Cresswell Downs Station, often referred to as Cresswell 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

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is situated about east of Elliott and south of

Borroloola Borroloola () is a town in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located on the McArthur River, about upstream from the Gulf of Carpentaria. Location Borroloola lies on the traditional country of the Yanyuwa people, on the coastal plain ...

. Cresswell Downs is surrounded by other properties including Mallapunyah to the north west, Walhallow to the west, Kiana to the north, Calvert Hills Station to the north east, Benmarra to the west, Brunette Downs to the south and Anthony Lagoon to the south west. Several watercourses pass through the property, including Cresswell Creek, Coanjula Creek and Puzzle Creek. The

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

of the area are the Wambaia. The first European to visit the area was the explorer Frank Hann in 1881. The station was established later the same year and was named after

William Rooke Creswell Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Sir William Rooke Creswell, (20 July 1852 – 20 April 1933) was an Australian naval officer, commonly considered to be the 'father' of the Royal Australian Navy. Early life and family Creswell was b ...

; the name was retained despite the error in spelling. It was selected by Ernest Favenc who had joined an expedition to the area to claim new pastoral lands for himself and his partner, Mr Brodie. A share in the property was sold by in 1881 to the De Salis brothers by Kilgour and Woodhouse. The property occupied an area of and was unstocked at the time. By 1883 Ernest Favenc sold his quarter share of the property, now stocked with 2000 head of cattle, to Brodie and De Salis. In 1895 Sidney North Innes in partnership with Mr. T.A. Perry purchased Cresswell Downs. Perry was killed by the

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

s who were employed on the station shortly afterwards. Innes carried on for the next several years on his own. On one of the trips Innes was in pursuit of a buyer of a large mob of heifers for over a thousand miles. The drought of the early 1900s depleted the herd and in 1904 the owner completed the sale of what were left, about 3000 head and returned to

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

for the first time in 25 years. He returned in 1905. In 1906 Cresswell Downs was purchased by brothers Richard Hugh Taylor and William McCurdy Taylor. Both brothers had been working for some time as stockmen in the Gulf region. William died at Anthony's Lagoon aged 53 on 3 January 1915. His brother continued running Cresswell Downs until his death aged 49 on 30 October 1917, leaving his estate including Creswell Downs to his sisters, who sold it in 1918 to James C Hutton, Peter Nalty, Horace V Brumm and Raym Logan. In 1927 it was acquired by Bridget J Naughton. The Taylor brothers helped establish the annual ABC races with neighbouring stations Alexandria Station and Brunette Downs in 1910. William Naughton acquired the property at some time after 1918 when he was

overlanding Overlanding or 4WD Touring is self-reliant overland travel to remote destinations where the journey is the principal goal. Typically, but not exclusively, it is accomplished with mechanized off-road capable transport (from bicycles to trucks) wher ...

small herds to butchers in

Cloncurry Cloncurry is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. It is informally known by local people as The Curry. Cloncurry is the administrative centre of the Shire of Cloncurry. Cloncurry is known as the ''Friendl ...

. By 1923 Cresswell was owned by Naughton and Peter Nalty. By 1929 the pair had a falling out which ended up in the Supreme Court with Naughton claiming Nalty owed him £10,000 and 650 cattle and Nalty claiming Naughton owed him £7500, six years' salary and £5834 for a share in the property. Nalty was awarded £7,000 for back-pay but was not given a share of the property. By 1932 Naughton's sons, Tom and Frank were running Cresswell while their father concentrated on his other pastoral interests. Currently Cresswell Downs is owned by the Paraway Pastoral Company and run in conjunction with Walhallow Station.

References

{{Reflist Stations in the Northern Territory

See also

References