Carlton Hill Station is a pastoral lease and

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 ...

located in the

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

region of

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 ...

. Situated approximately to the north-west of Kununurra and east of Wyndham, the station covers an area of . The property lies on the land of the

Gajirrawoong The Gajirrawoong people, also written Gadjerong, Gajerrong and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory, most of whom now live in north-eastern Western Australia. Language Geoffrey O'Grady classified their ...

and

Miriwung Miriwoong, also written Miriuwung and Miriwung, is an Aboriginal Australian language which today has fewer than 20 fluent speakers, most of whom live in or near Kununurra in Western Australia. All of the fluent speakers are elderly and the Mir ...

peoples, whose

native title Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, ...

was recognised by the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indic ...

in 2006. The property is split in two by the

Ord River The Ord River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The river's catchment covers . The lower Ord River and the conjunction with Cambridge Gulf create the most northern estuarine environment in Western Australia. The Ord ...

as it flows from

Lake Argyle Lake Argyle is Western Australia's largest and Australia's second largest freshwater man-made reservoir by volume. The reservoir is part of the Ord River Irrigation Scheme and is located near the East Kimberley town of Kununurra. The lake f ...

to the

Cambridge Gulf Cambridge Gulf is a gulf on the north coast of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Many rivers flow into the gulf, including the Ord River, Pentecost River, Durack River, King River and the Forrest River, making the environment an es ...

. A neighbouring property is

Ivanhoe Station Ivanhoe or Ivanhoe Station is a pastoral lease and cattle station located just north of Kununurra in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Founded in 1893 by the Durack brothers, station is presently owned by the Consolidated Pastoral C ...

, which is also owned by the Consolidated Pastoral Company. The alluvial flats and black soil plains support rich stands of

couch A couch, also known as a sofa, settee, or chesterfield, is a cushioned item of furniture for seating multiple people (although it is not uncommon for a single person to use a couch alone). It is commonly found in the form of a bench with uph ...

and

buffel The Buffel (English: ''Buffalo'') is an infantry mobility vehicle used by the South African Defence Force during the South African Border War. The Buffel was also used as an armoured fighting vehicle and proved itself in this role. It replaced ...

, which make good grazing feed. Carlton Hill and Ivanhoe Station are able to support 50,000 head of cattle, including 18,000

Brahman In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' ( sa, ब्रह्मन्) connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality in the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part X ...

breeders. The station is able to turn out 9,000 steers per annum for live export to Asia and the Middle East.

History

The station was initially established by

Patrick Durack Patrick Durack (March 1834 – 20 January 1898) was a pastoral pioneer in Western Australia. His family were struggling tenant farmers from Magherareagh near Scarriff in County Clare, Ireland, who moved from Ireland to New South Wales in 1853. ...

and his brother Michael, who founded the station in 1893. By 1901 the station was carrying about 3,000 head of cattle. In August 2016, the station was sold by the

Consolidated Pastoral Company The Consolidated Pastoral Company (CPC) is a large, privately owned, Australian Agrifood business which operates 8 cattle stations covering over 3.6m hectares, managing more than 300,000 cattle, in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Q ...

to Chinese property developers Shanghai Zhongfu trading in Australia as Kimberley Agricultural Investment. Consolidated Pastoral Company's chief executive officer Troy Setter said CPC negotiated a 10-year-leaseback of the majority of the station, where it will continue to run its cattle production operations on the property. The

Sidney Kidman Sir Sidney Kidman (9 May 18572 September 1935), known as Sid Kidman and popularly named "the Cattle King", was an Australian pastoral farming, pastoralist and entrepreneur who owned or co-owned large areas of land in Australia in his lifetime. ...

company Bovril Australian Estates purchased Carlton Hill in 1909 along with another two stations, one being Northcote and the other in

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

called Victoria River Downs, for a total of £200,000. In 2010, the station manager was Stirling Fearon, who oversaw the 20-strong crew that completed that year's muster. The muster is mostly carried out on horseback using the station stock horses. Director

Baz Luhrmann Mark Anthony Luhrmann (born 17 September 1962), known professionally as Baz Luhrmann, is an Australian film director, producer, writer and actor. With projects spanning film, television, opera, theatre, music and recording industries, he is re ...

used House Roof Hill, which stands behind the horse arena, as a backdrop for the fictional Faraway Downs

homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses *Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres *Homestead principle, a legal concept th ...

in his film ''

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

'' in 2008.

Tourism

The station is open for tours during the Ord Valley muster. During the tour customers are invited to the '' Hoochery'', a family operated

distillery Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heati ...

, and the oldest legal still in Western Australia.

References

{{Stations of Sidney Kidman Homesteads in Western Australia Pastoral leases in Western Australia Kimberley (Western Australia) Stations (Australian agriculture)

History

Tourism

See also

References