Cattle station
Encyclopedia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n term for a large farm (station
Station (Australian agriculture)
Station is the term for a large Australian landholding used for livestock production. It corresponds to the North American term ranch or South American estancia...
, the equivalent of an American ranch
Ranch
A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though...
), whose main activity is the rearing of cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
. In Australia, the owner of a cattle station is called a grazier. The largest cattle station in the world is Anna Creek station
Anna Creek station
Anna Creek Station is the world's largest working cattle station. It is located in South Australia, Australia. Its area is roughly which is slightly larger than Israel...
in South Australia, Australia.
Improvements
Each station has a homesteadHomestead (buildings)
A homestead is either a single building, or collection of buildings grouped together on a large agricultural holding, such as a ranch, station or a large agricultural operation of some other designation.-See also:* Farm house* Homestead Act...
where the manager or property owner lives. Nearby cottages or staff quarters provide housing for the employees, storage sheds and cattle yards are also sited here. Other structures depend on the size and location of the station. The isolated stations will have a mechanic's workshop, schoolroom, a small general store to supply essentials and possibly an entertainment or bar area for the owners and staff. Water may be supplied from a river, bores or dams in conjunction with rainwater tanks. Electricity is nowadays typically provided with a generator if rural power is not connected, but solar electricity systems have become increasingly common.
Children were originally educated by correspondence lessons supervised by a governess
Governess
A governess is a girl or woman employed to teach and train children in a private household. In contrast to a nanny or a babysitter, she concentrates on teaching children, not on meeting their physical needs...
and by the School of the Air
School of the Air
School of the Air is a generic term for correspondence schools catering for the primary and early secondary education of children in remote and outback Australia.-History:...
, with most children in remote areas going to boarding school for their secondary education. The Royal Flying Doctor service is available to most northern and western remote stations.
History
Drover (Australian)
A drover in Australia is a person, typically an experienced stockman, who moves livestock, usually sheep or cattle, "on the hoof" over long distances. Reasons for droving may include: delivering animals to a new owner's property, taking animals to market, or moving animals during a drought in...
, Nathaniel Buchanan
Nathaniel Buchanan
Nathaniel Buchanan was an Australian pioneer pastoralist, drover and explorer.-Early life:Buchanan was born near Dublin, and was of Scottish descent the son of Lieutenant Charles Henry Buchanan, and his wife Annie, née White...
(1826–1901), overlanded 20,000 head of cattle from Wilmot to Victoria River Downs in c.1881 to establish their cattle venture. Previously Nat had from 1860 to 1867, stocked and managed Bowen Downs Station near Longreach, Queensland. Buchanan was associated with the opening up and stocking of several cattle stations in the Victoria River
Victoria River
Victoria River may refer to:*Victoria River , the longest river in the Northern Territory of Australia*Victoria River, New Zealand in New Zealand*Victoria River in Newfoundland and Labrador...
district and the Ord River
Ord River
The Ord River is a 320-kilometre-long river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It was named in honour of Harry Ord, Governor of Western Australia from 1877 to 1880....
region. The Gordon brothers and Nathaniel Buchanan took up Wave Hill on the Victoria River in 1883, one of the first cattle stations established west of the Telegraph Line. Their nearest neighbour was 200 miles (518 km) away.
By 1898 James Tyson
James Tyson
James Tyson was an Australian pastoralist. He is regarded as Australia's first self-made millionaire. His name became a byword for reticence, wealth and astute dealing....
(8 April 1819 – 4 December 1898), held 5,329,214 acres (2,156,680 ha) including 352,332 acres (142,585 ha) freehold. His stations included Bangate, Goondublui, Juanbung, Tupra and Mooroonowa in New South Wales; Heyfield in Victoria; and Glenormiston, Swanvale, Meteor Downs and Albinia Downs, Babbiloora, Carnarvon, Tully, Wyobie, Felton, Mount Russell and Tinnenburra in Queensland.
Sidney Kidman
Sidney Kidman
Sir Sidney Kidman was a pastoralist in Australia and controlled huge tracts of land.-Early life:Sidney Kidman was born near Adelaide third son of George Kidman , farmer, and his wife Elizabeth Mary, née Nunn...
(1857–1935) set up a chain of cattle stations along the sources of water, from the Gulf of Carpentaria
Gulf of Carpentaria
The Gulf of Carpentaria is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the Arafura Sea...
, into South Australia to be within easy droving distance of the Adelaide markets.
Aborigines
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
have long played a big part in the cattle industry where they were competent stockmen on the cattle stations of the north. In 1950 it was legislated that the Aboriginal workers were now to be paid cash wages.
Many cattle stations were established along the Great Dividing Range
Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia's most substantial mountain range and the third longest in the world. The range stretches more than 3,500 km from Dauan Island off the northeastern tip of Queensland, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through...
where only cattle raising was possible because of dingo
Dingo
The Australian Dingo or Warrigal is a free-roaming wild dog unique to the continent of Australia, mainly found in the outback. Its original ancestors are thought to have arrived with humans from southeast Asia thousands of years ago, when dogs were still relatively undomesticated and closer to...
attacks on sheep. The original Kunderang Station, on the eastern fall of the Great Dividing Range
Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia's most substantial mountain range and the third longest in the world. The range stretches more than 3,500 km from Dauan Island off the northeastern tip of Queensland, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through...
was taken up by Captain George Jobling as an outstation, and later sold under the Subdivision of Runs Act 1884. Kunderang was one of the few Great Dividing Range stations which was inhabited. The isolated homestead here, was built of solid Australian red cedar (Toona ciliata
Toona ciliata
Australian Red Cedar , Toona ciliata is a forest tree in the family Meliaceae which grows throughout southern Asia from Afghanistan to Papua New Guinea and Australia. In Australia its natural habitat is now extensively cleared subtropical rainforests of New South Wales and Queensland...
).
Live export
Live export is the transport of living farm animals usually across either state or national borders.Animal charities say that thousands of animals die en route from disease, heat exhaustion, thirst, suffocation, and crush injuries. The National Hog Farmer reports that 420,000 pigs are crippled and...
markets in the more recent years. Roads and communications were greatly improved as a result of the War. Many of the Northern Territory cattle stations had been previously owned by English companies who also did not pay tax in Australia. The 33,280 square kilometres Victoria River Downs was sold in March 1909 to Lord Luke's Bovril Australian Estates for AU£180,000 and until 1950 they were not paying taxes to the Australian Government. In 1950 income tax was introduced to Northern Territory land owners. The very large stations were subdivided and country was available with reasonable conditions of tenure. This saw an influx of adventurous, working stockmen, with many doing well by mustering 'cleanskins' (unbranded cattle) on their new land.
Zebu cattle were imported from Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
in 1956 and Brahman
Brahman
In Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...
cattle were also brought from USA at about that time. Many new breeds were developed from these imports and this led to cattle that were much more tolerant to the Top End
Top End
The Top End of northern Australia is the second northernmost point on the continent. It covers a rather vaguely-defined area of perhaps 400,000 square kilometres behind the northern coast from the Northern Territory capital of Darwin across to Arnhem Land with the Indian Ocean on the west, the...
heat and cattle tick
Tick
Ticks are small arachnids in the order Ixodida, along with mites, constitute the subclass Acarina. Ticks are ectoparasites , living by hematophagy on the blood of mammals, birds, and sometimes reptiles and amphibians...
s.
The Brucellosis and Tuberculosis Eradication Campaign (BTEC) was a national program to eradicate bovine brucellosis and bovine tuberculosis that commenced in 1970 after years of local jurisdictional activities. In the 1970s, interest rates soared and the American beef market collapsed causing the beef depression. A fat bullock was then worth less than a pair of locally made elastic side riding boots. The cattle herd was reduced to 21.8 million by 1978 in the wake of this crash. Roads and communications were further improved as a result of the Tuberculosis Eradication Campaign. In 1979, a disastrous drought struck and continued into 1983 becoming one of Australia's worst droughts.
Helicopters were now being used to assist in mustering in the 1980s. Australia entered the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese beef market in 1988 with improved expectations for a better future in the beef cattle industry.
Cattle empires
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North Australian Pastoral Company
The North Australian Pastoral Company is a large, privately owned, Australian cattle company which operates 13 cattle stations covering over 60,000 km2, managing about 200,000 cattle, in the Northern Territory and Queensland...
Pty Limited (NAPCO) is now one of Australia's largest beef cattle producers, with a herd of over 180,000 cattle and fourteen cattle stations in Queensland and the Northern Territory. The Australian Agricultural Company
Australian Agricultural Company
The Australian Agricultural Company is a company which serves to improve beef cattle production through responsible natural resource and land use...
(AA Co) manages a cattle herd of more than 585,000 head. Heytesbury Beef Pty Ltd owns and manages over two hundred thousand head of cattle across eight stations spanning the East Kimberley, Victoria River
Victoria River
Victoria River may refer to:*Victoria River , the longest river in the Northern Territory of Australia*Victoria River, New Zealand in New Zealand*Victoria River in Newfoundland and Labrador...
and Barkly Tablelands regions in Northern Australia.
Cattle station has a parallel term, sheep station
Sheep station
A sheep station is a large property in Australia or New Zealand whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or south-west of the country. In New Zealand the Merinos are usually in the high country of the South...
, for those stations carrying sheep rather than cattle. In most cases the stations are in a rangeland
Rangeland
Rangelands are vast natural landscapes in the form of grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, wetlands, and deserts. Types of rangelands include tallgrass and shortgrass prairies, desert grasslands and shrublands, woodlands, savannas, chaparrals, steppes, and tundras...
context on pastoral lease
Pastoral lease
A pastoral lease is Crown land that government allows to be leased, generally for the purposes of farming.-Australia:Pastoral leases exist in both Australian commonwealth law and state jurisdictions....
s. Many are larger than small countries. Some stations are not exclusively sheep or cattle stations but have a mix of cattle, sheep and even goats to make the owner less vulnerable to changes in the wool or beef prices.
The phrase is also in traditional Australian English
Australian English
Australian English is the name given to the group of dialects spoken in Australia that form a major variety of the English language....
to denote something large and/or important.
See also
- Curtin Springs
- List of pastoral leases in Western Australia
- List of ranches and stations
- Muster (livestock)