Boolardy Station is a remote former sheep and cattle station 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 ...

(Murchison) region of

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 ...

, about north-north-east of

Pindar Pindar (; ; ; ) was an Greek lyric, Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes, Greece, Thebes. Of the Western canon, 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 The Shire of Murchison is a 49,500 km² local government area (LGA), within the Murchison sub-region, in the Mid West region of Western Australia. Encompassing most of the Murchison and East Murchison goldfields, the shire is named after t ...

and situated on

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 ...

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 that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications. CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...

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

Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory was established by CSIRO, Australia's national science centre 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

reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US v ...

s and

crown land Crown land, 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. Today, in Commonwealth realm ...

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

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

, 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. The various stone buildings of Boolardy Station were classified by the

National Trust of Western Australia The National Trust of Western Australia, officially the National Trust of Australia (W.A.), is a statutory authority that delivers heritage services, including conservation and interpretation, on behalf of the Western Australian government and co ...

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 and

Edward Wittenoom Sir Edward Horne Wittenoom Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG (12 February 1854 – 5 March 1936) was an Australian politician who served intermittently in the Western Australian Legislative Council, Legislative Cou ...

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 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. Notable people with the surname include: * Aimé Langlois (1880–1954), Liberal party member of the Canadian House of Commons * Al Langlois (1934–2020), Canadian ice hockey player * Alexandre ...

. Aboriginal labour was extensively employed on Boolardy. In 1896, management of the station was brought into disrepute following the untimely death of an Aboriginal worker on the station, leading to the prosecution of the manager, George Thompson, and two other men, Ernest Waugh, and William Purtell, for manslaughter. In uncontested evidence, the dead man, named Wayinga, known as Micky or Mickey, was shown to have been chained by the neck to verandah posts overnight and then flogged in turn by Thompson and Waugh (Purtell not being involved). He died five days later. The first jury failed to reach a verdict on the charge. A second jury found the men not guilty, a verdict greeted with satisfaction in the town of Geraldton where the trial was held. 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 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 ...

attracting high prices, at a wool sale in

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 ...

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 (Western Australia), 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. Draini ...

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 of significant con ...

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 separate civil defence organisations in Australia that provide assistance during and after major incidents. Specifically, the services deal with floods, storms and tsunamis, b ...

despatched a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

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 transpo ...

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 A radio telescope is a specialized antenna (radio), antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the r ...

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 ASKAP radio telescope is a radio telescope array located at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in the Mid West region of Western Australia. The facility began as a technology demonstrator for the ...

, are precursors to the dual-sited

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

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

Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe Khoemana (also known as !Orakobab or Korana) word is a semidesert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent is ...

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 Kga ...

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 Stations in the Mid West (Western Australia) Square Kilometre Array Shire of Murchison

Description

History

Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory

See also

References