Murnpeowie or Murnpeowie 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 ...

in outback South Australia. The pastoral lease once operated as a sheep station but now operates as a cattle station. The land occupying the extent of the pastoral lease was gazetted as a locality by the Government of South Australia on 26 April 2013 with the name "Murnpeowie". It is located approximately east of Marree and north east of Lyndhurst. The area is composed of gibber plains that support dense stands Mitchell grass and saltbush. The unusual name is

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

in origin and means ''place of the

bronzewing pigeon The bronzewing pigeons are a group of pigeons native to Australia which have distinctive iridescent wing patches that appear bronze or green-brown in dull light, but flash in many bright colours in the sun as the bird moves. Three species are alw ...

''. Leases in the area were taken up by John Baker in 1857 with more added through the 1860s. Baker was surrounded by leases held by Thomas Elder. When Baker died in 1872, Elder consolidated all of the runs into a single entity of approximately named Blanchewater Horse Station, with a carrying capacity of 20,000 head. The homestead was constructed in the 1880s, the woolshed in 1890. Both buildings had stone walls and round iron roofs. By 1894 the station was shearing 106,000 sheep, yielding 2,400 bales of wool. In 1909 a total of 120,000 sheep were shorn at Murnpeowie. The Blanchewater Homestead Ruins are listed on both the South Australian Heritage Register and the former

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heritag ...

. Boundary riders at the station discovered a meteorite in 1910. The stone was thought to be a rock until the men struck it with a hammer and were amazed by the bell-like sound they heard. A small sample was sent to the School of Mines for analysis and once confirmed the meteorite was donated. In 1920 the property was carrying 90,000 sheep. By 1924 the station was approximately in size and was stocked with about 70,000 sheep. By 1935 the was carrying 60,000 sheep. The area was struck by drought and then huge dust storms in 1952. The property was purchased in 1998 by David and Nell Brook who have stocked the property with Poll-

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

cattle. The family holdings are certified organic and include

Adria Downs Adria Downs Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the outback of Queensland. It is situated approximately west of Birdsville bordering the Simpson Desert National Park. The Georgina River flows through the property ...

and

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 ...

stations, encompassing a total area of . Murnpeowie meteorite 10102015

IBRA biogeographic subregion

''Murnpeowie'' is also the name of an

IBRA The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) is a biogeographic regionalisation of Australia developed by the Australian government's Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population, and Communities. It was devel ...

subregion (STP03), an area of in the

Stony Plains Stony Plains, an interim Australian bioregion, comprises , and is part of two state/territories of Australia: the Northern Territory and South Australia.

IBRA biogeographic region.Commonwealth Government of Australia (2012)

References

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

IBRA biogeographic subregion

See also

References