Mount House Station, commonly referred to as Mount House, is a

pastoral lease A pastoral lease, sometimes called a pastoral run, is an arrangement used in both Australia and New Zealand where government-owned Crown land is leased out to Pastoral farming, graziers for the purpose of livestock grazing on rangelands. Austral ...

that operates as a

cattle station In Australia and New Zealand, a cattle station is a large farm ( station is equivalent to the American ranch), the main activity of which is the rearing of cattle. The owner of a cattle station is called a '' grazier''. The largest cattle stati ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. It is situated about north of Junjuwa and north west of

Halls Creek Halls is a plural of the word hall. Halls may also refer to: People * Walter Halls (1871–1953), British trade unionist and politician * Ethel May Halls (1882–1967), American actress * Julian Halls (born 1967), British field hockey player * ...

, and is accessed via the

Gibb River Road The Gibb River Road is a road in the Kimberley (Western Australia), Kimberley region of Western Australia. Description The road is a former cattle route that stretches in an east–west direction almost through the Kimberley between the to ...

. The homestead is situated along the Adcock River, a tributary of the Fitzroy River. The lease takes its name from the

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

, Dr House. Mount House shares a boundary with Charnley River Station.

Frank Hann Frank Hugh Hann (19 October 184521 August 1921) was an Australian pastoralist and explorer. Early life Hann was the son of Joseph and Elizabeth Hann. Fellow explorer William Hann was his older brother. They were born in Wiltshire, England ...

crossed the

Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges The Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges (between 1879 and 2020 known as the King Leopold Ranges) are a range of hills in the western Kimberley region of Western Australia. There are two conservation parks within the ranges, the Wunaamin Conservation P ...

and explored the area in 1898. He was impressed with the

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

ic country around where Mount House and Mount Elizabeth Stations are found today. Mount House was established early in the twentieth century along with many others in the region; the Blythe family owned and managed the property until the late 1960s. Joseph Blythe had managed

Noonkanbah Station Noonkanbah Station (or just Noonkanbah) is a pastoral lease, both a cattle station, cattle and sheep station, on the Fitzroy River (Western Australia), Fitzroy River between Camballin, Western Australia, Camballin and Fitzroy Crossing, Western ...

for the Emanuel brothers but eventually found the lands between the King Leopold and Philips Ranges. By 1918 cattle in the Kimberley were suffering from tick fever and

red water ''Red Water'' is a 2003 American made-for-television horror film starring Lou Diamond Phillips, Kristy Swanson, Gideon Emery and Coolio. When former oil rig worker turned fishing captain John Sanders ( Lou Diamond Phillips) agrees to help when ...

, with branding at Mount House reduced from 3,000 the previous year to 900. The

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

artist Jack Dale Mengenen was born in the bush at the station in about 1923. He worked as a stockman on many Kimberley properties before taking up painting. In recognition of the inaccessible nature of the area a pedal wireless set was installed at Mount House in 1936. The Lotteries Commission paid for the set, which was open to use by surrounding stations and the mail service. Lindsay Blythe, Joseph's son, took an active interest in the family cattle stations after returning from World War II. Lindsay, along with his brothers Douglas and Keith, were responsible for both Mount House and

Glenroy Station Glenroy Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in Western Australia. It is situated approximately north of Fitzroy Crossing and east of Derby in the Kimberley region. History The property was established in the ear ...

s, which together occupied approximately . Blythe proposed an experiment in 1947, slaughtering four bullocks and butchering their carcasses on the station then flying the processed meat directly to

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

overnight using a

MacRobertson Miller Airlines MacRobertson Miller Airlines (MMA) was a Western Australian airline that operated between 1927 and 1993. It served a changing roster of destinations in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, concentrated on services between Perth and ...

aeroplane. The trial was successfully completed the following month with of meat being delivered. This later became known as the Air Beef Scheme, and operated from 1949 to 1965. The station was once owned by prominent Sydney barrister Frank Stratton McAlary, who also owned Yeeda Station. The property was managed by his daughter Caitlin. The cattle station was acquired by

Kerry Stokes Kerry Matthew Stokes (born John Patrick Alford on 13 September 1940) is an Australian businessman. He holds business interests in industries including electronic and print media, property, mining and construction equipment. He is most widely k ...

in 2016 for an undisclosed sum.

References

{{Stations of the Kimberley Western Australia Stations in the Kimberley (Western Australia)

See also

References