Mundabullangana is a settlement in

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 ...

, located approximately 100 km south-west of

Port Hedland A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

. It is the site of a 225,000 hectare cattle station. Mundabullangana is more commonly known as Munda Station. In 1872, brothers Roderick Louden MacKay and Donald McDonald MacKay, then their younger brother Donald MacKay and his son,

Samuel Peter Mackay Samuel Peter Mackay (1864 – 11 May 1923) was a pastoralist and businessman in Western Australia. His parents were pioneers from Ben Mohr Estate, Snizort, Isle of Skye, Inverness-shire, who emigrated with their parents, perhaps to Victo ...

, took up a tract of country on the

Yule River The Yule River is an ephemeral river in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It was named on 10 August 1861 by the surveyor and explorer Frank Gregory while on expedition in the area, after Thomas Newte Yule, at times farmer of Toodyay, w ...

, where there was a good pool of permanent water, bearing the Aboriginal name ''Mundabullangana''. Although for most of its history Mundabullangana was predominantly a sheep station, in 1985, long after it passed out of the MacKay family, it was destocked in favour of cattle. The station originally occupied an area of and by 1903, following the death of his father, Samuel Mackay became the sole owner of the station. Mundabullangana Station is significant in the occupation of the north-west of Western Australia as the first pastoral lease taken up by European settlers in the Yule and Turner River areas, in the 1870s. It became one of the largest and most successful enterprises of its kind in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and its pastoral use continued through the twentieth century, and into the twenty-first century. In 1898 the station recorded of rain following a cyclone in the area. The

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Isl ...

workers on the station said the Yule River ran higher than ever before as a result of the deluge. In 1925 the property was sold by the MacKay estate for £87,000, when it occupied an area of and was stocked with 35,000 sheep and 190 horses. It was acquired by the Craig brothers, who also owned Portree, Yalbago, Wandina and

Maroonah Maroonah Station, often referred to as Maroonah, is a pastoral lease that operates as a sheep station. It is located about east of Coral Bay and south of Onslow in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Maroonah occupies an area of an ...

Stations. The homestead at Mundabullangana Station is a good example of Victorian Georgian style architecture. On 2 March 1984, Mundabullangana homestead was entered on the Register of the National Estate. The nomination lapsed, and it was removed from the Register on 14 May 1991. The lessee in 2015 was Michael Thompson, who also grazes his cattle on neighbouring

Boodarie Station Boodarie Station is a pastoral lease that was once a sheep station but now operates as a cattle station in Western Australia. It is located approximately south west of Port Hedland A port is a maritime facility comprising on ...

. Following a series of incidences of

poaching Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...

and arson in 2015 costing Thompson $100,000, he closed the gates to Mundabullangana and employed guards to keep the public out.

References

External links

Map of Mundabullangana
{{Stations of the Pilbara Western Australia Pastoral leases in Western Australia Stations (Australian agriculture) 1872 establishments in Australia State Register of Heritage Places in the Town of Port Hedland

See also

References

External links