Amungee Mungee 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 graziers for the purpose of livestock grazing on rangelands.
Australia
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 stati ...
in the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
of Australia.
Location
It is situated about north east of
Elliott and south west of
Borroloola
Borroloola ( local Aboriginal languages: ''Burrulula'') is a town in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located on the McArthur River, about 50 km upstream from the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Location
Borroloola lies on the traditional c ...
. The property surrounds the
Bullwaddy Conservation Reserve
The Bullwaddy Conservation Reserve is a protected area approximately north east of Elliott in the Northern Territory of Australia.
The Reserve occupies an area of and was established in the year 2000.
Amungee Mungee cattle station surround ...
to the north, south and west.
The station abuts
Tanumbirini Station to the north east,
Beetaloo to the south east, Shenandoah to the west and Nutwood Downs to the north. The
Carpentaria Highway
The Carpentaria Highway is a highway, which runs from near Daly Waters to Borroloola in the Northern Territory, Australia. It is a sealed road and is part of National Highway 1. The Highway takes its name from the Gulf of Carpentaria, which i ...
passes through the property.
Description
Amumngee Mungee currently occupies an area of and is situated on the
Sturt Plateau
The Sturt Plateau, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory,[I ...](_blank)
bioregion. The area is characterised by thin infertile soils on a
lateritic
Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...
land surface. Large fragmented stands of
bullwaddy interspersed with area of
lancewood are common to the area.
[
]
History
The traditional owners
Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...
of the area are the Jingili people. The area around the Amungee Mungee waterhole, from which the station takes its name, is a significant dreaming area for the Jingili.[
The ]Overland Telegraph
The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was a telegraphy system to send messages over long distances using cables and electric signals. It spanned between Darwin, in what is now the Northern Territory of Australia, and Adelaide, the capital o ...
was completed in 1873 and led to the first leases being taken up in the area shortly afterwards. Many were surrendered in 1889 for non-payment of rent. In 1883 Harold Murray Bathern, known "Bullwaddy Bates", droved a herd of cattle to Brunette Downs Station
Brunette Downs Station, mostly referred to as Brunette Downs, is a pastoral lease operating as a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia.
Location
Brunette Downs Station is located in the Northern Territory about north-eas ...
. Bates and George Bostock took up Beetaloo Station with Bates leaving the property to Bates after he walked off the property.
In 1968 the block of land now known as Amungee Mungee was put up for ballot and was won by Jeff and Cooee Hills. The station was renamed Cooee Hills and was inhabited by the Hills in 1971. The family fenced the property and stocked it with 1,250 head of cattle. The family left the property and went back to Queensland after their son died in 1977. Reg and Mollie Hartig acquired the property shortly afterwards and remained there until 1981 when Reg died and was buried on the property.[
The Zlotowski family, who also own ]Wollogorang Station
Wollogorang Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station straddling the border the Northern Territory and Queensland.
Location
The property is situated approximately north west of Doomadgee and west of Burketown. The homes ...
near the Queensland border, acquired the property at some prior to 2006.
As of 2014 the property was still on the market along with at least 15 others 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 ...
and Northern Territory. The destocked property sold later the same year for 6.5 million by the Zlotowski family to a partnership. The majority partner in the venture is BB Retail Capital
Brett Blundy (born 1959/1960) is an Australian billionaire businessman. He is the founder and former chairman of BB Retail Capital, which owns companies such as Sanity (music store), Sanity Entertainment, Bras N Things, and Aventus Property Grou ...
, headed by Brett Blundy
Brett Blundy (born 1959/1960) is an Australian billionaire businessman. He is the founder and former chairman of BB Retail Capital, which owns companies such as Sanity Entertainment, Bras N Things, and Aventus Property Group. He is part-owne ...
, and the other partner is the Bullwaddy Pastoral owned by Adrian and Emma Brown. 10,000 head of cattle were purchased from the Australian Agricultural Company
The Australian Agricultural Company (AACo) () is a public-listed Australian company that, as at 2018, owned and operated feedlots and farms covering around of land in Queensland and the Northern Territory, roughly one percent of Australia's la ...
to restock the property later in 2014. The partnership hope to increase the number of watering points around the property from 20 to 160 and increase the stocking rate from 20,000 head to 100,000 head of cattle.[
]
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
* SO ...
References
{{Reflist
Stations (Australian agriculture)
Pastoral leases in the Northern Territory