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 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 pastoral lease 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 now 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 ...

. 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 A desert pavement, also called reg (in the western Sahara), serir (eastern Sahara), gibber (in Australia), or saï (central Asia) is a desert surface covered with closely packed, interlocking angular or rounded rock fragments of pebble and cobbl ...

plains that support dense stands

Mitchell grass ''Astrebla'' is a small genus of xerophytic (adapted to survive in an environment with little liquid water) grasses found only in Australia. They are the dominant grass across much of the continent. They are commonly known as Mitchell grass afte ...

and

saltbush Saltbush is a vernacular plant name that most often refers to ''Atriplex'', a genus of about 250 plants distributed worldwide from subtropical to subarctic regions. ''Atriplex'' species are native to Australia, North and South America, and Eurasia. ...

. 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 Sir Thomas Elder, (5 August 1818 – 6 March 1897), was a Scottish-Australian pastoralist, highly successful businessman, philanthropist, politician, race-horse owner and breeder, and public figure. Amongst many other things, he is notable fo ...

. 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 Shearing sheds (or wool sheds) are large sheds located on sheep stations to accommodate large scale sheep shearing activities. In countries where large numbers of sheep are kept for wool, sometimes many thousands in a flock, shearing sheds ar ...

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 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'' ...

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 A school of mines (or mining school) is an engineering school, often established in the 18th and 19th centuries, that originally focused on mining engineering and applied science. Most have been integrated within larger constructs such as minera ...

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 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 ...

and then huge

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 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 Organic certification is a certification process for producers of organic food and other organic agricultural products, in the European Union more commonly known as ecological or biological products.Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/ ...

and include Adria Downs 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