Commonwealth Hill Station,, more commonly known as Commonwealth Hill, 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 ...

currently operating 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 ...

. Commonwealth Hill is located about north north west of Tarcoola and south west of

Coober Pedy Coober Pedy () is a town in northern South Australia, north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway. The town is sometimes referred to as the "opal capital of the world" because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there. Coober Pedy is ...

in the state of

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 property occupies an area of approximately or one million hectares, making it the second largest sheep station in Australia, after

Rawlinna Station Rawlinna Station is a pastoral lease and sheep station located about east of Kambalda in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. The locality of Rawlinna and the Trans-Australian Railway are situated along the boundary of th ...

. It is currently owned by the

Jumbuck Pastoral Company The Jumbuck Pastoral Company is an Australian company that operates numerous cattle stations and sheep stations in Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory It is one of the largest landowners in Australia and the biggest wool ...

History

In 1947 the station was enjoying an excellent season after good rains produced an abundance of fresh green feed for stock during the summer. The area was also rife with rumours that the

Woomera Test Range The RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC) is a major Australian military and civil aerospace facility and operation located in South Australia, approximately north-west of Adelaide. The WRC is operated by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), a di ...

was to be expanded and that stations including Commonwealth Hill, Bulgunnia,

Roxby Downs Roxby Downs may refer to. * Roxby Downs, South Australia, a town and a locality * Roxby Council, formerly Municipal Council of Roxby Downs, a local government area See also *Roxby Downs Station Roxby Downs Station was a pastoral lease in centra ...

and Andamooka would lose some of their land, which in turn would reduce their wool clip. The rumours were confirmed; the station lies within the Woomera Test Range Area. Byron MacLachlan, the leaseholder of Commonwealth Hill in 1947, along with a consortium of pastoralists and lawyers, established a working agreement to ensure the continuation of pastoral activity that would not interfere with the long-range weapons project. In 1956 before the trials of the Black Knight Rocket commenced at Woomera safety risks to pastoralists were identified as a key concern. In 1957 the minister of Supply, Howard Beale, spoke with the graziers who could be affected by the trials and announced that the Commonwealth government would pay for the installation of blast-proof shelters. An

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

exploration company, Apollo Minerals, was given permission in 2011 by the Defence Department to start work on its prospect in the area following a Federal Government review on mining in the former missile testing area. In 2013, the land occupied by the pastoral lease was declared by the

Government of South Australia The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government, SA Government or more formally, His Majesty’s Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of South Australia. It is modelled o ...

under the ''Geographical Names Act 1991'' as a locality with the name "Commonwealth Hill".

Environment

The land on which the station is situated is described as a flat sandy plain on the north-western margin of the

Gawler Craton The Gawler Craton covers approximately 440,000 square kilometres of central South Australia. Its Precambrian crystalline basement (geology), basement Crust (geology), crustal block (geology), block was cratonised ca. 1550–1450 Ma. Prior to 15 ...

, covered with sand sheets and dunefields. Low mulga woodlands and tall

myall Myalls are any of a group of closely related and very similar species of ''Acacia'': * ''Acacia binervia ''Acacia binervia'', commonly known as the coast myall, is a wattle native to New South Wales and Victoria. It can grow as a shrub or as a t ...

shrublands over perennial grasses dominate with occasional salt lakes and

lunette A lunette (French ''lunette'', "little moon") is a half-moon shaped architectural space, variously filled with sculpture, painted, glazed, filled with recessed masonry, or void. A lunette may also be segmental, and the arch may be an arc take ...

systems.

References

{{Coord, 29, 56, 35, S, 134, 9, 8, E, type:landmark_region:AU-SA, display=title Stations in South Australia Far North (South Australia)