A stockman to the stars | Warwick News | Local News in Warwick

By TORI MAINEY

GOOMBURRA farmer Hugh Barnet will swap his Akubra and RM Williams for a tux and tie as he walks down the red carpet with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman at the world premiere of the epic film Australia.

It will be the first time Mr Barnet will see the finished product to which he dedicated more than two years as the film's cattle supervisor.

"It was an intense experience (for everyone) from the director down," Mr Barnet said.

But it was not all glitz and glamour for Mr Barnet and his 1500 head of cattle.

"It might be glamorous for a couple of people," Mr Barnet said.

"Nicole Kidman was saying how it was really tough but she was flown in on helicopter from her five-star hotel.

"She hadn't been out there in swags waking up at 3am."

Mr Barnet was in control of everything and everyone involved with cattle on set.

"I was the one they would point the finger at and say 'hey, your cattle made a mess on the streets of Bowen go clean it up'.

"I had calls in the middle of the night from people asking if I could keep the cattle quiet."

He also worked closely with Hugh Jackman, who did most of his own riding scenes.

"He was always so great to everyone, no matter who you were," Mr Barnet said.

"He always asked what to do and he said to me 'I'm supposed to be a stockman, how would you do it?'."

Working alongside director Baz Luhrmann was one of the highlights for Mr Barnet.

"He is just so enthusiastic and he was always asking advice from people," he said.

"It was always 'can we do this?' or 'can this be done?' "He wanted to run 800 head of cattle down a street in Bowen and pull up at the end and when I said we could, his next question was 'well, instead of just 10 cattle wide can we do it with 50?'."

Mr Barnet became involved in Australia after being recognised for his work as a camel trainer on the 1985 feature Burke and Wills.

"It came at a good time with the drought, you don't do it for the love of it but it's an interesting job," he said. The film launches in Sydney on Tuesday night at the George Street Greater Union cinemas.

"Usually with premieres they have a different screening for the crew but Australia will have us all together with 3000 people in five cinemas," Mr Barnet said.

"It's just typical of Baz; he wants everyone to be involved."