Erythrura gouldiae -Frankfurt Zoo -black headed-8a-3cp

Newry 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 the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

of Australia. It adjoins the Territory's border with

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 ...

and is operated 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 ...

by the

Consolidated Pastoral Company The Consolidated Pastoral Company (CPC) is a large, privately owned, Australian Agrifood business which operates 8 cattle stations covering over 3.6m hectares, managing more than 300,000 cattle, in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Q ...

(CPC).

Description

The station contains black soil, forest and stony ridge country. It carries 15,000 head of cattle, turning off 4,000 head of weaner steers and spayed heifers annually. The cattle are trucked to

Argyle Downs Argyle Downs is a pastoral lease and cattle station located about south east of Kununurra in the Kimberley region near the border of Western Australia and Northern Territory. It is operated by the Consolidated Pastoral Company. Descriptio ...

, operated by the same company, eventually entering the

live export Live export is the commercial transport of livestock across national borders. The trade involves a number of countries with the Australian live export industry being one of the largest exporters in the global trade. According to the Australian ...

trade to

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

n markets.CPC Properties: Newry. The property bounded to the east by

Auvergne Station Auvergne Station often just referred to as Auvergne is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia. Location It is located about west of Timber Creek and east of Kununurra, in the Northern Terr ...

History

Named after the Irish port of

Newry Newry (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Clanrye river in counties Armagh and Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry was founded in 1144 alongside a Cistercian monastery, althoug ...

, the property was first taken up in 1886, with a homestead built on the banks of the

Keep River The Keep River is a river located in the Victoria Bonaparte bioregion of Western Australia and the Northern Territory in Australia. Location and features The river rises just south of the Newry Station homestead then flows in a northerly dir ...

. Cattle were introduced after the lease was bought by pastoralist

Patrick Durack Patrick Durack (March 1834 – 20 January 1898) was a pastoral pioneer in Western Australia. His family were struggling tenant farmers from Magherareagh near Scarriff in County Clare, Ireland, who moved from Ireland to New South Wales in 1853. ...

who spent two years

droving Droving is the practice of walking livestock over long distances. It is a type of herding. Droving stock to market—usually on foot and often with the aid of dogs—has a very long history in the Old World. An owner might entrust an agent to deli ...

a herd of 7,000 cattle and horses 5,000 km across northern Australia to the

Ord River The Ord River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The river's catchment covers . The lower Ord River and the conjunction with Cambridge Gulf create the most northern estuarine environment in Western Australia. The Ord ...

region where they established several cattle stations. By 1901 the station, along with Argyle and Auvergne, was carrying about 45,000 head of cattle. The property remained with the Durack family until 1950 when it was sold to the

Australian Agricultural Company The Australian Agricultural Company (AACo) () is a public-listed Australian company that, as at 2018, owned and operated feedlots and farms covering around of land in Queensland and the Northern Territory, roughly one percent of Australia's la ...

. AAC introduced

Santa Gertrudis cattle The Santa Gertrudis is an American list of cattle breeds, breed of beef cattle. It is a taurine-indicine hybrid breed, descended from both zebu and European cattle. It was bred in the early twentieth century in Texas, and received official recog ...

, before achieving better results through crossing

Brahmans Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru o ...

with

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

Shorthorn The Shorthorn breed of cattle originated in the North East of England in the late eighteenth century. The breed was developed as dual-purpose, suitable for both dairy and beef production; however, certain blood lines within the breed always emp ...

s. In 1986 it was bought by the Baines River Cattle Company. It was eventually purchased, along with other properties, by CPC in 1992. A deposit of rare zebra rock was found on the station in 2011, which was mined by the Kimberley Stone company. Employing a workforce of two, the company used low impact mining to extract the stone for local markets. In June 2017, the company announced it would be closing operations in order to protect the site for future generations.

Conservation

Much of the pastoral lease lies within the

Keep River Important Bird Area The Keep River Important Bird Area is a tract of land on the upper Keep River straddling the border between Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It lies at an altitude of to and is about south-west of Darwin and east of Kununurr ...

, so classified because of the importance of its habitats for conservation of the

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

Gouldian finch The Gouldian finch (''Chloebia gouldiae''), also known as the Lady Gouldian finch, Gould's finch or the rainbow finch, is a colourful passerine bird that is native to Australia. Taxonomy The Gouldian finch was described by British ornithologi ...

. A 400 ha site within the property – the Newry Station Gouldian finch site – is listed on Australia's

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 ...

.BirdLife International (2011).

References

Notes

Sources