Moola Bulla Station is a pastoral lease 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 statio ...

in the

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

region 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 ...

. It is approximately west of

Halls Creek Halls is a plural of the word hall. Halls may also refer to: People * Walter Halls (1871–1953), British trade unionist and politician * Ethel May Halls (1882–1967), American actress * Julian Halls (born 1967), British field hockey player * ...

and south of Warmun, and occupies an area of . It bisects the watershed of the Fitzroy River and

Ord River The Ord River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The river's catchment covers . The lower Ord River and the conjunction with Cambridge Gulf create the most northern estuarine environment in Western Australia. The Ord ...

s. Moola Bulla was established in 1910 as a government-run station for the punishment of

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 ...

people, and remains an area that indigenous peoples avoid. With increasingly bloody conflict between Aborigines and

pastoralists Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as "livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The animal ...

, it was hoped that opening a

ration Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...

station would reduce the need for Aborigines to kill livestock for food, and that they could instead be trained for work on other

s. The station was acquired for £18,061, and a manager and staff were appointed. The station was proclaimed a reserve and used as a camping ground for the local Aboriginal peoples, who were free to come and go as they pleased. The property's name is

hich language?for ''meat plenty''. By 1912, the property carried a herd of approximately 12,000 head of cattle, and the following year turned off 650 head and slaughtered 400 head for their own consumption. In 1916, it occupied an area of , about long and wide. The homestead was stocked with 13,000 head of cattle and 500 head of horses in 1916. In 1917 the property recorded over rain, far above the average of the previous few years and guaranteeing a good next season. By 1920 the property occupied an area of and was stocked with 14,000 cattle. Employees of the station numbered close to 260, of which seven were of European descent. Aboriginal people such as young artist Daisy Andrews and her family, originally from the Walmajarri desert tribe, were sent to work at the station by authorities to prevent them from returning to their former tribal lands. In 1955, the state government sold the station to Queensland pastoralist Allan Goldman for £100,000. When Goldman bought Moola Bulla station, its 200 Aboriginal residents were given 24 hours to leave, and Moola Bulla sent truckloads of them to

United Aborigines Mission The United Aborigines Mission (UAM) (also known as UAM Ministries, United Aborigines' Mission (Australia), and United Aborigines' Mission of Australia) was one of the largest missions in Australia, having dozens of missionaries and stations, and ...

at Fitzroy Crossing. Goldman sold the station two years later, for £150,000, to a syndicate of investors including Northern Territory grazier H. J. Mortimer. Peter Camm had been poised to buy the station, but the deal fell through when he was charged with cattle theft. The property was then acquired in 2001 by a syndicate of investors, including Andrew Cranswick, for 18 million. In 2006, the syndicate sold it to agribusiness company

Great Southern Group Great Southern Group was a group of Australian companies that was notable as the country's largest agribusiness managed investment scheme (MIS) business. The company was founded in 1987 and became a public company in 1999. It expanded its MIS ...

for an estimated 30 million. Following Great Southern Group's 2009 collapse, Moola Bulla was sold in 2010 to its former part-owner, the South African Western Australian Pastoral Company (also owner of Beefwood Park) for 20 million, with 25,000 head of cattle. In December 2014, the pastoral lease, along with Mt. Amhurst, Beefwood Park and Shamrock Stations, was to become part of

Gina Rinehart Georgina Hope Rinehart (née Hancock, born 9 February 1954) is an Australian mining magnate and businesswoman. Rinehart is the Executive Chairman of Hancock Prospecting, a privately owned mineral exploration and extraction company founded by ...

's Liveringa Station Beef company, pending approval of higher stock numbers by the Western Australian Pastoral Board. However, the deal fell through. In November 2016, the pastoral lease, along with Mt. Amhurst, Beefwood Park and Shamrock Stations, was sold to Consolidated Australian Pastoral Holdings (CAPH).

References

{{Stations of the Kimberley Western Australia Pastoral leases in Western Australia Stations (Australian agriculture) Kimberley (Western Australia) 1910 establishments in Australia

See also

References