Callagiddy Station, commonly referred to as Callagiddy, 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

Gascoyne The Gascoyne region is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northwest of Western Australia, and consists of the local government areas of Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Gascoyne has about of ...

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 ...

. The name Callagiddy is a Kimberly name picked up on a

droving Droving is the practice of walking livestock over long distances. It is a type of herding, often associated with cattle, in which case it is a cattle drive (particularly in the US). Droving stock to market—usually on foot and often with the ...

trip by the original owner Dansy Powell. It means, like many Aboriginal place names, "plenty water" and is pronounced with a hard G (J). Why the name Callagiddy was significant to Powell is unknown, however he named his seventh child, "Amy Callagiddy Powell". The original homestead on Callagiddy was located in the north-east section of the property known today as "Old Callagiddy". It was later relocated "

lock, stock and barrel "Lock, stock, and barrel" is a merism used predominantly in the United Kingdom and North America, meaning "all", "total" or "everything". It derives from the effective portions of a gun: the Lock (firearm), lock, the Stock (firearms), stock, and ...

" to the centre of the property, when the lease was expanded in 1918, where it stands today. It is situated about south east of Carnarvon, north east of Denham and east of

Great Northern Highway Great Northern Highway is an Australian highway that links Western Australia's capital city Perth with its northernmost port, Wyndham. With a length of almost , it is the longest highway in Australia, with the majority included as part of the ...

. On the north and west boundary is Brick House Station, north-east boundary Meeragoolia station, eastern boundary Ella Valla Station and southern boundary Edagee Station. The

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 ...

is north of the northern boundary and the coast west of the western boundary. The long term average rainfall is 214 mm and the median average is 194 mm.

History

In 1867 Dansy Powell (aged 5) arrived in

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

, Australia with his mother and sister Sarah to meet up with his father George Powell, from

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

, England, who had been sent out as a

convict A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convicts ...

(convict no 7821) for sheep stealing. In 1882 Dansy Powell arrived in the Gascoyne District with a survey party and shortly afterwards took up Meeragoolia Station. He then sold Meeragoolia to Dan Matheson and took up the Callagiddy country, which was the first portion of the area between Carnarvon and Wooramel to be taken up and stocked. In 1894 Powell married Ellen Matilda Bird, and their first child James was born at Callagiddy in 1896. They had nine children, all of whom except the last, Jessie, were born at the station. After the sale of Callagiddy in 1909 the family moved to Wagin, where they farmed over the generations until 2018. Records show in 1905 the property was owned by Messrs Powell and McNish, who were running sheep on Callagiddy. The partnership was dissolved in 1906 with Powell taking full ownership. Powell sold the property in 1909 to Messrs Jackman and Balston for £16,500; at the time it was stocked with 11,000 sheep. H. Farrar was appointed manager in 1910 of Callagiddy after three years at Minilya Station. Later the same year 10,000 sheep were shorn, producing 168 bales of wool. A large portion of the property was burned in 1923 by

bushfires A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

. Surrounding properties, including Jimba Jimba, Boologooroo, Brick House, Minilya and Wandagee, also lost large areas of grassland in the blaze. More bushfires swept through the area in 1927, with Callagiddy, Brick House, Doorawarrah, Ella Valla and other properties all losing large areas of feed to the fires. Jackman sold the property in 1930 for £37,000 to the Waite family. The property was stocked with 16,000 sheep at the time. In 1969 Jim Waite sold the property to the Johnston family. Peter Johnston took over management of the family station in 1985 and had full ownership by 1987. The property was running Dorper and Damara sheep along with cattle, and had diversified into growing sweetcorn,

sorghum ''Sorghum bicolor'', commonly called sorghum () and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a species in the Poaceae, grass genus ''Sorghum (genus), Sorghum'' cultivated for its grain. The grain i ...

and sunflowers. The property was placed on the market in 2010 and sold to David Chown in May 2011; it occupied an area of with a high carrying capacity, 99.2 percent of the property being rated either very high or high under the government's rangeland ratings. The property suffered little damage from the 2010 Gascoyne River flood, or fires in 2012 (700,000 hectares of the Gascoyne burnt), but had substantial damage to infrastructure from cyclone Olwyn in 2015. In 2017 the western Gascoyne was in severe drought, with the lowest rainfall in recorded history. The property currently only carries cattle and has area suitable for horticulture with good artesian water supply having a salt content of only 219 gr/gal or 2812 mg/litre.

References

{{Stations of the Gascoyne Western Australia Stations in Gascoyne Shire of Carnarvon

History

See also

References