Austin Downs Station or Austin Downs 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 ...

in the

Mid West The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

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 th ...

Description

The property covers an area of and has traditionally farmed

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

for the production of

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. As ...

. The station is located in the Murchison region of

; the nearest town is Cue, to the south east of the homestead. An area of within the station is composed of

reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

s and

crown land Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...

. The soil has a low level of

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

, with 96% of the land being described as nil or minor. The perennial vegetation condition is good with 15% of vegetation cover being described as poor or very poor. The station contains part of

Lake Austin Lake Austin, formerly Lake McDonald, is a water reservoir on the Colorado River in Austin, Texas. The reservoir was formed in 1939 by the construction of Tom Miller Dam by the Lower Colorado River Authority. Lake Austin is one of the seven High ...

and close to Nallan Creek. The station land includes Walga Rock, a large granite

monolith A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive rock (geology), stone or rock, such as some mountains. For instance, Savandurga, Savandurga mountain is a monolith mountain in India. Erosion usually exposes the geological for ...

History

128

bales Bales is the surname of: * Alison Bales (born 1985), American basketball player * Barry Bales (born 1969), American musician * Billy Bales (born 1929), British former motorcycle speedway racer * Burt Bales (1917–1989), American jazz pianist * ...

of greasy wool from the station were sold in London in 1910 at 11d. per pound. Later the same year a bank clerk named Studds from Cue committed suicide on the property and was found several weeks later with his

revolver A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...

still in his hand. In 1911 a 70-year-old man from the Day Dawn goldfields, Jimmy the Fiddler, left the station in very hot weather and was found a week later from a

well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

. He was thought to have died of

dehydration In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water, with an accompanying disruption of metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds free water intake, usually due to exercise, disease, or high environmental temperature. Mil ...

. By 1912 the station had a flock of 10,000 sheep that were to be sheared in early August using nine stands. The station suffered some damage during an intense storm in 1914, when some out-buildings were destroyed by the wind. J. P. Meehan reported that rain fell in 20 minutes and several trees were hit by lightning. In 1918 the station shore 28,000 sheep and in 1921 the second shearing of the season saw 8,000 shorn for 214 bales of wool. During the 1919 season two men were struck down with

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...

and Meehan took them to Cue for treatment. Upon arrival the men were isolated at the Cue State School. Another man was taken from the station to join them a few days later. Five other men remained at the station but confined to bed for several days. Shearing operations were suspended until the men recovered. The Meehans cut out 15,500 sheep, including 1,200 lambs, for 279 bales of wool in 1925; the following year 10,000 sheep were shorn for 238 bales of wool. Leslie Keamy, the prominent

merino The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the bree ...

stud breeder and owner of Cardo Station, once held an interest in Austin Downs and Yarraquin Station. A

flash-flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing ov ...

washed through the area following heavy thunderstorms on New Year's Day in 1929. The rain broke drought conditions and refilled both the nearby Wire Pool and then flowed through the station onward to Lake Austin. In 1929 the station cut out 16,081 sheep for 377 bales on the first clip with lambs and stragglers to be collected for a second. The station experienced some flooding when of rain fell in 1933. Flooding occurred on the property in 1934 following heavy downpours, of rain was recorded in a day at the station with heavier falls at surrounding properties. The crossing at Wire Pool was at a record level and all surrounding roads were rendered impassable. The station is the subject of a book ''The Station at Austin Downs'' written by Jo Jackson King. After two years of

drought A drought is defined as 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, an ...

, one of the longest dry spells on record, the area received rains in 2010. By 2010 the lessee was the Jackson family under the management of Tom Jackson. Austin Downs is operating under the Crown Lease number CL192-1972 and has the Land Act number LA3114/600.

References

{{coord , 27, 22, 57.2, S, 117, 44, 43.6, E, type:landmark_region:AU, display=title Mid West (Western Australia) Pastoral leases in Western Australia Stations (Australian agriculture)

Description

History

See also

References