William Alwyn Torenbeek (1937–2015) was an Australian drover, horse whisperer, endurance rider, bronc rider and author. Early life Torenbeek grew up on the Myella cattle station near Kokotungo in the Baralaba district of Central Queensland. He left home at the age of 14. Torenbeek began taming wild horses at the age of 11, and by the age of 17, he had accumulated and tamed approximately 70 wild horses. Due to being from Kokotungo, he was regularly referred to as "The Kokotungo Kid" throughout his career. Career Rodeo riding Torenbeek's interest in Australian rodeos came from watching rodeo riders as a child at events in Mount Morgan and Rockhampton. From the age of 14, he competed in rodeos as a full-time roughrider, winning the New South Wales state championship at the age of 18. He continued his success, becoming national champion by the time he was 21 years old, leading to Torenbeek becoming quite well known throughout the 1950s particularly in Regional Australia where rodeo was a popular competitive sport. Although Torenbeek preferred rodeo riding, he said he was physically unable to partake in the sport once he reached the age of 30, and instead moved into endurance riding. Endurance riding He first competed in the annual Tom Quilty Gold Cup Endurance Ride in the event's second year in 1967 after encouragement from organiser R.M. Williams. Aside from a 20-year break while he was working as a drover in the Gulf Country Torenbeek continued to be involved in the event until his death in 2015. Torenbeek's endurance riding efforts in the Tom Quilty were featured in a Landline story in 2008 when he competed in a team consisting of his grandson Luke Torenbeek, Japanese rider Yukinobu Horiuchi and The Lord of the Rings stunt rider Trevor Copland from New Zealand. Throughout his many years competing in the Tom Quilty, Torenbeek won the prized belt buckle several times. In 2013, Torenbeek claimed he had fulfilled his dream goals by the time he was 22, but still wanted to win two more Tom Quilty Gold Cup belt buckles and ride in the Old Dominion endurance ride held in Virginia. In 2013, Torenbeek stated he preferred the 120-kilometre events, rather than the 80-kilometre and or 160-kilometre events although he had been recently enjoying competing in the longer 160-kilometre event. Youth at Risk program In the 1970s, Torenbeek was approached by the Department of Aboriginal