Mulka 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 the far north of

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 ...

. The land occupying the extent of the Mulka Station pastoral lease was gazetted as a locality by the Government of South Australia on 26 April 2013 under the name "Mulka".

Geography

It is situated approximately north of Marree and west of Innamincka. The main vehicular access to the property is via the unpaved

Birdsville Track The Birdsville Track is a notable outback road in Australia. The track runs between Birdsville in south-western Queensland and Marree, a small town in the north-eastern part of South Australia. It traverses three deserts along the route, the St ...

Climate

Having a hot

arid climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(''BWh''), the property is found to the south of Clifton Hills Station and is the driest permanently occupied pastoral holding in the country with annual rainfall of about . Drought had gripped the area in early 1929 with George Aiston predicting that if it did not break by the end of 1929 then the area would be deserted by both Europeans and

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

. In 2005

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 ...

conditions were so bad that the property was completely destocked. By 2010 the rains had arrived further north so that

Cooper Creek The Cooper Creek (formerly Cooper's Creek) is a river in the Australian states of Queensland and South Australia. It was the site of the death of the explorers Burke and Wills in 1861. It is sometimes known as the Barcoo River from one of its t ...

was flowing again as far as

Lake Eyre Lake Eyre ( ), officially known as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, is an endorheic lake in east-central Far North South Australia, some north of Adelaide. The shallow lake is the depocentre of the vast endorheic Lake Eyre basin, and contains the ...

History

The property was purchased in 1983 by Denis Overton and Gabrielle Overton and it occupies an area of . Both Lake Hope and Red Lake are situated within the station boundaries. Established prior to 1889 the property used to be stocked with sheep. In 1889 the owner was James White who sold Mulka along with Canatalkina Run which together occupied an area of and was stocked with 6,000 sheep. George "Poddy" Aiston acquired Mulka in about 1923, he had previously worked as a policeman at Mungerannie after returning from the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

in 1902. By 1925 he had built the Mulka Store near the Mulka Bore along the Birdsville Track. The store was the only one in an area of approximately and carried the broadest range of stock imaginable. The Mulka Store Ruins are listed on the

South Australian Heritage Register The South Australian Heritage Register, also known as the SA Heritage Register, is a statutory register of historic places in South Australia. It extends legal protection regarding demolition and development under the ''Heritage Places Act 1993'' ...

. From 1933 to 1934 the property was struck by drought again with Aiston being unsure if his 1,000 head of cattle were even alive. In late 1934 the property was struck by

dust storm A dust storm, also called a sandstorm, is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Fine particles are transporte ...

s and then rain with the creeks flooding. George Aiston died in 1943 but his wife Mabel remained running the store until 1951. Airmail delivery to remote properties in

outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...

South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland commenced in 1949. Mulka along with other remote properties including Mungerannie, Clifton Hills,

Glengyle Glengyle distillery is a long-established Scotch whisky production centre in Campbeltown, Argyll & Bute, that closed down in 1925. In 2000 it was totally re-planned as the first new Scottish distillery of the millennium. Its single malts are bot ...

, Davenport Downs, Morney Plains, Mount Leonard, Durrie,

Cordillo Downs Cordillo Downs or Cordillo Downs Station is both a pastoral lease currently operating as a cattle station and a formal bounded locality in South Australia. It is located about north of Innamincka and south east of Birdsville. The name and bo ...

, Tanbar, Durham Downs,

Nappa Merrie Nappa Merrie Station, most commonly known as Nappa Merrie, is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in central west Queensland, Australia. Description The property is located north east of Innamincka and south east of Birdsvi ...

, Lake Pure and

Naryilco Naryilco Station also known as Naryilco Downs is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station. Description It is located about north of Tibooburra and south east of Innanincka in the Channel Country of outback Queensland. It consists ...

were also on the route. After Lake Hope was filled by three consecutive floods in 1989, 1990 and 1991 Mulka Station owners Denis Overton and his wife Gabrielle Overton were granted a Fishing Licence in 1991. In 2000 the Fisheries licence for Mulka Station was passed on from Denis Overton to his Brother Gary Overton. Gary Overton got to use his fishing licence to start catching Lake Eyre Golden Perch in the waters of Lake Hope. The licence allows the removal of of Lake Eyre Golden Perch, Welch's Grunter and the Barcoo Grunter but only once the lakes have disconnected from the Cooper Creek after a flood event. In 2012 floodwaters returned allowing Overton to net up to of fish per week which were trucked to

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 ...

, with ice being brought back on the return leg. The station was also stocked with approximately 3,000 head of cattle.

References

{{Reflist Pastoral leases in South Australia Stations (Australian agriculture) Far North (South Australia)

Geography

Climate

History

See also

References