Parakylia 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 ...

that 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 ...

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 ...

Description

It is located approximately west of

Roxby Downs Roxby Downs may refer to. * Roxby Downs, South Australia, a town and a locality * Roxby Council, formerly Municipal Council of Roxby Downs, a local government area See also *Roxby Downs Station Roxby Downs Station was a pastoral lease in centra ...

and south of William Creek. The property shares boundaries with Mount Eba, Billa Kalina and Millers Creek Stations to the north, Mount Vivian to the west and Roxby Downs Station to the south and east. It is also situated within the

Woomera Rocket Range The RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC) is a major Australian military and civil aerospace facility and operation located in South Australia, approximately north-west of Adelaide. The WRC is operated by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), a di ...

, and the Dingo Fence passes through the property. The country is composed of open tablelands vegetated with

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. ...

, cottonbush,

myall Myalls are any of a group of closely related and very similar species of ''Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it ...

, mulga and

sandalwood Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus ''Santalum''. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods for us ...

. The area is interspersed with sand ridges, but has several

ephemeral Ephemerality (from the Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, fr ...

creeks and some swamp areas that hold some surface water.

History

The name of the property is a corruption of 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 ...

' word ''parakilia'' which is used to describe the succulent annual portulacaceous plants, of the genus Calandrinia that are found in the area. The station was established at some time prior to 1880; in this year it was placed on the market and was stocked with 30,000 sheep. Occupying an area of , the run adjoined Mount Eba, Arcoona and Andamooka Stations. By 1884 the property was stocked with 15,000 sheep, 800 cattle, 100 horses and had purchased 40 camels for the transportation of supplies. The property was initially established by Andrew Wooldridge, who obtained the lease for a vast tract of land including Parakylia and

Arcoona Arcoona or Arcoona Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a sheep station. It is located about north east of Woomera in the outback of South Australia, The station occupies an area of . The station was founded prior to 1880 and was own ...

Stations. In 1880 the property was stocked with 30,000 sheep and occupied an area of , and was sold to Thomas and Charles Chewings. Charles William Bowman joined the partnership late then Charles Chewings retired from the enterprise in 1882. A

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

was situated on the station between 1884 and 1898.

Shearing Sheep shearing is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. The person who removes the sheep's wool is called a '' shearer''. Typically each adult sheep is shorn once each year (a sheep may be said to have been "shorn" or ...

in 1894 expected between 35,000 and 50,000 sheep to be shorn. By 1899 the run was abandoned after problems with

dingo The dingo (''Canis familiaris'', ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient (Basal (phylogenetics), basal) lineage of dog found in Australia (continent), Australia. Its taxonomic classification is de ...

s attacking stock. By 1901 the lease was still unlet but under a caretaker; the property encompassed an area of . Good rains fell later that year and there was plenty of feed available, stock was reintroduced and the next year shearing recommenced. By 1908 the property occupied an area of approximately and was stocked with 10,000 sheep. F and M Collins owned Parakylia in 1912 and were selling both wool and bullocks to local markets. By 1915 the property was unoccupied again and open for application. The property was on the market in 1923, when it was owned by Joseph Timms, at which time it had an area of . It had been subdivided into 23 paddocks and was enclosed by a mix of five- and six-wire fences, but was passed in at £10,760. Parakylia Pty. Ltd. was formed in 1927 to acquire the property. The company was established with £60,000 capital. In 1954 the executors of the trustees advertised for a manager to run Parakylia, which was stocked with 14,000 sheep. The land occupying the extent of the Parakylia pastoral lease was gazetted by the Government of South Australia as a locality in April 2013 under the name "Parakylia".

References

{{Coord, 30.4046, S, 136.3876, E, type:landmark_region:AU-SA, display=title Stations (Australian agriculture) Pastoral leases in South Australia Far North (South Australia)