Rawlinna Station is a pastoral lease and sheep station located about east of Kambalda in the Goldfields-Esperance region of

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 ...

. The locality of Rawlinna and the

Trans-Australian Railway The Trans-Australian Railway, opened in 1917, runs from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, crossing the Nullarbor Plain in the process. As the only rail freight corridor between Western Australia and the east ...

are situated along the boundary of the station.

Description

The station occupies an area of about or 2.5 million acres in the remote south east of Western Australia, making it the largest sheep station in Australia. It is owned by the

Jumbuck Pastoral Company The Jumbuck Pastoral Company is an Australian company that operates numerous cattle stations and sheep stations in Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory It is one of the largest landowners in Australia and the biggest wool ...

. The station encompasses part of the

Nullarbor Plain The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of , 'no', and , 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its ...

, so the geology changes from the red dirt of the goldfields to the plain's famous white

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

outcrops. The vegetation changes from

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

s to the east to

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

-resistant shrubs and grasses on the plain.

Feral dog A free-ranging dog is a dog that is not confined to a yard or house. Free-ranging dogs include street dogs, village dogs, stray dogs, feral dogs, etc., and may be owned or unowned. The global dog population is estimated to be 900 million, of ...

s are a problem for graziers on the Nullarbor, so a dog-proof fence was constructed with

marsupial Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a ...

netting at the base; it is in length. A separate block adjoins the fence that is also dog proofed with a solar powered

electric fence An electric fence is a barrier that uses electric shocks to deter people or animals from crossing a boundary. The voltage of the shock may have effects ranging from discomfort to death. Most electric fences are used for agricultural fencing a ...

. Stock are watered from 37 bores in 87 main paddocks, along with other holding paddocks. Some of the bores are deep and are all powered by

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications, in some ...

s. A

homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres *Homestead principle, a legal concept t ...

exists about south west of the railway siding. A huge

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 ...

complex, known as the Depot Outstation, was built in the middle of the property in 1967. The outstation has a 16-stand

shearing shed Shearing sheds (or wool sheds) are large sheds located on sheep stations to accommodate large scale sheep shearing activities. In countries where large numbers of sheep are kept for wool, sometimes many thousands in a flock, shearing sheds a ...

, an overseer's house, shearers' and station hands' accommodation, mess and kitchen facilities.

History

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 right ...

of the land are the

Mirning The Mirning, also known as the Ngandatha, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional lands lay on the coastal region of the Great Australian Bight extending from Western Australia into south-west South Australia. Name ''Mirniŋ'' was ...

, Ngalea and

Wangai Wangkatha, otherwise written Wongatha, Wongutha, Wankatja, Wongi or Wangai, is a language and the identity of eight Aboriginal Australian peoples of the Eastern Goldfields region. The Wangkatja language groups cover the following towns: Coolgar ...

peoples, who have inhabited the area for over 10,000 years.

John Eyre John Eyre may refer to: Politicians *John Eyre (died 1581), Member of Parliament for Wiltshire and Salisbury *John Eyre (died 1639), MP for Cricklade * John Eyre (1659–1709), MP for Galway Borough, son of the above *John Eyre (died 1745), MP for ...

and his companion Wylie passed through the area as they crossed the Nullarbor in the expedition of 1841. Eyre commented that the Nullarbor was "a blot on the face of nature". Established in 1962 by Hugh G. MacLachlan, of the South Australian pastoral family, the station has a short history compared to other properties of its type around Australia. Through the late 20th century the area proved to be prime pastoral and breeding country when seasonal conditions were good. In those days the station held between 40,000 and 60,000 sheep, and annually produced 1100 to 1700

bales Bales is the surname of: * Alison Bales (born 1985), American basketball player * Barry Bales (born 1969), American musician * Billy Bales (born 1929), British former motorcycle speedway racer * Burt Bales (1917–1989), American jazz pianist ...

of wool. In 2001, an amount of 78,417 sheep were shorn for 2177 bales of wool. In 2014 around 53,000 sheep were shorn and 1285 bales of wool. The station had a poor season in 2005, with only of rain falling compared to the average of . By 2006 things had improved, with falling before the onset of winter, guaranteeing that winter grasses would

germinate Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, fer ...

and stock of 32,000 sheep on the property at that stage would have adequate feed. Ross Wood, the station manager, retired in 2007. Wood was the third manager employed at Rawlinna since 1967, the other two being David Seaton and Murray McQuie. The station manager in 2012 was Michael Simons, who had replaced Wood in 2007. Simons started with Jumbuck in 1983 and now runs Rawlinna along with 14 staff. The property is stocked with approximately 60,000 sheep, with wool being sent to

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

for testing and sale. The record number of sheep shorn at Rawlinna is 80,000.

References

External links

* {{Stations of the Goldfields-Esperance Western Australia Pastoral leases in Western Australia Goldfields-Esperance Stations (Australian agriculture) Nullarbor Plain 1962 establishments in Australia

Description

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links