Michelle Payne — the girl who raced the Melbourne Cup and won

Fierce Girls

ABC listen

Kids & Family, Stories For Kids

4.4 • 930 Ratings

🗓️ 9 July 2023

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Tragedy followed Michelle Payne around, but she never gave up on her dream of winning the race that stops the nation — the Melbourne Cup. Every time she fell off her horse, she got back on. Every broken bone and family loss pushed Michelle to pick up the reins. Until one Tuesday in November, she made history.

Written and narrated by 12-year-old Claire Lee.

Transcript

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0:00.0	ABC Listen.
0:02.0	This is a story of the girl power.
0:09.0	This is a story of the girl who raised the Melbourne Cup and won.
0:13.0	Michelle Payne, written and read by me, 12-year-old clearly.
0:18.0	Baby Michelle was clueless as her father trudged towards her and her older siblings to break the news.
0:28.0	Their mother had died in a terrible car accident.
0:32.0	Michelle was only six months old at the time and couldn't make sense of what had happened.
0:38.0	But when she was old enough to understand, she was heartbroken. As she grew up, her dad did his best to be a
0:46.2	single father to her and her siblings, all nine of them. He owned a stable where they lived out in country Victoria, Balorat and
0:57.1	horse riding became a big part of family life. One of Michelle's brothers even won the Melbourne Cup and Michelle
1:05.7	started to think maybe I could do that. Family and horse riding were the most
1:11.6	important things in her life.
1:13.7	Michelle loved all her siblings, but she had a special connection with her brother Stevie,
1:19.7	who has Down syndrome. She understood him like no one else did.
1:24.0	What's he saying? What? I can't hear him.
1:27.5	Michelle's siblings with Shout.
1:29.5	But Michelle always knew what he was saying. He said he wants to eat dinner already,
1:35.0	Michelle would reply. Everyone would be amazed and the room would go silent.
1:40.4	So can we eat dinner now?
1:43.4	Michelle would say rather impatiently.
1:45.6	When Michelle was four years old, she rode her first voice.
1:50.3	But she fell off and never wanted to get on one again.
	...

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