Billabalong Station 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 once operated as 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 ...

but currently operates as

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 located north of Mullewa and west of Cue in the

Mid West The Mid West region is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is a sparsely populated region extending from the west coast of Western Australia, about north and south of its administrative centre of Geraldton and inland to east of W ...

region. The Murchison River runs along the eastern boundary of the property. The station currently occupies an area of leasehold and freehold. The homestead was built in the early 1900s and has five bedrooms and two bathrooms. The property also has a

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

, two workshops, generator shed, four sets of cattle yards, and a shearing shed with quarters. The lands are divided into 17 paddocks and watered by 23 wells, 16 bores and 38 windmills and was supporting a herd of 450 cattle in 2013, but able to carry a total of 8,000 head. The property was acquired by a partnership between Andrew Dempster and John Chow Miller in 1893 from the executors of Thomas Burges. The partnership dissolved after financial disputes and the property, along with Berin Station, was put up for auction in 1897. Billabalong comprised a total of , had a six-room homestead, stone shearing shed and of fencing. It was stocked with 7,000 sheep, 1,400 head of cattle and 100 horses. Following Dempster's death the executors of his will put the property up for auction in 1909. At this stage it occupied an area of and was stocked with 12,000 sheep, 2,500 head of cattle and 71 horses. The property was passed in with the highest bid being £21,000. The Darlot brothers acquired Billabalong and Byro Stations in 1914. Billabalong had lost the northern portion of the leasehold, it having been acquired by J. & C. Butcher in August 1913. The southern portion acquired by the Darlots only occupied and was running 15,000 sheep and 600 cattle. The Darlots intended to make many improvements and use Byro for breeding and Billabalong as a depot. Billabalong Station 1922

Angus Campbell, who had opened up

Boologooroo Boologooroo Station, commonly referred to as Boologooroo, is a pastoral lease that operates as a sheep station in Western Australia. Description It is situated about north east of Carnarvon and south of Coral Bay in the Gascoyne region. Th ...

, was appointed as station manager in 1916 and the station progressed under his management, producing the highest

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 ...

clip to pass through

Geraldton Geraldton (Wajarri language, Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu language, Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West (Western Australia), Mid West region of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. As of the , Geraldt ...

in 1919. Campbell died of heart failure in 1939 while still in charge of the property. Following Cyclone Emma in 2006, both Billabalong and Twinpeaks station were isolated from surrounding areas after the Murchison River inundated the area. Several stations in the area remained under water for over a month and farmers requested urgent assistance from the government to help alleviate losses.

See also

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