Owen Springs Station, now known as Owen Springs Reserve is a former pastoral station and now a nature reserve west of

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

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. The Hugh River and Waterhouse Range run through the reserve. It also features the first pastoral homestead built in

Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Australia. In its narrowest sense it describes a region that is limited to the town of Alice Springs and i ...

History

Aranda people The Arrernte () people, sometimes referred to as the Aranda, Arunta or Arrarnta, are a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the Arrernte lands, at ''Mparntwe'' (Alice Springs) and surrounding areas of the Central Australia regi ...

have lived on Owen Springs Station and adjoining land for thousands of years. Explorer

John McDouall Stuart John McDouall Stuart (7 September 18155 June 1866), often referred to as simply "McDouall Stuart", was a Scottish explorer and one of the most accomplished of all Australia's inland explorers. Stuart led the first successful expedition to tra ...

's route through Central Australia passed through Owen Springs during his early 1860s expeditions. The Australian Overland Telegraph Line originally followed his track through Lawrence Gorge in the Waterhouse Range. William Gilbert drove 1000 head of cattle from Adelaide to the

MacDonnell Ranges The MacDonnell Ranges, or Tjoritja in Arrernte, is a mountain range located in southern Northern Territory. MacDonnell Ranges is also the name given to an interim Australian bioregion broadly encompassing the mountain range, with an area of .< ...

in 1872, with Ted Bagot (1848–1881) and his foster-brother James Churchill-Smith (1851–1922). It was considered to be one of the great droving feats in Australian pastoral history. Gilbert obtained the lease for Owen Springs station in 1873, appointing Archie Conway as manager. The station was stocked with cattle and horses and two log huts were constructed. The first hut was completed by 7 August 1873 and the other was nearly completed. These timber buildings were the earliest buildings to be constructed in Central Australia. He sold the station after the death of his father to Sir Thomas Elder in 1886, who attempted to breed horses for the Indian Army. After sustaining significant losses, Elder was forced to sell Owen Springs in 1894, inclusive of the stock to an unidentified stock and station agent. The following year a consortium comprising Charles Gall, Allen Breaden and Sir Sidney Kidman purchased the station. From 1896 to 1901, Kidman and his brother Sack mustered horses off Owen Springs and sold them into southern markets before abandoning the station. Dennis White, a bushman who formed part of Peter Warburton's exploration team, committed suicide at Owen Springs Station in 1898. In 1905, Norman Richardson purchased both Owen Springs and Undoolya Station. William Hayes (1827–1913) purchased numerous blocks, including Owen Springs between in 1903 and 1907. The Hayes family then sold Owen Springs to Hurtle and Tom Kidman, nephews of

Sidney Kidman Sir Sidney Kidman (9 May 18572 September 1935), known as Sid Kidman and popularly named "the Cattle King", was an Australian pastoral farming, pastoralist and entrepreneur who owned or co-owned large areas of land in Australia in his lifetime. ...

in 1930 only to purchase them back in 1937. William's son Edward and his new bride Jean (née Bloomfield) took on the management of the property.

Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP – also known as lung plague), is a contagious bacterial disease that afflicts the lungs of cattle, buffalo, zebu, and yaks. It is caused by the bacterium ''Mycoplasma mycoides'', and the symptoms are pneu ...

was inoculated on the property in 1950. In 1992, of land was excised from the pastoral lease to create the site for the penal facility now known as the

Alice Springs Correctional Centre The Alice Springs Correctional Centre, an Australian medium to maximum security prison for males and females, is located outside Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia. The centre is managed by Northern Territory Correctional Services, an ...

. Owen Springs was owned by the Hayes family until the death in 1999 of Mrs Elizabeth Milnes, the daughter of Edward Hayes.

Nature Reserve

Owen Springs opened as a nature reserve in April 2003 and is now managed by the

Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory __NOTOC__ Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory (also known as the ''Parks and Wildlife Division'' in some sources) is the Northern Territory Government agency responsible for tasks including the establishment of "parks, reserv ...

. The homestead and yards were listed on the

Northern Territory Heritage Register The Northern Territory Heritage Register is a heritage register, being a statutory list of places in the Northern Territory of Australia that are protected by the Northern Territory statute, the ''Heritage Act 2011''. The register is maintained b ...

under the name Old Owen Springs Homestead and Yards on 3 November 2004. Conservation works were completed the homestead during the years 2011 and 2012.

References

{{reflist, 30em

External links

Owen Springs Official Website
Pastoral leases in the Northern Territory 1873 establishments in Australia

History

Nature Reserve

See also

References

External links