wanted to pursue the sport
and be good at it later in life.
March • April • 2016 • The Australian Quarter Horse Magazine • Page 23
March • April • 2016 • The Australian Quarter Horse Magazine • Page 23