Mount Poole 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 ...

operating as a sheep station in

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 ...

. The property is situated approximately south west of Tibooburra and north west of White Cliffs.

History

The first Europeans to venture into the area was the expedition led by Captain Charles Sturt, who arrived at the height of summer during a

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 1845. For many months the party camped by a waterhole in a rocky

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

glen which is now known as Depot Glen, and many of the men were ill with

scurvy Scurvy is a disease resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, feeling tired and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, decreased red blood cells, gum disease, changes to hair, and bleeding ...

. James Poole, Sturt's second in command, died shortly after the group broke camp and his body was buried under a

Beefwood Beefwood is the name given to a number of Australian trees which have timber with a red colouration resembling raw beef as follows: *''Barringtonia calyptrata'', also known as Cornbeefwood. *''Barringtonia racemosa'', also known as Cornbeefwood. *' ...

tree not far from the camp at the glen. The tree was marked with Poole's initials and Sturt had his men erect a stone

cairn A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...

on a nearby rise. Duncan Elphinstone McBryde became the lessee of Mount Poole in 1872. Gold was discovered near the property in 1880 and in 1883 McBryde moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. In 1908 the property was owned by the cattle baron Sidney Kidman, at this time it occupied an area of approximately . The station was closed in 1929 with only a few men left as care-takers following an intense drought. The few sheep remaining were being shorn in the paddocks as they were to weak to make it to the shearing shed.

References

Pastoral leases in New South Wales Stations (Australian agriculture) Far West (New South Wales) {{FarWestNSW-geo-stub

History

See also

References