Credo is a former pastoral lease located about north of Coolgardie in the Goldfields 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 ...

. The station occupies an area of . The pastoral lease was acquired by the Department of Environment and Conservation in 2007 and is now used as a tourist destination, offering overnight stays in the six

dongas The Dongas Tribe was a collection of Road protest in the United Kingdom, road protesters and travellers in England, noted for their occupation of Twyford Down outside Winchester, England, Winchester, Hampshire. The name ''Dongas'' comes from the No ...

on the site. The explorer

Ernest Giles William Ernest Powell Giles (20 July 1835 – 13 November 1897), best known as Ernest Giles, was an Australian explorer who led five major expeditions to parts of South Australia and Western Australia. Early life Ernest Giles was born in Bris ...

passed through the area in 1875 and had an encounter at nearby Ularring Rock with an

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

tribe. The station was set up by William Henry Halford, who arrived in the area in 1904 after departing from Mintabying in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

in 1903, via Fowlers Bay, Eucla and Balladonia. The station is divided into two sections; the Halford homestead is on the Black Flag area and is split from the other part by Carbine Station. The second area contains another homestead along with holding yards and shearing sheds. The station contains many native trees, including black oak, salmon gum and

gimlet Gimlet may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Gimlet Media, a media network that produces journalistic and narrative podcasts * Gimlet (Transformers), a fictional character * Captain Lorrington "Gimlet" King, a fictional character in a s ...

with underbrush such as

wattle Wattle or wattles may refer to: Plants *''Acacia sensu lato'', polyphyletic genus of plants commonly known as wattle, especially in Australia and South Africa **''Acacia'', large genus of shrubs and trees, native to Australasia **Black wattle, c ...

, blue bush and salt bush. Halford set up the Overland Dairy near Kalgoorlie and started to run cattle from Binyarinyinna near Lake Cowan to Kalgoorlie and acquiring pastoral leases. The family set up a homestead at Black Flag, and Credo was initially an outstation. Credo itself was established in 1906–1907. The station switched from cattle to sheep in about 1924 to focus on wool production. Properties in the area were dependent on dams rather than wells for watering stock. Well made dams are scattered every few miles over the property with at least one in every paddock. The dams also came in handy for the many prospectors who came to the region to look for gold. Many old mines once operated in the area, including Black Flag, Four in Hand, Bountiful, Crown and Golden Buckle. Continuing to produce quality wool, the station (W. H. Halford and Sons) sold 16 bales of wool at the

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 ...

wool auction in 1927 for 22¾d per pound for AAE grade combings, followed by another 34 bales at the second sales that sold at an average of 22d. W. H. Halford died in April 1928 in Dangin, where he had retired to. The station

shore A shore or a shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water p ...

8,500 sheep in July 1928 with a team of four shearers and a full crew of shed hands. About 8,000 were the current season's lambs, with 120 bales of wool being produced. The wool was sent to Broad Arrow to be railed to

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

, with the wool being described as "clean and bright". This followed what was described as a dry season with only of rain falling since the beginning of the year. By August 1929 the station had approximately 10,000 sheep on the property. The Halford purchased and took delivery of another 40

merino The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the bree ...

stud rams from the Anama Stud later the same month. In 1930 the first shearing run of 7,269 sheep produced 199 bales, but stragglers would increase this total. In 1932 the station shore 10,000 sheep for approximately 300 bales, then in 1933 10,000 were shorn for 309 bales. At the 1935 wool sales Credo sold off about 80 bales of wool for prices between 18d. to 12d. per pound. A 45-year-old woman living at Credo, Alice Donaldson, collapsed from an apparent

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which m ...

and died en route to

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area inclu ...

in 1948. A stockman named Henry Donaldson was thrown from his horse in 1950 when it ran into a fence. Donaldson's legs were badly hurt as a result of the accident. 700 head of sheep were sold off from the property in December 1950. Rowles Lagoon, a large natural pool, is found within the station boundaries. The pool is approximately in

circumference In geometry, the circumference (from Latin ''circumferens'', meaning "carrying around") is the perimeter of a circle or ellipse. That is, the circumference would be the arc length of the circle, as if it were opened up and straightened out t ...

and used to attract people from the surrounding areas to go swimming. It is also home to a species of native

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a fo ...

s and was once a popular duck-shooting spot.

References

{{Stations of the Goldfields-Esperance Western Australia Homesteads in Western Australia Stations in Goldfields-Esperance 1904 establishments in Australia

See also

References