Aramac Station was a pastoral lease that has operated both 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 ...

and a

sheep station A sheep station is a large property ( station, the equivalent of a ranch) in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or sout ...

. It is located about south east of

Muttaburra Muttaburra is an outback town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia. Muttaburra was the discovery site of the ''Muttaburrasaurus'', one of Australia's most famous dinosaurs. In the , t ...

and north west of

Alpha Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter ''aleph'' , whose name comes from the West Semitic word for ' ...

near the town of

Aramac Aramac is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Aramac had a population of 372 people. Geography Aramac is located north of Barcaldine, Queensl ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. The

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

was first explored by William Landsborough in 1859 who named the Aramac Creek, a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of the Thomson River after a former pastoralist, Robert Ramsay MacKenzie. The station, in turn, takes its name from the creek. The station was established in 1863, shortly after

Bowen Downs Station Bowen Downs Station is a pastoral lease that has operated both as a cattle station and a sheep station. It is located about east of Muttaburra and north west of Aramac in the outback of Queensland. It is watered by the Thomson River and tr ...

in 1862. Aramac Station was initially settled by John Rule and Dyson Lacey along the banks of the creek, and they stocked the area with sheep. The early part of the year and several waterholes failed causing other pastoralists in the area to move on. When the rains came in June the creek flooded and the

homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (building), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Nguni homestead, a cluster of houses inhabited by a single extended family, typically with a kraal ...

was found to be too close to the creek and had to be moved to higher ground. Lacey was later

spear A spear is a polearm consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with Fire hardening, fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable materia ...

ed along with another of the station

shepherd A shepherd is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations; it exists in many parts of the globe, and it is an important part of Pastoralism, pastoralist animal husbandry. ...

s by Aboriginal men. The first manager of the station was Mr Alexander "Long" Gordon, who worked for Rule and Lacey. During his time there, he shot a large number of Aboriginal people near Greyrock in the nearby Mailman's Gorge although another account blames the massacre on a tribal war between Aboriginal people. Originally occupying an area of approximately , the station is made up of about two thirds open and grazing country and about one third described as desert country. In 1867 an employee of Aramac, John Kingston, started a trading post at an outlying point of the creek that later became the town of

. Rule left Aramac in 1871, An Aboriginal

murdered a European man at Aramac in 1872. Roderick Travers had bought Aramac off Rule and Lacey some time prior to 1873 and added it to his other holding of Malvern Downs which combined held some 60,000 sheep and 10,000 cattle. 3,000 sheep from the station were sold off in 1873 and taken to Mr McCormack's Peak Downs Station. By 1875 the station was owned by Messrs Travers and Gibson, who had a flock of approximately 20,000 sheep on the run. By this stage they also had about fenced suitable for both cattle and sheep. This in turn reduced the number of

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. ...

attacks on the flock. An additional 15,000 sheep were delivered to the station from Malvern Downs in 1876, along with 15 stud bulls that arrived later in the dry season. Several

bushfires A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

broke out in December 1876 resulting in the death of a man named Robert Durban and a Kanaka labourer who were carting water to men who were beating out the flames when he got burnt. Two horses and a dray were also lost during the fire. The men were volunteers from town who had come to help the Forsyths, of Aramac Station, to quell the blaze. The Forsyths later established a fund to help Durban's widow. Messrs. Anderson and Nicoll of Manuka Station purchased 10,000 sheep from Aramac that were droved overland and delivered in 1879 with the stock ''looking remarkably well''. In 1880 Travers and Gibson bought 5636 ewes from Huntly Station for Aramac. Another 5,000 were sent to Aramac from Spottiswoode Station in 1881. Sometime prior to 1890 the station fell into the hands of the

Bank of New South Wales The Bank of New South Wales (BNSW), also known as The Wales, was the first bank in Australia. It was established in 1817 in Sydney. During the 19th century, the bank opened branches throughout Australia and New Zealand, expanding into Oceania ...

and was managed by William Forsyth but was later purchased in 1891 for £100,000 by James Tolson who also owned the neighbouring properties of Corinda and Uanda Station. In 1900 the station had a flock of 150,000 sheep and was still owned by Tolson. The station was subdivided and put up for ballot in 1930 attracting 396 applicants from all over Australia. The property was split into seven different blocks ranging from to . The land was described as ''not being in first class order'' after being heavily stocked for many years. All the station plant, homestead and stock were sold off in 1930. Many of the selectors were among those who purchased the equipment. Some of the new newly formed properties were named ''Politic'', ''Powella'', ''Edgebaston'' and ''Stainburn''.

References

{{Coord, 22, 58, 06, S, 145, 14, 42, E, type:landmark_region:AU-QLD, display=title Stations in Queensland Central West Queensland 1863 establishments in Australia

See also

References