Mount Barnett 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 ...

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 ...

. It is situated approximately north of

Fitzroy Crossing Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: **FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...

and 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 ...

in the Kimberley region. Manning Creek runs through the property and the tourist destination, Manning Gorge, is also found within the station boundaries. The property is accessed off 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 pastoral lease is currently held by the Kupungarri Aboriginal Corporation. The property had been established prior to 1903 when it was stocked by cattle that were taken from Fitzroy Crossing and across the King Leopold Ranges (modern-day

Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges The Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges (formerly between 1879 and 2020, the King Leopold Ranges) are a range of hills in the western Kimberley region of Western Australia. There are two conservation parks within the ranges, the Wunaamin Conservation P ...

) in the first drove across the range. In the same year the station was being managed by Mick O'Connor who remained there until at least 1912. In 1912 it was owned by the Rose Brothers. Mount Barnett was one of eight properties located along 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 ...

, all of which were very isolated at the time, and not being serviced by a mail run. In 1920 it was owned by Ben Copley, who was running cattle. Copley also owned Karbar Station near Yalgoo and had overlanded herds for the journey. Fred Merry took over management of the station in the mid 1920s and assisted the police in suppressing the local Aborigines who had been spearing cattle on the property. The station was abandoned soon afterwards after

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 ...

had arrived in the area.

References

{{Stations of the Kimberley Western Australia Pastoral leases in Western Australia Stations (Australian agriculture) Kimberley (Western Australia)

See also

References