Cresswell Downs Station, often referred to as Cresswell Downs, is a pastoral lease that operates 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 ...

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. It is situated about east of Elliott and south of Borroloola. Cresswell Downs is surrounded by other properties including Mallapunyah to the north west, Walhallow to the west, Kiana to the north, Calvert Hills Station to the north east, Benmarra to the west,

Brunette Downs Brunette Downs Station, mostly referred to as Brunette Downs, is a pastoral lease operating as a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia. Location Brunette Downs Station is located in the Northern Territory about north-eas ...

to the south and

Anthony Lagoon Anthony Lagoon is a cattle station on the Barkly Tableland in the Northern Territory, Australia. It is situated approximately east of Elliott and south of Borroloola. Eva Downs is run as an outstation of Anthony Lagoon and employs a separat ...

to the south west. Several watercourses pass through the property, including Cresswell Creek, Coanjula Creek and Puzzle Creek. 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 right ...

of the area are the Wambaia. The first European to visit the area was the explorer

Frank Hann Frank Hugh Hann (19 October 184521 August 1921) was an Australian pastoralist and explorer. Early life Hann was the son of Joseph and Elizabeth Hann. Fellow explorer William Hann was his older brother. They were born in Wiltshire, England a ...

in 1881. The station was established later the same year and was named after William Rooke Creswell; the name was retained despite the error in spelling. It was selected by

Ernest Favenc Ernest Favenc (21 October 1845 – 14 November 1908) was an explorer of Australia, a journalist, author of verse, novels and short stories, and an historian. Personal life Favenc was born in Walworth, Surrey, England. Of Huguenot descent, he ...

who had joined an expedition to the area to claim new pastoral lands for himself and his partner, Mr Brodie. A share in the property was sold by in 1881 to the De Salis brothers by Kilgour and Woodhouse. The property occupied an area of and was unstocked at the time. By 1883

sold his quarter share of the property, now stocked with 2000 head of cattle, to Brodie and De Salis. In 1895 Sidney North Innes in partnership with Mr. T.A. Perry purchased Cresswell Downs. Perry was killed by the

Indigenous Australian 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 ...

s who were employed on the station shortly afterwards. Innes carried on for the next several years on his own. On one of the trips Innes was in pursuit of a buyer of a large mob of heifers for over a thousand miles. The drought of the early 1900s depleted the herd and in 1904 the owner completed the sale of what were left, about 3000 head and returned to Oxforshire in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

for the first time in 25 years. He returned in 1905. In 1906 Cresswell Downs was purchased by brothers Richard Hugh Taylor and William McCurdy Taylor. Both brothers had been working for some time as stockmen in the Gulf region. William died at Anthony's Lagoon aged 53 on 3 January 1915. His brother continued running Cresswell Downs until his death aged 49 on 30 October 1917, leaving his estate including Creswell Downs to his sisters, who sold it in 1918 to James C Hutton, Peter Nalty, Horace V Brumm and Raym Logan. In 1927 it was acquired by Bridget J Naughton. The Taylor brothers helped establish the annual ABC races with neighbouring stations Alexandria Station and

in 1910. William Naughton acquired the property at some time after 1918 when he was

overlanding Overlanding is self-reliant overland travel to remote destinations where the journey is the principal goal. Typically, but not exclusively, it is accomplished with mechanized off-road capable transport (from bicycles to trucks) where the principal ...

small herds to butchers in

Cloncurry Cloncurry is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Cloncurry had a population of 2,719 people. Cloncurry is the administrative centre of the Shire of Cloncurry. Cloncurry is known a ...

. By 1923 Cresswell was owned by Naughton and Peter Nalty. By 1929 the pair had a falling out which ended up in the Supreme Court with Naughton claiming Nalty owed him £10,000 and 650 cattle and Nalty claiming Naughton owed him £7500, six years' salary and £5834 for a share in the property. Nalty was awarded £7,000 for back-pay but was not given a share of the property. By 1932 Naughton's sons, Tom and Frank were running Cresswell while their father concentrated on his other pastoral interests. Currently Cresswell Downs is owned by the Paraway Pastoral Company and run in conjunction with

Walhallow Station Walhallow Station also once known as Walhallow Downs often just referred to as Walhallow is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia. Location It is located about north west of Elliott and nor ...

References

{{Reflist Stations (Australian agriculture) Pastoral leases in the Northern Territory

See also

References