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 ...

s in

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 ...

are increasingly known as "stations", and more particular – as either

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 ...

s or

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 ...

s. They are usually found in country that is designated as

rangeland Rangelands are grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, wetlands, and deserts that are grazed by domestic livestock or wild animals. Types of rangelands include tallgrass and shortgrass prairies, desert grasslands and shrublands, woodlands, savannas ...

. In 2013 there were a total of 527 pastoral leases in Western Australia. And all leases were put up for renewal or surrender in 2015. Stations/pastoral leases are a significant part of Western Australian history. At different stages inquiries, pleas for extensions of lease times and royal commissions have been made into the industry. Nearly 90 million hectares or 36% of the area of Western Australia are covered by these stations. Despite the very low population involved in general management of stations, significant numbers of seasonal workers (shearers and others) have moved through the sheep stations to shear for wool. Also more recently stations have been used as holding places of feral goats for export and meat production.

Administration

The current administration of leases is conducted by the appointed Minister for Lands of the day and the Pastoral Lands Board of Western Australia, which succeeded the Pastoral Board after changes to the Land Act of 1933 (repealed) and the new Land Administration Act of 1997. Further current policies and details of governance are updated within publications and websites administered by the Pastoral Lands Board. In 2006 the Pastoral Lands Board within the Department of Planning and Infrastructure produced a 24-page pamphlet, which although appearing to be dealing with

Outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...

issues, deals mainly with the process of accessing pastoral leases in Western Australia. The significant distances between stations and points of transport have seen droving or "stock routes" created in the past, such as the

Canning Stock Route The Canning Stock Route is a track that runs from Halls Creek in the Kimberley region of Western Australia to Wiluna in the mid-west region. With a total distance of around 1,850 km (1,150 mi) it is the longest historic stock route ...

. Also the rail route to Meekatharra can be seen as a means of reaching into the station country to facilitate stock transport.

List

The list that follows is from various sources – abandoned, amalgamated, relinquished, and historical (no longer current) leases may be in the list. The list includes the local government, and regional locations – for more specific locating of the stations, the Travellers Atlas of Western Australia map identifies all current pastoral leases.''Streetsmart Travellers Atlas of Western Australia'' (2006) Department of Land Information and West Australian Newspapers,9th ed. In the state Maps (Road Maps of Western Australia Maps 1-154) 'Pastoral Lease Stations' are identified with their names and boundaries.

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References

Atlas/map references

* Travellers atlas (1978 - present) * * ''Streetsmart Travellers Atlas of Western Australia'' (2006) Department of Land Information and West Australian Newspapers,10th ed. **In the state Maps (Road Maps of Western Australia Maps 1-154) 'Pastoral Lease Stations' are identified with their names and boundaries. *Quality Publishing Australia.(2007) ''Roads & tracks Western Australia : campsites directory, roads and tracks, all in one'' Jolimont, W.A.,Quality Publishing Australia, 5th ed **Identifies homesteads but not specific pastoral leases. * ''UBD Western Australia country road atlas'' (2005) Macquarie Park, N.S.W.UBD, a division of Universal Publishers, 11th ed {{ISBN, 0-7319-1587-9 **Identifies only selected pastoral leases in the first 20 general maps of the volume.

Administration

List

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See also

References

Atlas/map references

Further reading