Peedamulla Station, often referred to as Peedamulla, is a pastoral lease 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 ...

but 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 sout ...

Description

The homestead is located about south east of Onslow and south west of Panawonica in the

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, sparsely populated regions of Western Australia, region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people; wealth disparity; its ancient landscapes; the prevailing r ...

region of

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 property adjoins the coastline and the town of Onslow. ''Peedamulla'' is the

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

word meaning ''plenty water''. The

Cane River The Cane River (French: ''Rivière aux Cannes'') is a riverU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 3, 2011 in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, originating from a portion o ...

runs through the property, with the entire

river delta A river delta is a landform, archetypically triangular, created by the deposition of the sediments that are carried by the waters of a river, where the river merges with a body of slow-moving water or with a body of stagnant water. The creat ...

found within the station boundaries. The delta is severely degraded as a result of

overgrazing Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature ...

. The majority of the property is composed of spinifex country with areas of cracking clays found on the eastern side.

History

The Ashburton Land District was opened up for pastoral leases after the explorations of

Francis Thomas Gregory Francis Thomas "Frank" Gregory (19 October 1821 – 23 October 1888) was an Australian explorer and politician. Born in England, he emigrated with his family to Australia as a boy. He was the younger brother of the explorer and politician Augu ...

in the 1860s. The Peedamulla leases, originally known as Peedamullah, were taken over by Edmund and Archibald Burt in the early 1880s. In 1922 the Burts put up a portion of the station for auction. A total of , of which was fenced, was put on the market. The area included parts of the Cane River, including one permanent pool as well as five wells. The station was sold in 1928 for £60,000 carrying a flock of 30,000 to 35,000 sheep. The property was acquired by Messrs. Banard, Brandi, W. Montgomery and McManus, who had formed the Peedamulla Pastoral Company. In 1930 the property was on the market again, advertised as having an area of and stocked with 34,000 sheep. The property has an area of enclosed in sheep proof fencing and subdivided into 32 paddocks equipped with 35 wells with windmills and troughs. In 1932 the property was in the hands of liquidators and still for sale. It was acquired by Cornelius McManus and W Montgomery later the same year. In 1924 the area was struck by a

cyclone In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an ant ...

, with 40 windmills being destroyed at Peedamulla.

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, ...

followed, resulting in further stock losses. Alexander Edward Hardie acquired Peedamulla in 1937 for £19,522. Firstly Hardie's son, Byron, managed the station then G. Herbert took over in 1942. Herbert later leased a part of Peedamulla which became Cane River Station. The Hardie family still owned the property in 1955 when it was managed by Arthur Roland. By 1961 the landholding had been reduced down to following resumption of lands for the Onslow town water supply. A cyclone hit the same year followed by another in 1963 with both causing damage to the buildings and loss of livestock. The Hardies sold the property in the 1970s to Moira and Neville MacDonald for 70,000, then three years later the MacDonalds sold it to the Commonwealth Government, stocked with 28,000 sheep, to be used by Aboriginal people of the region. The Parker family have managed the property since 1985 and have developed a joint venture with the Ashburton Aboriginal Corporation to use the property as a training centre for Aboriginal people of the Pilbara. The homestead ruin has been assessed for heritage status due to the connection with the prominent Western Australian Burt family.

References

{{Stations of the Pilbara Western Australia Stations in the Pilbara State Register of Heritage Places in the Shire of Ashburton

Description

History

See also

References