Natal Downs 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 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 ...

. The property is situated approximately south of

Charters Towers Charters Towers is a rural town in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It is by road south-west from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. During the last quarter of the 19th century, the town boomed as the rich gold deposits und ...

and west of Collinsville. It adjoins Longton and Narellan Stations along the

Cape River The Cape River is a river of New Zealand. A tributary of the Opouawe River, it is located in the Wairarapa in the southern North Island. See also *List of rivers of New Zealand References

Rivers of the Wellington Region Rivers of New Z ...

. The property occupies an area of and has a carrying capacity of about 12,000 head of cattle. The land is composed of open

black soil Chernozem ( ),; also called black soil, regur soil or black cotton soil, is a black-colored soil containing a high percentage of humus (4% to 16%) and high percentages of phosphorus and ammonia compounds. Chernozem is very fertile soil and can ...

plains covered with Mitchell and buffel grass, open forest and flooded coolabah flats that have been divided into 29 paddocks. First taken up in September 1862 by a partnership between Kellet and Moffatt for £100 for 200 square miles, they failed to pay the fee and forfeited the claim. The following year Kellett reapplied for the run, now 264 square miles at a fee of £130.40. He soon transferred the licence to John De Villiers Lamb and Charles Parbury. The station was listed for sale in March 1866 and it passed into the ownership of William Chatfield Jnr. and Michael Miles. In 1873 the station was sold to Messrs Bundock and Hays with 10,800 sheep, and 2,300 cattle for £13,250. They sold a portion of the station, along with all of the sheep, less than three weeks later. Ownership was later transferred to Bundock's son, C.W. Bundock, who took on P Salmon as a partner. In February 1937 the station was sold on behalf of Salmon and Bundock following Bundock's death. The station at that time comprised around 605 square miles (387,200 acres, 1,566 square kilometres), the purchaser was Edward Hill of Wyandra. In 2008 the aggregation of Natal Downs, Longton and Narellan were placed on the market by the Camm Agricultural Group. David and Judy Camm had first moved to the station in the early 1980s. Collectively the properties occupy nearly one million acres and carry a herd of 33,000 head of cattle. The aggregation was sold in 2017 to the Rural Funds Group for $53 million. Under the terms of the acquisition the properties were to be leased back to the Camm Group who would continue to manage the properties for ten years.

References

{{Reflist Stations in Queensland