Coniston is 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 ...

in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

of Australia in central Australia and is located about 250 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs, Coniston is best known as the site of the

Coniston massacre The Coniston massacre, which took place in the region around the Coniston cattle station in the then Territory of Central Australia (now the Northern Territory) from 14 August to 18 October 1928, was the last known officially sanctioned massa ...

, which was the last known massacre of

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

, in August 1928. Owing to a severe drought, the original owners (the Warlpiri,

Anmatyerre The Anmatyerr, also spelt Anmatyerre, Anmatjera, Anmatjirra, Amatjere and other variations) are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory, who speak one of the Upper Arrernte languages. Language Anmatyerr is divided into Easte ...

, and Kaytetye people ) gravitated towards their ancient water sources, which the pastoralists were using for their livestock. Conflicts soon arose. Coniston is still a working cattle station, and has bee
featured
by the

government for its introduction of a 6.4 kW

solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovolta ...

station. Developed in 1923 by Randall Stafford because of a sustainable water supply, the station still thrives today. Coniston Station has been owned and managed by Max Lines and his wife Jacqui for more than three decades. In 2014, Max Lines found himself bedbound. With the help of her family and loyal staff, Jacqui continued to run the property.

References

Pastoral leases in the Northern Territory Stations (Australian agriculture) {{NorthernTerritory-geo-stub

See also

References