Mount Hart Station, commonly referred to as Mount Hart, is a defunct

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 once operated 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 ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. The lands are part of a conservation area and the homestead operates as a wilderness lodge for tourists. It is situated about east of

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

and north 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 * ...

, in the heart of the

Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges The Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges (between 1879 and 2020 known as the King Leopold Ranges) are a range of hills in the western Kimberley region of Western Australia. There are two conservation parks within the ranges, the Wunaamin Conservation P ...

in the

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

region. The property is accessed via the

Gibb River Road The Gibb River Road is a road in the Kimberley (Western Australia), Kimberley region of Western Australia. Description The road is a former cattle route that stretches in an east–west direction almost through the Kimberley between the to ...

and the homestead is situated on the banks of the

Barker River The Barker River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The headwaters of the river rise north of Mount Matthew and then flow in a southerly direction through Barker Gorge before discharging into the Lennard River, of which i ...

. Mount Hart shares a boundary with Charnley River Station. The property once occupied an area of .

Frank Hann Frank Hugh Hann (19 October 184521 August 1921) was an Australian pastoralist and explorer. Early life Hann was the son of Joseph and Elizabeth Hann. Fellow explorer William Hann was his older brother. They were born in Wiltshire, England ...

was the first European to cross the Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges, then named as King Leopold Ranges, in 1898 via an pass. The station was established prior to 1906 when Robert Brown was the manager. Brown was in partnership with Felix Edgar and William Chalmers, who together owned the station. In 1906 the homestead was broken into twice, and the contents stolen. Brown made a report to the local police, who tracked the

Aboriginal people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

responsible to their camp along the Charnley River and killed a man who tried to spear them. Another nine men were arrested and two females were detained, and all the equipment, including a double-barrelled shotgun, was recovered. Relationships between the settlers and 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 ...

further deteriorated in 1910 when Brown sent an urgent message to Edgar that a group of 100 had taken possession of the station and the cattle had gone. Chalmers was found fatally shot at Mount Hart in 1933. He had been ill for some time. The station was abandoned in 1934, and the lease was next take up by "Stumpy" Fraser in 1935. The property was soon struck by

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, ...

, forcing Fraser to move the homestead closer to permanent water. In 1946, following another drought, Fraser moved the homestead again, to its present location. He abandoned the property in 1957. The property continued to operate as a cattle station until it was declassified as a viable pastoral lease in 1987. It eventually became part of the Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges Conservation Park when it was gazetted in 2000. Lounge Area of Mount Hart Homestead ted

Taffy Abotts managed the property from 1991 to 2011 during which time he renovated the homestead and built various other buildings. He estimated the value of the improvements as being 1.9 million. The Department of Environment and Conservation asked Abotts to leave the property, offering 200,000 for him to do so. Abotts was later paid an undisclosed amount and left voluntarily. The APT company Kimberley Wilderness Adventures was selected by the state government to operate the wilderness lodge in late 2011. The planning and preparation of the site was part of the Royalties for Regions scheme.

References

{{Stations of the Kimberley Western Australia Stations in the Kimberley (Western Australia)

See also

References