Yardea Station is a pastoral lease in the Australian state of

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 ...

that operates 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 ...

, now within the

Gawler Ranges National Park Gawler Ranges National Park is a protected area lying north-west of Adelaide in the northern Eyre Peninsula of South Australia. It is known for its spectacular rock formations. History The national park originated as the Paney Station pas ...

. Paney Station became part of Yardea Station in 1904. It is situated approximately north east of

Minnipa Minnipa is a small town serving the local grain growing community located on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula. History The Nauo were the indigenous people of the area of Minnipa prior to English colonisation and the area around the town was fi ...

and west of

Iron Knob Iron Knob is a town in the Australian state of South Australia on the Eyre Peninsula immediately south of the Eyre Highway. At the 2006 census, Iron Knob and the surrounding area had a population of 199. The town obtained its name from its prox ...

in the

Gawler Ranges The Gawler Ranges are a range of stoney hills in South Australia to the north of Eyre Peninsula. The Eyre Highway skirts the south of the ranges. The Gawler Ranges National Park is in the ranges north of Kimba, South Australia, Kimba and Wudinna ...

History

The land occupied by the station is on the traditional lands 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 ...

, Wirangu and

Barngarla The Barngarla, formerly known as Parnkalla and also known as Pangkala, are an Aboriginal people of the Port Lincoln, Whyalla and Port Augusta areas. The Barngarla are the traditional owners of much of Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. Languag ...

peoples. There was once an Aboriginal camp, including a

freshwater spring A spring is a point of exit at which groundwater from an aquifer flows out on top of Earth's crust (pedosphere) and becomes surface water. It is a component of the hydrosphere. Springs have long been important for humans as a source of fres ...

later used as the station's water source, and they maintained and used

rock hole A panhole is a depression or basin eroded into flat or gently sloping cohesive rock.Twidale, C.R., and Bourne, J.A., 2018''Rock basins (gnammas) revisited. ''Géomorphologie: Relief, Processus, Environnement, Articles sous presse, Varia, mis en l ...

s in the

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

rock formations as a water source. Yardea was established at some time prior to 1865, and was the first property taken up in the Gawler Ranges, with

Hiltaba Hiltaba Nature Reserve is located in the north of the Eyre Peninsula on the western edge of the Gawler Ranges, South Australia. It is situated on a former pastoral lease known as Hiltaba, or Hiltaba Station, that had operated as a sheep stati ...

and Paney following soon afterwards. At one time an estimated 80–90,000 sheep were shorn there. The homestead complex of buildings dates back to the 1860s. In 1865, the station overseer, John Edmondson, was lost in the bush. A

meteorite A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the ...

fell on the property in 1972. A police camp was established at Yardea in 1871–2 after being transferred from the nearby

Paney Station Yardea Station is a pastoral lease in the Australian state of South Australia that operates as a sheep station, now within the Gawler Ranges National Park. Paney Station became part of Yardea Station in 1904. It is situated approximately nort ...

homestead, with a stone building constructed in 1873 to house the two police troopers. The police were withdrawn from the property in 1885, and the building was converted into a post office and

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

station. After the direct telegraph link to

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 ...

was established in 1903, it became a

repeater In telecommunications, a repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal and retransmits it. Repeaters are used to extend transmissions so that the signal can cover longer distances or be received on the other side of an obstruction. Some ...

station. By 1881 the property was owned by Main, Sells and Company, in which year it is recorded they sold 750 head of cattle and 7,000 wethers to A. Wooldridge of

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 ...

Station. In 1882 Main and Sells placed Yardea up for auction along with

Wilgena Station Wilgena Station, commonly known as simply Wilgena, is a pastoral lease that operates as a sheep station in outback South Australia. It is situated about north east of Ceduna and south of Coober Pedy. The Trans-Australian Railway line passes ...

. At that time, Yardea occupied an area of and was stocked with 54,000 sheep. In the early 1890s, the pastoral lease over Yardea expired. The run was deserted from that time. By 1901 the lease was still abandoned like many others in the area, but did have a caretaker. At this time the property was said to encompass an area of only . The Station remained unlet until it was re-established by Andrew Tennant and James Moseley in 1904. James Moseley also acquired Paney Station, and made Paney Station part of Yardea Station. In 1916, the property, now consisting of , was sold to A.J. and P.A McBride after much improving of the property, for a sum of £72,000. At this time it was stocked with 40,000 sheep. In 1926, the McBrides cut the property into five blocks and sold three blocks by auction to Harry Bouily, and the other two to T. H. MacKay & Son of Thurlga Station.

21st century

The site of the old Yardea police station and

telegraph station Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

is a few hundred metres to the east of the homestead. Yardea water, between the homestead buildings and the telegraph station, was an Aboriginal

until the 1860s, now the main source of station water. In 2000, the State Government purchased the part of Yardea that had been Paney Station and converted it to

Locality

The land occupying the extent of the Yardea pastoral lease was gazetted as a locality on 26 April 2013 under the name "Yardea".

Solar eclipses

Yardea will see four

total solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six month ...

s in the 21st century, on 4 December 2002, 25 November 2030, 26 December 2038, and 31 May 2068.

References

{{Stations of South Australia Pastoral leases in South Australia Stations (Australian agriculture) Eyre Peninsula Far North (South Australia)

History

21st century

Locality

Solar eclipses

See also

References