Currawilla Station 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 currently 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 ...

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 ...

. It is located approximately west of

Windorah Windorah is a town and a locality in the Shire of Barcoo, Queensland, Australia. It is one of only three towns in the Shire of Barcoo in Central West Queensland. In the , the locality of Windorah had a population of 104 people. Geography Loca ...

and east of

Birdsville Birdsville is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Diamantina, Queensland, Australia. The locality is on the Queensland border with both the Northern Territory and South Australia. The town is situated north of the South Australian bord ...

. The property adjoins

Palparara Palparara Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the outback of Queensland. It is situated north west of Windorah and north east of Birdsville. Farrar's Creek flows through the property between the Barcoo and Thom ...

and Narradunna Stations. It is situated 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 ...

and is well watered by numerous creeks in the area. The

homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (building), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Nguni homestead, a cluster of houses inhabited by a single extended family, typically with a kraal ...

is found along the Currawilla waterhole on the Torrens Creek. Farrar's Creek also runs through the property. It was established at some time prior to 1878, by Jack Farrar on

Karuwali __NOTOC__ The Karuwali are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Queensland. Country Norman Tindale estimated that the Karuwalis' lands extended over some of territory. This took in the area about Farrars Creek near Connemara southwa ...

tribal lands. Farrar had worked at McGregor's

Mount Margaret Station Mount Margaret Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a sheep station and more recently as a cattle station. It is located about west of Quilpie and south of Windorah in Queensland. The property has extensive and reliable water supply w ...

and kept his own herd. Farrar later left and followed the

Diamantina River The Diamantina River is a major river in Central West Queensland and the far north of South Australia. The river was named by William Landsborough in 1866 for Lady Diamantina Bowen (née Roma), wife of Sir George Bowen, the first Governor of Qu ...

down the Channel Country and took up a block about on Farrar's Creek and named it Currawilla after the Aboriginal name for a waterhole. Farrar later sold it to Mr Cotton who substantially increased the size of the holding. In 1881 it was sold by Messrs Cotton and Malpas to Messrs Martin and Johnston. At this time Currawilla occupied an area of and was stocked with 4,000 cattle and 60 horses. In 1887 the heaviest flooding known at the time following exceptionally heavy rains in the area, Currawilla recorded over a two-day period. In 1887 the property was managed by William Henry Watson. The owners of the station in 1889 were Messrs Edward Martin and Company of Melbourne.

Drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

struck in 1897 but it was less severe at Currawilla compared to many surrounding properties. Eventually in 1889, Watson, who was still managing the property, bought it outright. In 1914 Currawilla was sold by Watson to the Bergin brothers. The property was stocked with approximately 6,000 head of cattle and 150 horses. The property currently occupies an area of and is owned and run by Roger and Debbie Oldfield.

References

{{Reflist Stations in Queensland Central West Queensland

See also

References