Minderoo Station, commonly referred to as Minderoo, is a
pastoral lease that once operated as a
sheep station
A sheep station is a large property (station, the equivalent of a ranch) in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or sou ...
but now 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 statio ...
in
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 ...
.
Description
It is situated about south of
Onslow and west of
Pannawonica in the
Pilbara
The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a gl ...
region. The property occupies an area of and is traversed by the
Ashburton River;
the property has an estimated double frontage to the river.
The property spreads out from the river forming a vast plain of sand and clay.
[
The word ''Minderoo'' is ]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 ...
in origin and means "place of permanent and clean water".
History
The station was initially formed by E.T. Hooley, who was given the pastoral lease in 1867 by the colonial Government of Western Australia
The Government of Western Australia, formally referred to as His Majesty's Government of Western Australia, is the States and territories of Australia, Australian state democratic administrative authority of Western Australia. It is also common ...
as a reward for creating a stock route from 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 ...
to Roebourne. By 1869, the local Aboriginal population began to use force to try to break the British occupation of their land. One of Hooley's shepherds, a man named Hill, was found dead and it was presumed he was killed by Aboriginals. The death was reported to authorities at Roebourne and two subsequent punitive missions were organised. The first was led by Hooley, who assembled the men working on the station and went out with them to attack a nearby native campsite. The resulting "skirmish was brief and effective". An armed Government force from Roebourne arrived a couple days later under the leadership of Farquhar MacRae. This group, together with Hooley and his men, implemented an early dawn attack on another Aboriginal settlement. The resulting episode of frontier conflict was dubbed th
Battle of Minderoo
A poem was written about the battle, which described it as "fierce, with casualties and woes", but the result was a massacre of Indigenous people with little wounding of the British combatants. Despite their victory in the conflict, Hooley had to abandon the property not long after, due to continued Aboriginal resistance.
The property wasn't taken up again until the Forrest brothers secured the leasehold in 1878.Septimus Burt
The Hon Septimus Burt KC (25 October 1847 – 15 May 1919) was a Western Australian lawyer, politician and grazier, the son of Sir Archibald Burt.
He was born on 25 October 1847 at St Kitts in the West Indies, and educated at a private scho ...
.jackaroo
A jackaroo is a young man (feminine equivalent jillaroo) working on a sheep or cattle station, to gain practical experience in the skills needed to become an owner, overseer, manager, etc. The word originated in Queensland, Australia, in the ...
at Minderoo, bought the property in 2009 for 12 million.
Once the Forrest and Burt syndicate had acquired the lease, David Forrest overlanded 2,000 sheep to Minderoo.[ By 1884, the property was supporting a flock of 16,000 sheep, approximately 800 cattle and 80 horses.
In 1888, a fire destroyed the kitchen and its contents along with one side of the homestead; David Forrest was injured during the blaze. By 1891 the size of the flock was estimated to be 50,000 sheep, cattle and horses.][ The partnership of Forrest, Burt and Company was dissolved in 1901. The Forrests were now sole owners of Minderoo and had appointed Arthur Bailey as the station manager. In 1906, Minderoo was carrying a flock of approximately 33,000 sheep.
Employees at Minderoo felt an air shock and heard a rumble of the first British nuclear tests on Monte Bello Island in 1952. The station was about from the blast site.
In 1954, Jack Reynolds was hired to cull ]feral
A feral () animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some ...
cattle from the property. Reynolds then slaughtered and butchered the cattle and hired an Anson aircraft to deliver over of beef to Carnarvon.
After buying back Minderoo in 2009, Andrew Forrest hired Phil Clark to manage the property. Clark reduced the herd size from 11,000 to 3,500 head of cattle to give the land a chance to regenerate. A weir was also installed on the Ashburton to guarantee water supply and assist in regeneration of the river.[
The Forrests introduced ]Droughtmaster
The Droughtmaster is an Australian breed of beef cattle. It was developed from about 1915 in North Queensland by crossing zebuine cattle with cattle of British origin, principally the Beef Shorthorn. It was the first Australian taurindicin ...
, Red Angus, Ultra Black Angus bulls onto Minderoo to build a composite herd for the fine dining market. By 2015, they had announced that they would be seeking organic certification for the property.
In 2017, it was reported that Andrew Forrest had plans to use centre-pivot irrigation to produce melons, onions, potatoes
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern United ...
and sweet potatoes on up to 1000 hectares. In 2017, Minderoo Station was already producing 120 hectares of Rhodes grass as cattle feed using this irrigation method.
See also
*List of ranches and stations
This is a list of ranches and sheep and cattle stations, organized by continent. Most of these are notable either for the large geographic area which they cover, or for their historical or cultural importance.
West Africa
*Obudu Cattle Ranch
* S ...
References
External links
* '' Battle of Minderoo'' — full text of the poem at Wikisource
{{Stations of the Pilbara Western Australia
Stations (Australian agriculture)
Pastoral leases in Western Australia
Pilbara
1878 establishments in Australia