Boolardy Station is a remote former sheep and cattle station in the

Mid West The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

(Murchison) region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

, about north-north-east of

Pindar Pindar (; grc-gre, Πίνδαρος , ; la, Pindarus; ) was an Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar i ...

and west-south-west of Meekatharra. It is within the Shire of Murchison and situated on pastoral lease no. 3114/406 (Crown lease 146/1966). The area of the lease is . In 2009 the

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research. CSIRO works with leading organisations around the world. From its headquarters in Canberra, CSIRO ...

(Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) purchased the property for , in order to provide the location of the

Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory The Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) was established by CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) in 2009. It lies in a designated radio quiet zone located near Boolardy Station in the Murchison Shire of ...

, while the owners continued running the property as a cattle station until around 2014.

Description

An area of within the station was composed of reserves and

crown land Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it ...

. In 2011 a report stated that the soil had a low level of

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is di ...

, with 87% of the land being described as nil or minor. The perennial vegetation condition was fair, with 39% of vegetation cover being described as poor or very poor. The property was an important pastoral property in the Murchison region, with the Boolardy Homestead used as offices of the Murchison Road Board for many years. The station's western boundary is bordered by

Wooleen Station Wooleen Station is a pastoral lease that was previously operated as a sheep station and currently runs cattle. The station was established in 1886 in the Murchison region of Western Australia that is bisected by the Murchison River. The st ...

. The various stone buildings of Boolardy Station were classified by the National Trust of Western Australia on 2 September 1985.

History

Robert Austin and Kenneth Brown explored the region in 1854, noting the rich grassy plains of Boolardy and importantly, the Ngatta water hole. However, the potential of the area was not appreciated until 1873 when

John Perks John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

and Edward Wittenoom explored the area north of the water hole while searching for sheep grazing country. The water hole is about south of the main homestead. Perks and Wittenoom subsequently took up the initial lease and the first cattle and sheep were taken overland to Nookawarra in 1876, but as the site lacked suitable feed for horses, they moved to the Boolardy site. The lease was later associated with various members of the pioneering Wittenoom and Lefroy families, particularly Edward and

Frank Wittenoom Francis "Frank" Frederick Burdett Wittenoom (17 December 185511 September 1939) was an explorer and pastoralist in Western Australia. Biography Early life Frank Wittenoom was born in York, Western Australia in 1855.Langlois Lefroy Langlois or L'Anglois is a surname of French origin. It may refer to: *Aimé Langlois (1880–1954), Liberal party member of the Canadian House of Commons *Al Langlois (born 1934), Canadian ice hockey player *Alexandre Langlois (1788–1854), Frenc ...

. By 1912 the station expected to shear 25,000 sheep using 16 stands in the

shearing shed Shearing sheds (or wool sheds) are large sheds located on sheep stations to accommodate large scale sheep shearing activities. In countries where large numbers of sheep are kept for wool, sometimes many thousands in a flock, shearing sheds a ...

. The station has consistently produced quality

wool Wool is the textile fibre 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 properties similar to animal wool. ...

attracting high prices, at a wool sale in

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

in 1927 a small star lot of super combing sold from the station was sold for 28½d per pound, the most expensive at the sale. The station was flooded in 1945 when of rain fell in 24 hours with over of fencing being washed away. When the Murchison River and

Gascoyne River The Gascoyne River is a river in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. At , it is the longest river in Western Australia. Description The Gascoyne River comprises three branches in its upper reaches. Draining the Collier Range, the river ...

catchments were inundated severe

floods A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study o ...

occurred in 2010, parts of Boolardy were submerged and the

State Emergency Service The State Emergency Service (SES) is the name used by a number of organisations in Australia that provide assistance during and after major incidents. Specifically, the service deals with floods, storms and tsunamis, but can also assist in ot ...

despatched a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribut ...

to check on the welfare of those stranded at the station. Little rain fell at Boolardy over 2012 and early 2013 resulting in

dust storm A dust storm, also called a sandstorm, is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Fine particles are tra ...

s and little green feed being available for stock. The then owners, Mark and Carolyn Halleen, left the area between 2013 and 2015.

Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory

In 2009 the CSIRO purchased the property for in order to provide the location of the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO), while the owners continued running the property as a cattle station for some time. Two large radio telescope projects on the Boolardy site, the

Murchison Widefield Array The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is a joint project between an international consortium of organisations to construct and operate a low-frequency radio array. 'Widefield' refers to its very large field of view (on the order of 30 degrees ac ...

and the

Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) is a radio telescope array located at Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) in the Mid West region of Western Australia. The facility began as a technology demonstrator for the i ...

, are precursors to the dual-sited

Square Kilometre Array The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is an intergovernmental international radio telescope project being built in Australia (low-frequency) and South Africa (mid-frequency). The combining infrastructure, the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SK ...

(SKA), with the other two sites being situated in the

Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hardveld") is a semi- desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its ...

area of the

Northern Cape Province The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi Tr ...

in South Africa.

References

{{Stations of the Mid West Western Australia State Register of Heritage Places in the Mid West (Western Australia) Homesteads in Western Australia Pastoral leases in Western Australia Stations (Australian agriculture) Square Kilometre Array Shire of Murchison

Description

History

Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory

See also

References