Wondoola or Wondoola Station, often misspelt as Woondoola, is a pastoral lease that 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 ...

. It is located about south of Normanton and west of

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. The property occupies an area of of Queensland's

Gulf country The Gulf Country is the region of woodland and savanna grassland surrounding the Gulf of Carpentaria in north western Queensland and eastern Northern Territory on the north coast of Australia. The region is also called the Gulf Savannah. It ...

and is able to carry a herd of approximately 23,000 cattle. It is currently owned by 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 ...

. The property takes its name from Wondoola Creek, a tributary of the Saxby River, both of which run through the property. The Saxby provides of double frontage to Wondoola then goes on to flow into the

Flinders River The Flinders River is the longest river in Queensland, Australia, at approximately . It was named in honour of the explorer Matthew Flinders. The catchment is sparsely populated and mostly undeveloped. The Flinders rises on the western slopes ...

to which the station has a frontage. These watercourses offer permanent waterholes available to stock. The station was established prior to 1880 but was advertised in February of that year to be auctioned in April. At that time, the property adjoined

Iffley Iffley is a village in a designated Conservation Area in Oxfordshire, England. It lies within the boundaries of the city of Oxford, between Cowley and the estates of Rose Hill and Donnington, and in proximity to the River Thames (Isis). A nota ...

, Taldora, Tempe Downs and other well known properties. The station was grazing

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

and had a flock of approximately 5,300 grazing its seven blocks of ''fine rolling downs and open plains country, alternating with sound well-grassed sand ridges'' and having a total area of . The plains were clothed in

Mitchell grass ''Astrebla'' is a small genus of xerophytic (adapted to survive in an environment with little liquid water) grasses found only in Australia. They are the dominant grass across much of the continent. They are commonly known as Mitchell grass afte ...

, blue grass and had an abundance of

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. ...

and other herbage. The

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 th ...

, plant, stores and 20 horses were included in the property. By 1891 the property was owned by Messrs Haydon and Loughnan and was carrying about 7,000 head of cattle amongst which there were many well known Lee bulls. The area suffered from a

tick Ticks (order Ixodida) are parasitic arachnids that are part of the mite superorder Parasitiformes. Adult ticks are approximately 3 to 5 mm in length depending on age, sex, species, and "fullness". Ticks are external parasites, living by ...

plague amongst the cattle in 1895. At least 1,200 bullocks were infested and suffering from tick fever, they were cut from the herd, inoculated and square tailed and sent off to

Cunnamulla Cunnamulla () is a town and a locality in the Shire of Paroo, Queensland, Australia. It is south of Charleville, and approximately west of the state capital, Brisbane. In the , Cunnamulla had a population of 1,140 people. Geography Cunnamulla ...

. About 30 stragglers died from tick fever or

pleuropneumonia Pleuropneumonia is inflammation of the lungs and pleura, pleurisy being the inflammation of the pleura alone. See also * Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia – a disease in cattle * Contagious caprine pleuropneumonia Contagious caprine pleurop ...

. In January 1903, the station was sold along with Vena Park station to Messrs Collins and sons. In June of the same year, the property was taken over by the

Queensland National Bank The Queensland National Bank is a former bank in Queensland, Australia. History In 1872, the bank was established in Brisbane. In December 1914, the bank had its head office in Brisbane with branches throughout Queensland at Allora, Aramac, A ...

who promptly sold it to D. C. McConnell and sons for an undisclosed price. They onsold the property almost immediately to Mr Alison, a

squatter Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

from

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, for a large profit. The station had between 12,000 and 13,000 cattle on it at the time. An aircraft landing ground was built at the property in 1941 for landing

RAAF "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

aircraft during World War II. While landing occurred infrequently, no RAAF unit was ever quartered in the area. The property was managed for AACo. by Henry Burke from 1988 to 1997; he then took on the much larger

Brunette Downs Station Brunette Downs Station, mostly referred to as Brunette Downs, is a pastoral lease operating as a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia. Location Brunette Downs Station is located in the Northern Territory about north-eas ...

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 ...

. Both Wondoola and

Canobie Station Canobie Station, often just referred to as Canobie, is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station. It is located about north of Cloncurry and south west of Croydon in Queensland. The property occupies an area of of Queensland's Gulf ...

are being explored for

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow to ...

deposits by a joint partnership between Anglo American and Falcon minerals. The development is known as the Saxby project and further drilling was to occur in 2009.

References

{{Coord, 18.57282, S, 140.89699, E, type:landmark_region:AU-WA, display=title Stations (Australian agriculture) Pastoral leases in Queensland North West Queensland