Marion Downs Station, often just referred to as Marion 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

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_ ...

, Australia.

Description

The station is located about south west of

Boulia Boulia () is an outback town and locality in the Shire of Boulia, Queensland, Australia. In the , Boulia had a population of 301 people. Boulia is the administrative centre of the Boulia Shire, population approximately 600, which covers an area ...

and north of Birdsville in the Channel Country of Central West Queensland. It occupies the entirety of the locality of Amaroo in the Shires of

and

Diamantina Diamantina may refer to: Geography Australia * Diamantina Bowen (1833-1893), ''grande dame'' of Queensland and the wife of Sir George Bowen, the first Governor of Queensland. * ''Diamantina Cocktail'', 1976 album by Little River Band * Diam ...

, extending to a small extent into some of the neighbouring localities. The property is well watered by the Georgina,

Burke Burke is an Anglo-Norman Irish surname, deriving from the ancient Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman noble dynasty, the House of Burgh. In Ireland, the descendants of William de Burgh (–1206) had the surname ''de Burgh'' which was gaelicised ...

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

and

Mulligan River The Mulligan River is a tributary of Eyre Creek in the Channel Country region of southwest Queensland. It is in the Lake Eyre Basin. The river rises in Glenormiston Station and flows generally south through Marion Downs Station into Eyre Cree ...

s. The land varies from floodplains to open rolling downs vegetated with

Mitchell Mitchell may refer to: People *Mitchell (surname) *Mitchell (given name) Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, a light-industrial estate * Mitchell, New South Wales, a suburb of Bathurst * Mitchell, Northern Territo ...

and Flinders grasses and to desert country of the Simpson Desert along the western boundary. Marion Downs is run in conjunction with the Herbert Downs outstation, employing about 15 people, and together occupy a total area of . The property is stocked with about 15,000 head of cattle and is currently owned by the

North Australian Pastoral Company The North Australian Pastoral Company (NAPCO) is a large, privately owned, Australian cattle company which operates 13 cattle stations (as well as the Wainui farm and feedlot) covering over 60,000 km2, managing about 200,000 cattle, in Que ...

. The homestead is located at , approx west of the Boulia Bedourie Road.

History

The station was established in 1877, in the area of Rungarungawa tribal lands along with several other well known properties in the Channel Country as pastoralists expanded westward from the grasslands at the headwaters of the Diamantina. Other properties established at the same time included

Glenormiston Station Glenormiston Station, commonly known as Glenormiston, is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in Queensland, Australia. Description Glenormiston is located about west of Boulia and north of Birdsville in Central West Queenslan ...

Headingly Station Headingly Station often just referred to as Headingly is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station. It is located about south of Camooweal and west of Dajarra in Queensland. The property occupies an area of of Queensland's Gulf c ...

, Herbert Downs, Noranside and Roxburgh Downs. In 1878 then owner, Mr F. Scarr, sold the property to a

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 ...

investor, Mr Andrew Tobin, for £6000 cash. Tobi and company bought the property without any stock and without inspection, so well regarded was the country, thought to be particularly suited to

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

with its "abundance of saline herbage and lime". Tobin thought otherwise and began to stock the area with

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 ...

, buying over 1,000 store cattle in an 1880 sale that were delivered shortly afterwards. One of Tobin's partners in the station, John Leach Manning, died in 1883 leaving Tobin and the last partner, Daniel MacKinnon, with Marion Downs. The station manager in 1891, George McLeod, committed suicide by cutting his own throat. By 1893, the property was owned by the MacKinnon brothers ( Donald and

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

) who were still regularly selling bullocks off the property to markets in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...

and

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. In 1900, the property experienced a dry spell and put down two wells to water their cattle. Better conditions soon returned and by 1908 the property was carrying 10,000 head of cattle. A

boundary rider Boundary rider is a long-established (1864) Australasian term for a cattle or sheep station employee whose duties entail a regular tour (by horse, camel or motor vehicle) of the outer perimeter (boundary) of the property, checking condition of f ...

named Andrew Johnstone, employed at neighbouring Coorabulka Station, went missing in 1920. His body was found a couple of months later by a stockman along the Merrdiderri Channel, but his bones had been scattered by

dingo The dingo (''Canis familiaris'', ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient (Basal (phylogenetics), basal) lineage of dog found in Australia (continent), Australia. Its taxonomic classification is de ...

s. By the following year the property occupied an area of and was carrying 20,000 cattle with 300 horses. The area was struck by

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

in 1926. Although Marion Downs was faring well in 1926, this changed as the drought continued, and by 1928 the property had been left in the hands of care-takers and had been mostly destocked. A man from

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, Daniel Richardson, died of thirst at Marion Downs in 1932. The property was purchased by the

in 1934, following some tough times after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, a market downturn and the prolonged drought. Neighbouring Coorabulka and nearby Monkira were purchased in 1939. The area experienced heavy rains in 1953, and Marion Downs along with other properties nearby were

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

ed. Many employees trapped at the station contracted

dysentery Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...

, probably from drinking contaminated water. The Georgina and Burke Rivers both flooded in 2010, following good rains further north. The station manager, Robert Jansen, described the waters as "handy", probably meaning there would be more water available to stock. Jansen and the manager of

, Stephen Bryce, have jointly managed the Mulligan River Nature Reserve, which straddles both of the properties, since 2007.

References

{{Coord, 23.36378, S, 139.65507, E, type:landmark_region:AU-QLD, display=title Stations (Australian agriculture) Pastoral leases in Queensland Central West Queensland 1877 establishments in Australia

Description

History

See also

References