Beringarra Station, most commonly referred to as Beringarra, is a 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 is currently operating 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 ...

. The property is situated approximately north west of Meekatharra and south of Paraburdoo 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. It is watered by the northern branch Murchison River and is bounded to the west by Milly Milly Station. and to the south by Bindebaron Station. The property is mostly composed of grassland and

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. ...

country on flood out plains of the river with many permanent water holes. The station currently occupies an area of of which is freehold, reserves or vacant crown land. The land within the property is described as having nil erosion on 72% of the property and 50% of the perennial vegetation described as good to fair. The carrying capacity is estimated at 7,290 sheep although the station has carried up to 11,290 sheep. Beringarra was initially selected by John Forrest and

William Butcher William James Burchell Butcher (24 July 1858 – 24 May 1944), Australian politician, was a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for twelve years. Born in Richmond, Tasmania on 24 July 1858, William Butcher was the son of ...

. Butcher brought sheep to Beringarra and then sold to Messrs Campbell and Smith. In 1880 Beringarra was acquired by Henry and John Campbell who, after having troubles with the local Aboorigines, sold the property stocked with 9,000 sheep, 12 cattle and horses and equipped with a shearing shed and wool press to H. Darlot of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in 1882. In 1886 the property occupied an area of . Following a bad season in 1906, Beringarra was advertised to be auctioned in 1907 by Darlot. At this time the property had grown to of leasehold with of freehold. It was stocked with 12,500 mixed sheep, 2,000 mixed cattle and 70 horses. The main homestead boasted six bedrooms, storerooms, kitchen, workers cottages, blacksmith shop, 20-stand shearing shed and stables. The outstation had another six bedroom house. The property had of fencing in place and 27 wells mostly with windmills and reservoirs in place. It was passed in after reaching £19,000. The station was acquired by the New Zealand and Australian Land Company Limited at some time prior to 1912. The manager from 1910 to 1914 was Mr. Rymer, who recorded the rainfall at the property from 1910 to 1914. In 1910 the property received , in 1911, in 1912 and in 1913 with another recorded in the first six months of 1914. The area was struck by

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 ...

through 1912 resulting in shearing at Beringarra being cancelled and starving sheep being trucked south from Cue. Rains came in 1913 and the station took delivery of 5,000 sheep from the eastern states, including 300 rams. A total of 15,000 sheep were to be shorn the same year. The wool clip for 1914 was 316 bales of greasy wool and 16 bales of scoured wool. The property was carrying 17,000 sheep and occupied an area of . In 1918 some 51,000 sheep were shorn, followed by 22,000 in 1919 then 11,000 in 1920 and only 9,000 in 1921. The 1921 season produced 225 bales of wool, which was regarded as satisfactory given that the sheep were on a starvation diet for part of the time and 60% of the lambs perished in drought conditions. During

shearing Sheep shearing is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. The person who removes the sheep's wool is called a '' shearer''. Typically each adult sheep is shorn once each year (a sheep may be said to have been "shorn" or ...

in 1927 a total of 47,634 sheep were shorn, including 11,400 lambs, producing 901 bales of wool. The area was struck by

in 2010 so that Simon Broad, the manager of the Milly Milly Pastoral company which also own Beringarra, had to separate calves from their mothers to keep them alive. The calves were penned near the homestead and fed milk replacement tablets.

References

{{Stations of the Mid West Western Australia Pastoral leases in Western Australia Stations (Australian agriculture) Homesteads in Western Australia Shire of Murchison

See also

References