StateLibQld 2 388361 Tuaburra, an outstation of Bowen Downs Station, 1898

Bowen Downs Station is a pastoral lease that has operated both 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 ...

and 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 ...

. It is located about east of

Muttaburra Muttaburra is an outback town and locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia. Muttaburra was the discovery site of the ''Muttaburrasaurus'', one of Australia's most famous dinosaurs. Geography Muttaburra is in the central west ...

and north west of Aramac in the

outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. It is watered by the Thomson River and tributaries Reedy Creek and Cornish Creek that all run through the property.

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

Iningai The Iningai (Yiningayi) were an indigenous Australian people of the present-day Longreach Region in the state of Queensland. Country The Iningai lay to the west of the Great Dividing Range as far as the Forsyth Range, Maneroo Creek, and Longreac ...

peoples.

(also known as Yiningay, Muttaburra, Tateburra, Yinangay, Yinangi) is an

Australian Aboriginal language The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

spoken by the Iningai people. The Iningai language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the

Longreach Region The Longreach Region is a local government area in Central West Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, it superseded three previous local government areas that had existed for more than a century. It has an estimated operating budget of ...

and

Barcaldine Region The Barcaldine Region is a local government area in Central West Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, it was preceded by three previous local government areas which had existed for over a century. It has an estimated operating budget of ...

, particularly the towns of

Longreach Longreach is a town and a locality in the Longreach Region, Queensland, Australia. It is the administrative centre of the Longreach Regional Council, which was established in 2008 as a merger of the former Longreach, Ilfracombe, and Isisford s ...

, Barcaldine,

and Aramac as well as the properties of Bowen Downs and catchments of Cornish Creek and Alice River. The first Europeans to visit the area were the explorers

William Landsborough William Landsborough (21 February 1825 – 16 March 1886) was an explorer of Australia and notably he was the first explorer to complete a North-to-South crossing of Australia. He was a member of the Queensland Legislative Council. Early ...

and

Nathaniel Buchanan Nathaniel Buchanan (1826 – 23 September 1901) was an Australian pioneer pastoralist, drover and explorer. Early life Buchanan was born near Dublin, and was of Scottish descent the son of Lieutenant Charles Henry Buchanan, and his wif ...

who passed through in 1860. Landsborough named the area Bowen Downs after the Queensland Governor, Sir

George Bowen Sir George Ferguson Bowen (; 2 November 1821 – 21 February 1899), was an Irish author and colonial administrator whose appointments included postings to the Ionian Islands, Queensland, New Zealand, Victoria, Mauritius and Hong Kong.R. B. Joy ...

. By 1861 the area was opened for settlement and the pair applied for the lease. To finance the station Landsborough and Buchanan formed a partnership with Robert Morehead and Matthew Young, of the Scottish Australian Investment Company, and Edward Cornish, a friend of Landsborough. The property was established in 1862, and was the last post at which people travelling further inland could purchase provisions. Nat Buchanan was the initial manager of the property that was stocked with 3,000 cattle. The property occupied an area of at the time.

Aramac Station Aramac Station was a pastoral lease that has operated both as a cattle station and a sheep station. It is located about south east of Muttaburra and north west of Alpha near the town of Aramac in Queensland. The district was first explore ...

, to the south of Bowen Downs, was next to be settled in 1863. Following a period 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 ...

, Buchanan walked off Bowen Downs in 1867, abandoning his one eighth share to Morehead. By 1870 the run was regarded as one of the finest in Australia stretching over across the plains of Central Queensland and covered with

Mitchell grass ''Astrebla'' is a small genus of xerophytic (adapted to survive in an environment with little liquid water) grasses found only in Australia. They are the dominant grass across much of the continent. They are commonly known as Mitchell grass aft ...

supporting a herd of 60,000 cattle.

Harry Redford Henry Arthur "Harry" Readford (sometimes spelt Redford) (December 1841 – 12 March 1901), was an Australian stockman, drover and cattle thief. Although Readford himself never used, and had never been associated with the moniker, Rolf Bol ...

and his accomplices George Dewdney and William Rooke stole between 600 and 1,000 cattle, then overlanded the stock approximately down

Cooper Creek The Cooper Creek (formerly Cooper's Creek) is a river in the Australian states of Queensland and South Australia. It was the site of the death of the explorers Burke and Wills in 1861. It is sometimes known as the Barcoo River from one of its t ...

to 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 ...

. The trek took over three months and the men sold the stock for £5000 to

Blanchewater Station Blanchewater Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the far north of South Australia. Description It is situated approximately north east of Lyndhurst and south west of Innamincka. The MacDonnell River traverses ...

. Station employees tracked the herd and Redford was eventually arrested for the crime. In 2013 the property was acquired by the Hartley family who had just sold their Barcaldine properties. They paid 9.7 million for the property that adjoined other properties in their portfolio.

References

{{Reflist Stations (Australian agriculture) Central West Queensland Pastoral leases in Queensland 1862 establishments in Australia

History

See also

References