Roxby Downs Station was 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 central northern

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 land that became Roxby Downs Station is the traditional country of the

Kokatha The Kokatha, also known as the Kokatha Mula, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of South Australia. They speak the Kokatha language, close to or a dialect of the Western Desert language. Country Traditional Kokatha lands extend ov ...

people. After European colonisation, it was part of

Parakylia Parakylia Station is a pastoral lease that once operated as a sheep station but now operates as a cattle station in outback South Australia. Description It is located approximately west of Roxby Downs and south of William Creek. The prope ...

station, or perhaps

Andamooka Station Andamooka Station is a pastoral lease that once operated as a sheep station but now operates as a cattle station in outback South Australia. Description It is located approximately north east of Roxby Downs and west of Lyndhurst. The sta ...

. In about 1910, it became a separate station and was given the name "Roxby Downs" by its initial owner, Norman Richardson, apparently after the town of Roxby, Queensland, from where the first cattle for the station were said to have come. On 10 December 1910, the ''

Adelaide Observer ''The Observer'', previously ''The Adelaide Observer'', was a Saturday newspaper published in Adelaide, South Australia from July 1843 to February 1931. Virtually every issue of the newspaper (under both titles) has been digitised and is availabl ...

'' wrote: "Norman Richardson has the Chance Swamp and the Sister's Well paddock, once a portion of the old Parakylia run, as well as Lake Campbell country, in all an area of 350 square miles. This he has called Roxby Downs..." With the development of the

Olympic Dam mine The Olympic Dam mine is a large poly-metallic underground mine located in South Australia, NNW of Adelaide. It is the fourth largest copper deposit and the largest known single deposit of uranium in the world. Copper is the largest contributor ...

and the associated service town 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 ...

, the station was taken over by

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

, which remains the present owner of the pastoral lease.

References

{{Stations of South Australia Stations (Australian agriculture) Places in the unincorporated areas of South Australia Pastoral leases in South Australia