Landor or Landor Station is a pastoral lease and

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 ...

located in the

Gascoyne The Gascoyne region is one of the nine administrative regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northwest of Western Australia, and consists of the local government areas of Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Gasc ...

region of

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 ...

. The station is situated approximately by air north west of Meekatharra. The distance by road is considerably longer, via the

Great Northern Highway Great Northern Highway is an Australian highway that links Western Australia's capital city Perth with its northernmost port, Wyndham. With a length of almost , it is the longest highway in Australia, with the majority included as part of the ...

. The station occupies an area of and has double frontage to the

Gascoyne River The Gascoyne River is a river in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. At , it is the longest river in Western Australia. Description The Gascoyne River comprises three branches in its upper reaches. Draining the Collier Range, the river ...

, Landor Creek and Aurila Creek over a total distance of over with the property mostly composed of

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 ...

country. It is well grassed with

buffel The Buffel (English: ''Buffalo'') is an infantry mobility vehicle used by the South African Defence Force during the South African Border War. The Buffel was also used as an armoured fighting vehicle and proved itself in this role. It replaced ...

saltbush Saltbush is a vernacular plant name that most often refers to ''Atriplex'', a genus of about 250 plants distributed worldwide from subtropical to subarctic regions. ''Atriplex'' species are native to Australia, North and South America, and Eurasia. ...

, bluebush, cotton bush and other vegetation, including mulga,

acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...

and currara. The property was established prior to 1925 as a cattle station, but then swapped to sheep. Approximately 12,00 sheep were

shorn Sheep shearing is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. The person who removes the sheep's wool is called a '' shearer''. Typically each adult sheep is shorn once each year (a sheep may be said to have been "shorn" or ...

in 1925, with numbers increasing to 40,000 in 1926 and 50,000 in 1927. In 1998 the property was acquired by Richie Brennan from

Malcolm McCusker Malcolm James McCusker (born 6 August 1938) is an Australian barrister and philanthropist who was the 31st Governor of Western Australia, serving from July 2011 to June 2014. Born in Perth, McCusker was educated at Hobart High School (in Hobar ...

. In 2013 Brennan had reported that cattle worth 500,000 had been stolen from the property over the last decade. The station homestead is situated close to where the Landor River meets the Gascoyne River. Both the river and the station were named by the surveyor HS Carey, most likely after the

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

EW Landor. The

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many ...

Nundigo well and stockyards are found on the station. They are located close to the boundary of Landor and Errabiddy station between the tributaries of Bubbagundy Creek and the soft country. The eastern side of the yard is surrounded by flood gums while open scrub is found to the west. The yards were used by drovers as a staging area for

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...

headed to the railhead at Meekatharra. They were deliberately built in soft country so that the cattle could be shod so they could more easily cross the stony country that lay ahead.

Landor Races

The Landor Races are an annual event held at the racecourse, which is currently north of the homestead (). Originally the racecourse was located about half a mile from the homestead. The racecourse has its own airstrip, stables, water and electricity supply, dance hall, dining room and grandstand. The public camp site that is adjacent to the course has its own toilet and shower facilities. Races are held on the first weekend in October, coinciding with the school holidays. The races were first held in 1921 when stockmen from stations in the area such as Mount Augustus, Milgun, Mount Seabrook and Erravilla held a race on their day off to find who had the fastest horse. The races have been held almost continuously ever since, with races not being held for several years during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. No starting gates exist, all races are walk up starts. The inaugural winner of the 1922 Eastern Gascoyne Race Club Landor Cup, run over a mile, was a horse named "Johnny the Gun". The winner of the 2012 Landor Cup was "Cathcart". The Landor Cup is currently run over .

References

{{Stations of the Gascoyne Western Australia Homesteads in Western Australia Shire of Upper Gascoyne Stations in Gascoyne Heritage places of Western Australia

Landor Races

See also

References