Ningaloo Station is 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 ...

located in the

Gascoyne The Gascoyne region is one of the nine administrative regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northwest of Western Australia, and consists of the local government areas of Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Gasc ...

region of

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 ...

about north of Coral Bay. It is bordered to the north by

Cape Range National Park Cape Range National Park is a national park in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia, north of Perth. The park occupies the western side of the North West Cape peninsula over an area of . The nearest town is Exmouth. Directly off the coast i ...

. The station has an area of approximately and offers accommodation to travellers to the area in the form of camp-sites. The station is located adjacent to

Ningaloo Reef The Ningaloo Coast is a World Heritage Site located in the north west coastal region of Western Australia. The heritage-listed area is located approximately north of Perth, along the East Indian Ocean. The distinctive Ningaloo Reef that fring ...

, as are

to the north and Gnaraloo Station and Warroora Station to the south. Operating since at least 1919, the station produced at least 33 bales of wool in that year. The station was operated as a partnership between Herbert William Cope, Douglas Black and Leslie Leon Grant Black. Receiving good falls of rain, by June, in 1923 the land contained excellent feed and lambing was heavy. A new machine

shearing shed 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 ...

and quarters were constructed using materials from the

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

''Geraldton'' that were landed in May. Fire broke out at the station early in November but was quickly brought under control with only minimal damage occurring. Later that year over 9,000 sheep were shorn and 215 bales of wool were produced by a shearing team of seven men over the course of three weeks; this was a record clip for the station. The wool was collected by ''Geraldton'' and shipped to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. Over 1,200 sheep were removed from the station in 1924 and droved overland by Mr Cope to the port at Carnarvon over a period of 25 days. Although water was only available every second day only a dozen sheep were lost and the flock reached the port in excellent condition. Later the same year 10,100 sheep were shorn at the station, yielding 175 bales of wool; 3,000 lambs were also shorn, yielding an additional 30 bales. Cope dissolved the partnership with the Blacks when he decided to retire in June 1924; the Blacks then took over sole ownership of the property. The station had good falls of rain in 1927 and the country was reported as looking the best for five years, with good feed available. In all of rain fell between March and July, but shearing was expected to be poor with only 1000 lambs around due to the poor conditions from the previous years. 3,490 sheep were sold off from the station at the

Midland Junction Midland is a suburb in the Perth metropolitan region, as well as the regional centre for the City of Swan local government area that covers the Swan Valley and parts of the Darling Scarp to the east. It is situated at the intersection of Gr ...

sale yards in 1929. The Blacks sold the station in June 1937 to F. Lefroy and M. McBolt, who took possession of the property immediately. Ningaloo and other nearby stations, including

Wooramel Station Wooramel Station is a pastoral lease and sheep station located east of Denham, Western Australia, Denham and south east of Carnarvon, Western Australia, Carnarvon in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The property occupies an area of ...

, suffered from extensive damage from flooding following the passing of the remnants of a

cyclone In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an anti ...

over the area in 1945. The area received heavy rains in 1953 with Ningaloo being deluged with 303 points of rain overnight. Surrounding stations received falls of up to . In 2008 there was a rally of over 300 people to protest against the Department of Environment and Conservation move to take over the management of camping along the station's pristine coastline. The Lefroy family, who have held the lease on the station for over 70 years, were shocked at only being given five days to hand over management of its camp-sites. The state government also plans to extend its removal of the station coastline by , covering an area of .

References

{{Stations of the Gascoyne Western Australia Homesteads in Western Australia Shire of Exmouth Pastoral leases in Western Australia Stations (Australian agriculture)

See also

References