Kimberley Downs Station, commonly referred to as Kimberley Downs, 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 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 stati ...

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 ...

Location

Kimberley Downs is situated about east of

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

and northwest of Junjuwa community. It is accessed via the

Gibb River Road The Gibb River Road is a road in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Description The road is a former cattle route that stretches in an east-west direction almost through the Kimberley between the towns of Derby and the Kununurra an ...

. The

Lennard River Lennard River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The river was named on 8 June 1879 by the explorer Alexander Forrest, during an expedition in the Kimberley area, after Amy Eliza Barrett-Lennard (1852-1897), who he was to ...

flows through the property, and a neighbouring property is

Meda Station Meda Station, often referred to as Meda River Station, is a pastoral lease in Western Australia that once operated as a sheep station but presently operates as a cattle station. Situated about east of Derby and about north of Looma in the K ...

. The land is a mix of black soil plains with a high cracking black clay content. These areas are grassed with bundle bundle grass,

ribbon A ribbon or riband is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily as decorative binding and tying. Cloth ribbons are made of natural materials such as silk, cotton, and jute and of synthetic mater ...

grass,

Flinders Flinders may refer to: Places Antarctica * Flinders Peak, near the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula Australia New South Wales * Flinders County, New South Wales * Shellharbour Junction railway station, Shellharbour * Flinders, New South Wa ...

grass and feathertop wiregrass. There is also a large area of open woodland.

History

The property was established in the early 1880s. In 1900

M. C. Davies Maurice Coleman Davies (24 September 1835 – 10 May 1913) was an Australian timber merchant and pastoralist. Born in London, he emigrated to Tasmania with his family as a child, and later moved to Blackwood in the Victorian goldfields, then t ...

, who owned neighbouring Balmaningarra Station, also acquired Lennard River Station and a portion of Lillimilura Station, forming Kimberley Downs Station. Davies later owned and managed both Kimberley Downs and Napier Downs Stations. Scene on Kimberley Downs Station 1912

In 1910 Kimberley Downs occupied an area of and was carrying 30,000 sheep. Eight white men were employed permanently on the property with the bulk of the work being carried out by

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

workers. The entire flock was sold off from the property in 1916. 11,400 ewes, 4,400 wethers and 340 rams were sold in one lot, thought to be the largest sale of sheep in one line at the time in Western Australia. The property was stocked with cattle and soon after the

cattle tick Cattle tick can refer to any of several species of ticks that parasitize cattle, including: * ''Haemaphysalis longicornis'', the Asian longhorned tick * ''Rhipicephalus annulatus'', the North American cattle tick * ''Rhipicephalus microplus The ...

first appeared in the West Kimberley regions. Kimberley Downs, Yeeda and Obagama were all affected by the ticks. In 1931 80 head of cattle were found to have

pleuropneumonia Pleuropneumonia is inflammation of the lungs and pleura, pleurisy being the inflammation of the pleura alone. See also * Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia – a disease in cattle * Contagious caprine pleuropneumonia Contagious caprine pleurop ...

in one muster. The disease meant cattle had to be

quarantine A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been ...

d. In 1976 the property, along with neighbouring Napier Downs, was owned by the Australian Land and Cattle Company and being managed by Bob and Sheryl McCorry. The properties had a combined area of and were stocked with approximately 20,000 head of cattle.

References

{{Stations of the Kimberley Western Australia Stations in the Kimberley (Western Australia)