Elsey Station 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 ...

that once operated 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 stati ...

in the

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 ...

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 ...

. It is situated about east of Mataranka and north of

Larrimah Larrimah is a town and a locality in the Northern Territory of Australia located about southeast of the territorial capital of Darwin and about southeast of the municipal seat of Katherine. The specific geographical location is -15 35' 00 ...

. The

Roper River The Roper River is a large perennial river located in the Katherine region of the Northern Territory of Australia. Location and features Formed by the confluence of the Waterhouse River and Roper Creek, the Roper River rises east of Mataranka ...

and many of its tributary creeks run through the property. The land is about 10%

flood plain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

, 15% black soil country, 60% red sandy country and 15% ridge country. The property is owned by the Mangarrayi Aboriginal Land Trust. Elsey occupies an area of , of which is fenced. In 2001 Elsey had a herd of about 7,000 cattle grazing on its pastures. The station is named after Elsey Creek that runs through the property. Elsey creek was named after

Joseph Ravenscroft Elsey Joseph Ravenscroft Elsey (1834–1857) was an English born naturalist, surgeon and explorer. After achieving qualifications in Chemistry and at the Royal College of Surgeons, Elsey joined the North Australian Exploring Expedition, led by Augustus Gr ...

, the

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

who travelled with the

Augustus Charles Gregory Sir Augustus Charles Gregory (1 August 1819 – 25 June 1905) was an English-born Australian explorer and surveyor. Between 1846 and 1858 he undertook four major expeditions. He was the first Surveyor-General of Queensland. He was appointed a ...

expedition from Victoria River to

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

via the Roper River. The lease was taken up by Abraham Wallace in 1879, and he embarked on a trek from his other station, Sturts Meadow in outback

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, in January 1880. Wallace headed north and arrived in

Longreach Longreach is a town and a locality in the Longreach Region, Queensland, Australia. It is the administrative centre of the Longreach Regional Council, which was established in 2008 as a merger of the former Longreach, Ilfracombe, and Isisford s ...

, some from Sturts Meadow, where he bought 2,728 head of cattle and continued his journey, eventually arriving in Elsey in July 1881 after covering a distance of about . The property was later named Elsey Station and Wallace left the next day to return to Sturts Meadows. Aeneas and

Jeannie Gunn Jeannie Gunn (pen name, Mrs Aeneas Gunn) (5 June 18709 June 1961) was an Australian novelist, teacher and Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) volunteer. Life Jeannie Taylor was born in Carlton, Melbourne, the last of five childre ...

arrived at Elsey in 1902, Gunn owned a quarter share in the property but died there in 1903 from

blackwater fever Blackwater fever is a complication of malaria infection in which red blood cells burst in the bloodstream (hemolysis), releasing hemoglobin directly into the blood vessels and into the urine, frequently leading to kidney failure. The disease ...

. Jeannie returned to

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 ...

and in 1908 wrote the book ''

We of the Never Never ''We of the Never Never'' is an autobiographical novel by Jeannie Gunn first published in 1908. Although published as a novel, it is an account of the author's experiences in 1902 at Elsey Station near Mataranka, Northern Territory in which she ...

'' based on her time at Elsey. In 1946 the filming crew for '' The Overlanders'' arrived at the Roper River camp the Station for a month, where the river crossing sequence was shot. The station was put up for auction by the owners, Elsey Downs Ltd., in 1951 and was advertised as covering an area of and stocked with 26,000 head of cattle. The auctioneer tried to open the bidding at £200,000 but could only attract a bid of £140,000 from an agent acting on behalf of a Victorian syndicate, who assured that all historic landmarks on the property would be preserved. During the 1960s,

Brahman cattle The Brahman is an American breed of zebuine-taurine hybrid beef cattle. It was bred in the United States from 1885 from cattle originating in India, imported at various times from the United Kingdom, from India and from Brazil. These were mainly ...

were introduced to the property, which coincided with the appearance of ''

Parkinsonia ''Parkinsonia'' , also ''Cercidium'' , is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae. It contains about 12 species that are native to semi-desert regions of Africa and the Americas. The name of the genus honors English apothecary ...

'' weeds at Elsey. The weevil '' Penthobruchus germaini'', a

chrysomelid The insects of the beetle family Chrysomelidae are commonly known as leaf beetles, and include over 37,000 (and probably at least 50,000) species in more than 2,500 genera, making up one of the largest and most commonly encountered of all beetle ...

of the subfamily

Bruchinae The bean weevils or seed beetles are a subfamily (Bruchinae) of beetles, now placed in the family Chrysomelidae, though they have historically been treated as a separate family. They are granivores, and typically infest various kinds of seeds or ...

, was introduced as a biological control for ''Parkinsonia'' in 1995, but it is still being poisoned to prevent it spreading. In February 2000, the Howard government representative John Herron handed over the title deeds of the property in a formal ceremony at Elsey to 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 rights ...

of the area, the

Mangarrayi The Mangarayi, also written Mangarai, were an indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory. Language Mangarayi is thought to be one of the Gunwingguan languages. Francesca Merlan published a grammar of the language in 1982, one that i ...

people. The Elsey claim had taken nearly nine years to resolve.

References

{{Coord, 14.951, S, 133.35, E, type:landmark_region:AU-NT, display=title Stations (Australian agriculture) Pastoral leases in the Northern Territory 1879 establishments in Australia

See also

References