Billabalong Station
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Billabalong 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 but currently operates as cattle station in
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 was located north of Mullewa and west of Cue in the
Mid West The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
region. The Murchison River runs along the eastern boundary of the property. The station currently occupies an area of leasehold and freehold. The homestead was built in the early 1900s and has five bedrooms and two bathrooms. The property also has a
hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...
, two workshops, generator shed, four sets of cattle yards, and a shearing shed with quarters. The lands are divided into 17 paddocks and watered by 23
wells Wells most commonly refers to: * Wells, Somerset, a cathedral city in Somerset, England * Well, an excavation or structure created in the ground * Wells (name) Wells may also refer to: Places Canada *Wells, British Columbia England * Wells ...
, 16 bores and 38 windmills and was supporting a herd of 450 cattle in 2013, but able to carry a total of 8,000 head. The property was acquired by a partnership between Andrew Dempster and John Chow Miller in 1893 from the executors of the late Thomas Burges. The partnership dissolved after financial disputes and the property, along with Berin Station, were put up for auction in 1897. Billabalong comprised a total of , had a six-room homestead, stone shearing shed and of fencing. It was stocked with 7,000 sheep, 1,400 head of cattle and 100 horses. Following Dempster's death the executors of his will put the property up for auction in 1909. At this stage it occupied an area of and was stocked with 12,000 sheep, 2,500 head of cattle and 71 horses. The property was passed in with the highest bid being £21,000. The Darlot brothers had acquired Billabalong and
Byro Station Byro Station is a pastoral lease and sheep station that also carries cattle, located in the Mid West region of Western Australia. Description Situated approximately north of Yalgoo and north west of Cue. The property is approximately in are ...
s in 1914. Billabalong had lost the northern portion of the leasehold, it having been acquired by J. & C. Butcher in August 1913. The southern portion acquired by the Darlots only occupied and was running 15,000 sheep and 600 cattle. The Darlots intended to make many improvements and use Byro for breeding and Billabalong as a depot. Angus Campbell, who had opened up
Boologooroo Boologooroo Station, commonly referred to as Boologooroo, is a pastoral lease that operates as a sheep station in Western Australia. Description It is situated about north east of Carnarvon and south of Coral Bay in the Gascoyne region. T ...
, was appointed as station manager in 1916 and the station progressed under his management, producing the highest
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 ...
clip to pass through Geraldton in 1919. Campbell died of heart failure in 1939 while still in charge of the property. Following Cylone Emma in 2006, both Billabalong and Twinpeaks station were isolated from surrounding areas after the Murchison River inundated the area. Several stations in the area remained under water for over a month and farmers requested urgent assistance from the government to help alleviate losses.


See also

* List of ranches and stations


References


Further reading

* {{Stations of the Mid West Western Australia Stations in the Mid West (Western Australia) Shire of Murchison