Andamooka 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 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 ...

but now 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 outback

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

Description

It is located approximately north east of

Roxby Downs Roxby Downs may refer to. * Roxby Downs, South Australia, a town and a locality * Roxby Council, formerly Municipal Council of Roxby Downs, a local government area See also *Roxby Downs Station Roxby Downs Station was a pastoral lease in centra ...

and west of Lyndhurst. The station is bounded to the east by the

ephemeral Ephemerality (from the Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, fr ...

salt lake,

Lake Torrens Lake Torrens ( Kuyani: ''Ngarndamukia'') is a large ephemeral, normally endorheic salt lake in central South Australia. After sufficiently extreme rainfall events, the lake flows out through the Pirie-Torrens corridor to the Spencer Gulf. Is ...

. It is bounded to the south by

Arcoona Arcoona or Arcoona Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a sheep station. It is located about north east of Woomera in the outback of South Australia, The station occupies an area of . The station was founded prior to 1880 and was own ...

Station and to the north by Stuart Creek and Mulgaria Station. Both

Roxby Downs Station Roxby Downs Station was a pastoral lease in central northern South Australia. The land that became Roxby Downs Station is the traditional country of the Kokatha people. After European colonisation, it was part of Parakylia station, or perhaps An ...

and Purple Downs abut the western boundary. The landscape is composed mostly of Arcoona tablelands vegetated with

saltbush Saltbush is a vernacular plant name that most often refers to '' Atriplex'', a genus of about 250 plants distributed worldwide from subtropical to subarctic regions. ''Atriplex'' species are native to Australia, North and South America, and Eurasia. ...

and bluebush. It is currently stocked with cattle. Currently the lease is held by

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

and occupies an area of . BHP's

Olympic Dam mine The Olympic Dam mine is a large poly-metallic underground mine located in South Australia, NNW of Adelaide. It is the fourth largest copper deposit and the largest known single deposit of uranium in the world. Copper is the largest contributor ...

and processing plant is found in the north west of the station. The company also holds the lease for three other properties the surround the operations; Roxby Downs, Purple Downs and Stuart Creek Stations.

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

Kuyani The Kuyani people, also written Guyani and other variants, and also known as the Nganitjidi, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of South Australia who speak the Kuyani language. Their traditional lands are to the west of the Flinder ...

people, an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

people. The name "Andamooka" is a combination of two of words in the

Kuyani language The Adnyamathanha language (pronounced ), also known as yura ngarwala and other names, and Kuyani, also known as Guyani and other variants, are two closely related Australian Aboriginal languages. They are traditional languages of the Adnyama ...

meaning "loaded bone" or "powerful bone", which is a reference to bone pointing as an act of retribution. The first European to visit was

John McDouall Stuart John McDouall Stuart (7 September 18155 June 1866), often referred to as simply "McDouall Stuart", was a Scottish explorer and one of the most accomplished of all Australia's inland explorers. Stuart led the first successful expedition to tra ...

, who passed through the area in 1858 and made note of a waterhole in the area. The station was established in 1872. In 1880 the property was owned by Messrs Bowman and

Young Young may refer to: * Offspring, the product of reproduction of a new organism produced by one or more parents * Youth, the time of life when one is young, often meaning the time between childhood and adulthood Music * The Young, an American roc ...

and was running sheep. The men had sunk several wells and also acquired a block of land for £3.000 from M. Wooldridge of Arcoona Station to enlarge the run, which was stocked with 17,000 sheep and was having a

shearing shed Shearing sheds (or wool sheds) are large sheds located on sheep stations to accommodate large scale sheep shearing activities. In countries where large numbers of sheep are kept for wool, sometimes many thousands in a flock, shearing sheds ar ...

erected. By 1884 the property was stocked with 45,000 sheep, 900 cattle and 250 horses. It produced 480 bales of wool from the year's clip. In 1885 the station encompassed an area of and was stocked with 45,000 sheep, 200 cattle and 250 horses. The same year 680 bales of wool were produced. By 1893 the property was owned by Messrs Beaton and Young. By 1901 the lease had been abandoned like many others in the area but left under a caretaker, the property encompassed an area of .

Opal Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silica (SiO2·''n''H2O); its water content may range from 3 to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6 and 10%. Due to its amorphous property, it is classified as a mineraloid, unlike crystalline forms ...

s were discovered on the property in 1930 by two drovers who saw the flashes of colour reflected from opals embedded in a hillside after a thunderstorm. The town site of Andamooka was established shortly afterwards. In 1949 Andamooka occupied an area of and was managed by Lloyd Pollard.

Dingo The dingo (''Canis familiaris'', ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient (Basal (phylogenetics), basal) lineage of dog found in Australia (continent), Australia. Its taxonomic classification is de ...

s had become problematic in the area and were killing stock. The area had good rains in 1984 with the lakes partially filled, some 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 ...

followed, but heavy rains arriving again in 2007 with of rain over two days and floodwaters coming within of the homestead. The land occupying the extent of the Andamooka Station pastoral lease was gazetted by the

Government of South Australia The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government, SA Government or more formally, His Majesty’s Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of South Australia. It is modelled o ...

as a locality in April 2013 under the name "Andamooka Station".

References

{{Stations of South Australia Stations (Australian agriculture) Pastoral leases in South Australia Far North (South Australia) 1872 establishments in Australia