Yundamindera Station is a pastoral lease and

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 ...

located about north of Kalgoorlie 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 ...

. It is situated next to the Mount Remarkable sheep station and Mount Celia Station. Dr Laver leased the station in 1904 and was struck by the similarity of the area to the Barkly Tableland in

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 , establishe ...

. It was the first pastoral pursuit that was established in the area. The area received of rain in 1910, which is well above average, of the fall coming in January. This resulted in excellent feed and herbage being available to cattle which thrived in the conditions. In 1923 Laver sold the leasehold to Mr T. H. Pearse of Gums Station near

Burra, South Australia Burra is a pastoral centre and historic tourist town in the mid-north of South Australia. It lies east of the Clare Valley in the Bald Hills range, part of the northern Mount Lofty Ranges, and on Burra Creek. The town began as a single company ...

. At the time the station was stocked with approximately 1,400 head of cattle. Pearse also took up the lease of neighbouring Mount Celia Station to have a total holding of about . Pearse then stocked the station with

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 ...

imported from South Australia, which thrived in the area, resulting in heavy lambing in 1924. Within a year of fencing the property, over 100 dingoes were killed within the fences, mostly by poisoning.

Kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern ...

s continued to be a problem with the destruction of fences but rabbits were not being reported as a big pest. Two Aboriginal prospectors tried their luck in an abandoned shaft located just within the station's gates in 1933. The pair found a formation about in length and bearing over to the ton of

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

. The station stockmen often had lunch at the bottom of the shaft to escape the heat of the day. In 1934 the station secured an additional 101

merino The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the bree ...

rams bred at the Koonoona stud out of Kooringa. The area around the station received very heavy rainfall in February 1942 when 490 points or of rain fell over the course of a week. A

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pe ...

of mice swept over the area in 1943 and neighbouring stations reporting that it was a full-time job keeping the wells clear, with many being covered in of dead and dying mice. In 1950 the station held about 11,500 sheep and produced a yield of 328 bales of wool. The station received poor rains in 1952, about half the yearly average of 460 points compared with 887 points. Over 600 sheep were taken from the station in 1953 and trucked to Cashmere Downs Station, whose manager Mr J Bradshaw was in the process of restocking. Yundamindera is currently owned by

Minara Resources Minara Resources Pty Ltd is one of the major mining companies of Australia, specializing in the mining of cobalt and nickel. It is one of the top ten nickel mines in Australia. It is wholly owned by the Swiss commodities trading firm, Glencore ...

, along with three other nearby properties: Glenorn,

Nambi Nambi is a pastoral lease and sheep station located about north east of Leonora and south east of Leinster in the Goldfields of Western Australia. The station was established in 1899. The property was owned by the Leonora Pastoral company ...

and Minara Stations. In 2017 Glenorn and Nambi were running approximately 4000 head of cattle; Yundamindera and Minara are both running approximately 2500 head of cattle. By 2018 all four stations were successfully running herds of cattle.

References

{{Stations of the Goldfields-Esperance Western Australia Homesteads in Western Australia Pastoral leases in Western Australia Goldfields-Esperance Stations (Australian agriculture) 1904 establishments in Australia

See also

References