Arkaba or Arkaba Station is a part-perpetual lease, part-freehold property located about north east of Hawker and south of

Blinman Blinman is a locality incorporating two towns in the Australian state of South Australia within the Flinders Ranges about north of the state capital of Adelaide city centre, Adelaide. It includes the highest surveyed town in South Australia, wi ...

in the

Flinders Ranges The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain ranges in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna. The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhab ...

in the state of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, The station occupies an area of and was formerly used for grazing

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

, but is now used for tourism. The property is composed of

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

bluffs, open plains and creek beds studded with river red gums. The natural amphitheatre of

Wilpena Pound Wilpena Pound ("Ikara" in the Adnyamathanha language) is a major natural amphitheatre of mountains located north of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia in the heart of the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park. Its fringe is accessible by a sea ...

lies at the northern boundary of the property. The word 'arkaba' is said to mean ''land of abundance'' in the local

Adnyamathanha language The Adnyamathanha language (pronounced ), also known as yura ngarwala natively and Kuyani, also known as Guyani and other variants, are two closely related Australian Aboriginal languages. They are traditional languages of the Adnyamathanha of ...

History

The station was initially leased by

William James Browne William James Browne, (1815 – 4 December 1894), generally referred to as Dr. Browne, was a grazier and pastoralist in South Australia who was born and died in England. His brother, John Harris Browne, was a noted explorer and pastoralist in ...

and his brother John Harris Browne in 1851. The brothers had previously run other properties including

Lyndoch Lyndoch is a town in Barossa Valley, located on the Barossa Valley Highway between Gawler, South Australia, Gawler and Tanunda, South Australia, Tanunda, 58 km northeast of Adelaide. The town has an elevation of 175m and an average Precipi ...

, Moorak, Buckland Park, and Booborowie. The men stocked the property with 6,000 sheep which cut about of

wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

. Put up for

auction An auction is usually a process of Trade, buying and selling Good (economics), goods or Service (economics), services by offering them up for Bidding, bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from th ...

in 1863 by the managers, Messrs George and Frank Marchant, the station was stocked with approximately 27,000 sheep and was described as occupying an area of consisting of lightly timbered country, permanently watered and assessed to carry nearly 35,000 sheep. The reserve price was not met and the property was withdrawn for private sale. An employee drowned at Arkaba in 1872 when he tried to save some camp appliances from Mundy Creek that was flooded at the time. The man, George Hocart, was moving sheep in the area with several other men when the accident happened. An

inquest An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a cor ...

into a

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

at the station was held in 1873 when the postmaster and storekeeper, George Thompson, took an

overdose A drug overdose (overdose or OD) is the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities much greater than are recommended. Retrieved on September 20, 2014.

laudanum Laudanum is a tincture of opium containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight (the equivalent of 1% morphine). Laudanum is prepared by dissolving extracts from the opium poppy (''Papaver somniferum'') in alcohol (ethanol). Reddish-br ...

. His body was found by his daughter, and the station manager, George Parkins, attempted to resuscitate him with no effect. The inquest ruled that Thompson had taken his own life under a fit of temporary insanity. The station also produced

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

in addition to grazing sheep. Through 1889 to 1893 the property was averaging over 12

bushel A bushel (abbreviation: bsh. or bu.) is an Imperial unit, imperial and United States customary units, US customary unit of volume, based upon an earlier measure of dry capacity. The old bushel was used mostly for agriculture, agricultural pr ...

s per acre despite a rainfall of less than per year. A

swagman A swagman (also called a swaggie, sundowner or tussocker) was a transient labourer who traveled by foot from farm to farm carrying his belongings in a swag. The term originated in Australia in the 19th century and was later used in New Zealan ...

was found dead in a hut at Arkaba in 1897, but no inquest was held. A South Australian

shearing Sheep shearing is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. The person who removes the sheep's wool is called a '' shearer''. Typically each adult sheep is shorn once each year (depending upon dialect, a sheep may be sai ...

record was set at Arkaba with the shearer H. R. Cutter shearing 277 sheep in 8 hours. The previous record was set in 1912 by a shearer from Wooltana Station completing 274. At this time the property was owned by Mr. O. G. Bartholomaeun. The area experienced torrential rain for three days in the summer of 2007 which inundated much of the

. Arkaba received over the three days, which is about three times the monthly average. The then owner, Dean Rasheed, said it was the largest flood in his lifetime and probably the largest since European settlement. The nearby creek was swollen to a width of and deep, where it had previously been completely dry. 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 not damaged but much of the family

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

was swept away. The property was sold in 2009 by the Rasheed family for $2.5 million to

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

operator, Wild Bush Luxury, which also own properties at Ningaloo in

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 ...

and Bamurru Plains in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

. After a $1 million refurbishment, the homestead was opened in November of the same year. Abercrombie & Kent listed the station in its top ten semi-adventure travel destinations in 2010.

Nicole Kidman Nicole Mary Kidman (born 20 June 1967) is an Australian and American actress and producer. Known for Nicole Kidman on screen and stage, her work in film and television productions across many genres, she has consistently ranked among the world ...

is listed among those who have stayed at Arkaba. The property was placed on the market again in 2012 for over 4 million. The property was taken off the market in 2014 and then completely destocked of sheep the same year. The property presently operates as a tourism resort and as a private wildlife conservancy.

References

{{Stations of South Australia Stations in South Australia Flinders Ranges 1851 establishments in Australia Far North (South Australia)

History

See also

References