Minilya Station, most often referred to as Minilya, is 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 ...

currently operating 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 stat ...

that once operated 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 ...

in the

Gascoyne The Gascoyne region is one of the nine administrative regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northwest of Western Australia, and consists of the local government areas of Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Ga ...

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 t ...

. The property is situated approximately south of Coral Bay and north of Carnarvon.

History

Charles Brockman advertised to sell Minilya in 1882 when it had an area of . Stocked with 4,000 sheep, 40 cattle and horses the run was described as open grassy country with areas 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 milkbush country. A large portion was well timbered and the run was well watered by clay pans, natural springs and North Brook. An estimated of Minilya is situated along the coast and is bordered by

Warroora Warroora or Warroora Station is a pastoral lease that once operated as a sheep station and is now operating as a cattle station in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The property offers eco friendly accommodation to tourists with visito ...

Station. The entire property was estimated to have a carrying capacity of 70,000 sheep. Minilya later was passed onto Brockman's brother,

Julius The gens Julia (''gēns Iūlia'', ) was one of the most prominent patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic. The first of the family to obtain the ...

, who put on the market in 1894. At this time Minilya encompassed an area of and was stocked with 22,000 sheep and 50 horses. Minilya was divided into eight main paddocks which were mostly fenced and watered by tanks, wells and dams. A substantial five-bedroom homestead had been built along with outbuildings including a kitchen, stables, store, dairy and meat house. A new iron shearing shed along with a Farrer wool press, holding yards for 10,000 sheep and accommodation for 25 shearers were also included. It was later acquired by pastoralist and politician Donald Norman McLeod in 1899. By 1911 McLeod had a flock of 42,684 sheep running at Minilya and shearing produced 954 bales of wool. McLeod died in 1914 and he property was left to his second son, Guy McLeod. Heavy rain during two months in 1918 (the property recorded ) caused the

Minilya River The Minilya River is a river in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. Location and features The headwaters of the river rise in the south-west of the Black Range and flows in a generally westerly direction, joined by three minor tributarie ...

to flood, isolating the homestead. In 1925 over 58,724 sheep were shorn at Minilya. The property had grown in size and in 1925 occupied an area of . Lady Moulden from

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 ...

bought a one third share of Minilya in 1933 for £22,000. The other partners were J. F. McLeod and D. G. McLeod, both of whom each had a third share. The property encompassed an area of in 1933 and had of reticulation pipe laid down and was supporting a flock of 54,000 sheep. Following a period of

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 ...

about 10,000 sheep were sold off from the property and in 1937 a flock of 27,991 produced 768 bales of wool. A total of 830 bales of wool were produced in 1940 from the 33,511 sheep that were shorn. The property supported a flock of about 33,000 sheep in 1954 and occupied an area of just under . In 2010 Minilya was owned by WR Carpenter Agriculture Pty Ltd, Ric Stowe's cattle business, and occupied an area of . A herd of Angus and Wagyu cattle all destined for the Asian market are run on the property. The property was acquired by

Andrew Forrest John Andrew Henry Forrest (born 18 November 1961), nicknamed Twiggy, is an Australian businessman. He is best known as the former CEO (and current non-executive chairman) of Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), and has other interests in the mining i ...

in 2015 along with

Brick House Station Brickhouse Station, formerly spelt Brick House Station, is a pastoral lease in Western Australia. It once operated as a sheep station but now operates as a cattle station, with some turned over to mango cultivation . It is located north east ...

for an estimated 10 million.

References

{{Stations of the Gascoyne Western Australia Pastoral leases in Western Australia Stations (Australian agriculture) Shire of Carnarvon

History

See also

References