Bedford Downs, or Bedford Downs Station, is a 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 stat ...

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 ...

. It is situated about west of

Warmun Warmun Community (also known as Turkey Creek) and Warmun are a township and locality in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, located on the Great Northern Highway, northeast of Perth, Western Australia. The closest populated town is Hal ...

and north of

Halls Creek Halls is a plural of the word hall. Halls may also refer to: People * Walter Halls (1871–1953), British trade unionist and politician * Ethel May Halls (1882–1967), American actress * Julian Halls (born 1967), British field hockey player * ...

in the Kimberley region. Both the station and nearby Mount Bedford were named in 1903 after Admiral

Frederick Bedford Admiral Sir Frederick George Denham Bedford, (24 December 1838 – 30 January 1913) was a senior Royal Navy officer and Governor of Western Australia from 24 March 1903 to 22 April 1909. Naval career Bedford was born on 24 December 1838, and ...

, who was the

Governor of Western Australia The governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of the monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. As with the other governors of the Australian states, the governor of Western Australia performs constitutiona ...

. Established some time prior to 1906 by the Buchanan and Gordon Brothers, the property experienced many difficulties including the spearing of cattle and isolation of the area. In two years nearly a dozen men had also been murdered by 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 right ...

. The family business, Quilty and Sons, acquired the property in 1917 from Messrs, Mather, Ross, Manning and Ralston for £34,000. The property was stocked with 8,500 head of cattle and 80 horses. Patrick Quilty was left to manage Bedford Downs while his brother Tom Quilty managed Euroka Springs Station in the Northern Territory. A

boundary rider Boundary rider is a long-established (1864) Australasian term for a cattle or sheep station employee whose duties entail a regular tour (by horse, camel or motor vehicle) of the outer perimeter (boundary) of the property, checking condition of f ...

named Harry Annear was murdered by

Aboriginal people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

on the property near the

Durack River Durack River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The river rises below the Durack Range then flows north, discharging into the west arm of Cambridge Gulf. There are 14 tributaries of the Durack, including Chapman River, ...

in 1921. The Aboriginal artist,

Paddy Bedford Paddy Bedford (circa 1922 – 14 July 2007), aka "Goowoomji", was a contemporary Indigenous Australian artist from Warmun in the Kimberley, and one of eight Australian artists selected for an architectural commission for the Musée du quai Bra ...

, was born at the property around 1922. His surname is taken from the station and the station's owner Paddy Quilty was the source of his given name.Tony Stephens, '"Millionaire" believer in "two-way"', (Obituary), ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 20 July 2007, p. 18. In 1924 a

massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

of Gija and

Worla The Wurla, also written Ola, or Waladjangarri, are an indigenous Australian people of the Kimberley region of Western Australia Name Though often written ''Ola'', Wurla is now considered the recommended transcription for this tribal ethnonym. ...

men occurred on the station after the men were tried for spearing a milking cow. They were fed food laced with strychnine by white station hands and then shot or clubbed to death. The bodies were subsequently burned by the local police. The series of paintings by

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

artist

Rover Thomas Rover Thomas Joolama (1926 – 11 April 1998), known as Rover Thomas, was a Wangkajunga and Kukatja Aboriginal Australian artist. Early life Rover Thomas was born in 1926 near Gunawaggii, at Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route, in the Grea ...

called ''Bedford Downs Killings'' depicts these events. Following the death of Patrick Quilty in 1938, the family retained possession of Bedford Downs and also acquired neighbouring Springvale Station from W. J. McAdam in 1948. Sterling Buntine acquired the property in the early 2000s then sold it in 2011 to the Paraway Pastoral Company which is owned by the

Macquarie Bank Macquarie Group Limited () is an Australian global financial services group. Headquartered and listed in Australia (), Macquarie employs more than 17,000 staff in 33 markets, is the world's largest infrastructure asset manager and Australia's t ...

References

{{Stations of the Kimberley Western Australia Stations (Australian agriculture) Pastoral leases in Western Australia Kimberley (Western Australia)

See also

References