Bulloo Downs Station, most commonly referred to as Bulloo Downs, 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 operates 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 ...

in the

Shire of Bulloo The Shire of Bulloo ( ) is a Local government in Australia, local government area in South West Queensland, Australia. On 17 April 2020 the Queensland Government reorganised the nine localities in the Shire, resulting in six localities by makin ...

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 ...

, Australia. It is located on the traditional lands of the Bitjara. It is situated about north east east of

Tibooburra Tibooburra (pronounced or ) is a town in the Far West, New South Wales, far northwest of New South Wales, Australia, located from the state capital, Sydney. It is most frequently visited by tourists on their way to Sturt National Park or ...

and west of

Hungerford Hungerford is a historic market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, west of Newbury, east of Marlborough, and 60 miles (97 km) west of London. The population of the parish at the 2021 census was 5,869. The Kennet and Avon Can ...

in the

Channel Country The Channel Country is a region of outback Australia mostly in the state of Queensland but also in parts of South Australia, Northern Territory and New South Wales. The name comes from the numerous Braided river, intertwined rivulets that cro ...

of south west Queensland. The property encompasses a portion of the

Bulloo River The Bulloo River is an isolated drainage system in western Queensland, central Australia. Its floodplain, which extends into northern New South Wales, is an important area for waterbirds when inundated. It comprises most of the Bulloo-Banc ...

and its floodplains. The property adjoins Naryilco Station. The property occupies an area of and in 2010 was owned by the Gibson family. Mick and Marie Gibson acquired Bulloo Downs in 2004 paying 20 million for the property following the breakup of the

Stanbroke Pastoral Company Stanbroke Pastoral Company is a company once owned by AMP Limited that was once one of the largest land owners in Australia. Established in about 1964, by 2003 the company owned 27 cattle stations in Queensland and the Northern Territory controlli ...

by Peter Menegazzo.

History

In 1894 the property was owned by Messrs. Jones, Green and Sullivan and was carrying 43,000 head of cattle. The property was then struck by drought for a year, and the herd was reduced to 14,000 head. The cattle bred up to a herd of 18,000, then another even longer-lasting drought reduced the herd to 2,700 head in 1900. Sir

Sidney Kidman Sir Sidney Kidman (9 May 18572 September 1935), known as Sid Kidman and popularly named "the Cattle King", was an Australian pastoralist and entrepreneur who owned or co-owned large areas of land in Australia in his lifetime. Early life Sidne ...

acquired the property in 1903 for £20,000 when it was stocked with only 3,000 head of cattle. At this time the station occupied an area of and was part of Kidman's expansive empire.

References

{{Stations of Sidney Kidman Stations in Queensland South West Queensland

History

See also

References