Mount Clere Station 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 once operated as a

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 ...

but currently 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 ...

. The property is situated approximately north west of Meekatharra and south of Paraburdoo 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. The first European to visit the area was Charles Brockman during his exploration of the Gascoyne in 1876. Brockman named Mount Clere as well as the

Minilya Minilya is a location in Western Australia north of Carnarvon on the North West Coastal Highway. It is at a junction in the North West Coastal Highway, where the turn off to Exmouth is from that location. The main highway then continues to the ...

and Lyndon Rivers. The early settlers in the area, including the Davis brothers, who owned Mount Clere, experienced many problems with the local Aborigines, and had reported numerous cases of sheep stealing and cattle spearing in 1886. The store and homestead at Mount Clere were broken into and robbed in 1892. Robert Edwin Bush, the owner of neighbouring Clifton Downs Station, acquired Mount Clere from John Sydney Davis in the early 1890s. Both properties encompassed and in 1891 the combined holding was running 75,000 sheep. The station manager in 1897, Mr. H. S. Steele, disappeared while swimming in

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

his body was never recovered but his waistcoat and watch were found. Two bodies were found under a

gum tree Gum tree is a common name for smooth-barked trees and shrubs in several genera: *Eucalypteae, particularly: **''Eucalyptus'', which includes the majority of species of gum trees. **''Corymbia'', which includes the ghost gums and spotted gums. **''A ...

on a distant part of the run in 1914. The remains were only bones but each had a bullet hole in the skull. The police believed the two men committed suicide, possibly while dying of thirst. No one at Mount Clere knew the men but remembered seeing horse tracks leading in the direction toward the Mount Egerton mining fields. Good rains fell over the run in 1939 with falling in two days causing the river to flood. In February 1942 Mount Clere recorded of rain in less than a month. The rains triggered floods along 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 ...

, isolating many of the properties along the river. The area experienced a prolonged drought from 2000 to 2010, when stations such as Mount Clere had only one year of almost average rainfall. By 2010 the station had been largely destocked and was hand-feeding the remaining cattle on the property. The station owner, Greg Watters, said the land was so dry even the trees were dying, a situation he had not seen before.

References

{{Stations of the Gascoyne Western Australia Homesteads in Western Australia Pastoral leases in Western Australia Stations (Australian agriculture) Shire of Upper Gascoyne

See also

References