Nonning or Nonning Station is both a pastoral lease and a formal bounded locality in

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 property operates 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 ...

; the name and boundaries of the formal locality were created on 26 April 2013 for the long established local name. It is situated approximately north of Kimba and west of

Iron Knob Iron Knob is a town in the Australian state of South Australia on the Eyre Peninsula immediately south of the Eyre Highway. At the 2006 census, Iron Knob and the surrounding area had a population of 199. The town obtained its name from its prox ...

. The property is at the eastern end of the

Gawler Range The Gawler Ranges are a range of stoney hills in South Australia to the north of Eyre Peninsula. The Eyre Highway skirts the south of the ranges. The Gawler Ranges National Park is in the ranges north of Kimba and Wudinna. The ranges are cover ...

and is bounded to the north by Beacon Hill Station, to the west by Kolendo and Mount Ive, to the south by Uno and to the east by Siam Station. The

traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...

of the Gawler Ranges are the Gugada people. A lease in the area was taken up by Charles Ryan in 1864. Nonning was established by C. H. Leycester in 1864. The lease changed hands many times in the 1860s. In 1868 the property occupied an area of and was equipped with wells and dams and stocked with over 7,000 sheep. Later, Nonning was combined with Kolendo and Coralbignie in the late 1860s with Nonning as the head station. At one stage some 90,000 head of sheep were shorn at Nonning. The lease expired in 1888. Rentals increased in the 1890s and many pastoralists deserted their runs. Eventually rentals were decreased again and McTaggart, Smith and Gooch acquired the lease for Nonning in 1906, and by 1915 McTaggart was the sole owner.

Dorper The Dorper is a South African breed of domestic sheep developed by crossing Dorset Horn and the Blackhead Persian sheep. The breed was created through the efforts of the South African Department of Agriculture to breed a meat sheep suitable to ...

sheep had been introduced to a

merino The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the bree ...

base in 2003. In 2010 the property was awarded organic status. The McTaggart family completed their last shearing in early 2009 and had started running sheep for the production of meat instead of wool. Nonning was supporting about a flock of 30,000 sheep. Nonning Post Office opened in 1867; its closure date is unknown. A primary school also formerly existed at Nonning. Nonning hosts the annual Nonning Gymkhana, organised by the Gawler Ranges Progress Association, to raise money for the

Royal Flying Doctor Service The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an air medical service in Australia. It is a non-profit organisation that provides emergency and primary health care services for those living in rural, remote an ...

. The Coralbignie (Houlderoo) Rocks, located at the southern end of the Nonning locality, 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'' ...

as a designated place of geological significance.

References

{{Reflist Pastoral leases in South Australia Stations (Australian agriculture) 1864 establishments in Australia Eyre Peninsula

See also

References