Millungera Station is a 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 ...

in Queensland, Australia.

Description

It is located about north east of

Cloncurry Cloncurry is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Cloncurry had a population of 2,719 people. Cloncurry is the administrative centre of the Shire of Cloncurry. Cloncurry is known as ...

and south of

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

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_ ...

. The station occupies an area of approximately one million acres, , and is the primary breeding ground for the Acton Land and Cattle Company, which is able to stock 40,000 head of cattle. The property has at least one outstation, Crowfels, which has a Santa Gertrudis stud. The station is situated in the Queensland

Gulf country The Gulf Country is the region of woodland and savanna grassland surrounding the Gulf of Carpentaria in north western Queensland and eastern Northern Territory on the north coast of Australia. The region is also called the Gulf Savannah. It ...

a generally flat tropical

savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

with plains of

mitchell grass ''Astrebla'' is a small genus of xerophytic (adapted to survive in an environment with little liquid water) grasses found only in Australia. They are the dominant grass across much of the continent. They are commonly known as Mitchell grass afte ...

. The property has some frontage along the

Flinders River The Flinders River is the longest river in Queensland, Australia, at approximately . It was named in honour of the explorer Matthew Flinders. The catchment is sparsely populated and mostly undeveloped. The Flinders rises on the western slopes ...

and is close to the

Saxby River The Saxby River is a river located in North West Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = ...

History

The station was established in 1864 along with nearby Taldora Station by the

pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and dev ...

James Gibson in 1864. Gibson had also established the first property along the Flinders River, Prairie, in 1861. In 1880 the property was still owned by James Gibson and Company. The Melbourne Queensland Pastoral Company was set up with capital of £120,000 to purchase both Millungera and Taldora Station which had a combined area of 937,600 acres along with 20,000 head of cattle for £80,000 leaving plenty of capital left for further development, the property had been inspected by William Meredith who was to manage the station. Meredith died in 1881 with his share of the station and stock being passed onto Salome Meredith of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. In 1886 Millungera was owned by Meredith, Menzies and C. and the property was being managed by Mr Nutting. The homestead had been built by this stage and was described by a visitor as "the home station house a good one, built at great expense with a 12 foot verandah all around, good kitchen and stores and outbuildings with a permanent hole of water close by". Meredth's grave was also located just a short distance from the homestead. A total area of was resumed from Millungera early in 1907 which was cut into eight separate properties in the hope of attracting immigrants to the area. Large tracts of grazing country at the station were burnt out by

bushfires A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...

later the same year, other properties surrounding Millungera were similarly affected. While some of the surrounding districts were 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 1928, Millungera was inundated by of rain in 24 hours. The herds at Millungera and surrounding properties affected by the condition known as

pegleg A pegleg is a prosthesis, or artificial limb, fitted to the remaining stump of a human leg. Its use dates to antiquity. History By the late 19th century, prosthetics vendors would offer peglegs as cheaper alternatives to more intricate, lifelik ...

in 1929. This condition is a phosphate

deficiency A deficiency is generally a lack of something. It may also refer to: *A deficient number, in mathematics, a number ''n'' for which ''σ''(''n'') < 2''n'' * Nauru Nauru ( or ; na, Naoero), officially the Republic of Nauru ( na, Repubrikin Naoero) and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Oceania, in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Ki ...

phosphate salts. The station was put up for auction along with all the plant, improvements and 24,800 head of cattle in 1930. All of the pastoral holdings separate leases were listed in the sale, Millungera , Tharwan , Savannah Downs , Kuradin , East Creek and other smaller leases. The holding, with a total area of , was passed in with no bids. In 1933 an experiment was conducted to introduce

Zebu The zebu (; ''Bos indicus'' or ''Bos taurus indicus''), sometimes known in the plural as indicine cattle or humped cattle, is a species or subspecies of domestic cattle originating in the Indian sub-continent. Zebu are characterised by a fatty ...

cattle into the herd to make the English bred stock would give them resistance to tropical diseases and cope better with the tropical conditions. The station was still owned by Meredith Menzies Pty Ltd at this time. In 1950 a stockman, Alan Doyle, went missing in the heavily timbered Savannah portion of the holding prompting a search party to be sent out. Doyle was the third person that had gone missing at Millungera in a period of five weeks. Doyle was found a week later after feeding himself on boiled grass and

goanna A goanna is any one of several species of lizards of the genus '' Varanus'' found in Australia and Southeast Asia. Around 70 species of ''Varanus'' are known, 25 of which are found in Australia. This varied group of carnivorous reptiles ranges ...

CSR Limited CSR may refer to: Biology * Central serous retinopathy, a visual impairment * Cheyne–Stokes respiration, an abnormal respiration pattern * Child sex ratio, ratio between female and male births * Class switch recombination, a process that chan ...

auctioned off the property, which the Actons bought for 7 million in 1985 with its 26,000 head of cattle.

References

{{Coord, 19.85770, S, 141.556805, E, type:landmark_region:AU-WA, display=title Stations (Australian agriculture) Pastoral leases in Queensland North West Queensland 1864 establishments in Australia

Description

History

See also

References