StateLibQld 1 50240 Troopers at Dagworth Station during the Shearer's Strike in 1894

Dagworth Station is 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 ...

located north-west of Winton in central west Queensland in Australia. It was established in 1876 by Messrs Hunter and Urquhart who were living in a grass hut on the property in 1878 when they were still building up the run. One of the adjoining properties in 1887 was

Elderslie Station Elderslie Station, also known as Elderslie, is a pastoral lease that operates as a sheep and cattle station in Queensland, Australia. Description The station is located about west of Winton and east of Middleton in Central West Queenslan ...

, which at the time was owned by Sir

Samuel Wilson Samuel Wilson (September 13, 1766 – July 31, 1854) was an American meat packer who lived in Troy, New York, whose name is purportedly the source of the personification of the United States known as "Uncle Sam". Biography Wilson was born in the ...

History

In 1894 the station's

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 ar ...

was burned down along with seven others in the district as part of a protest by shearers over wages. The Macpherson family owned the station in the 1890s and early 1900s. Samuel Hoffmeister, who was implicated in these events was later found dead at a nearby

billabong Billabong ( ) is an Australian term for an oxbow lake, an isolated pond left behind after a river changes course. Billabongs are usually formed when the path of a creek or river changes, leaving the former branch with a dead end. As a result ...

. The following year

Banjo Paterson Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, (17 February 18645 February 1941) was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the ...

visited the station and wrote the lyrics to "

Waltzing Matilda "Waltzing Matilda" is a song developed in the Australian style of poetry and folk music called a bush ballad. It has been described as the country's "unofficial national anthem". The title was Australian slang for travelling on foot (waltzing) ...

", said to be inspired by these incidents. The music for the song was arranged by

Christina Macpherson "Waltzing Matilda" is a song developed in the Australian style of poetry and folk music called a bush ballad. It has been described as the country's "unofficial national anthem". The title was Australian slang for travelling on foot (waltzing) ...

, the daughter of the owner of Dagworth and sister of the manager of the property Robert Macpherson. The station was bought by the

North Australian Pastoral Company The North Australian Pastoral Company (NAPCO) is a large, privately owned, Australian cattle company which operates 13 cattle stations (as well as the Wainui farm and feedlot) covering over 60,000 km2, managing about 200,000 cattle, in Que ...

in 1995. In March 2015,

Geoscience Australia Geoscience Australia is an agency of the Australian Government. It carries out geoscientific research. The agency is the government's technical adviser on all aspects of geoscience, and custodian of the geographic and geological data and knowl ...

reported that the

Diamantina River The Diamantina River is a major river located in Central West Queensland and the far north of South Australia. The river was named by William Landsborough in 1866 for Lady Diamantina Bowen (née Roma), wife of Sir George Bowen, the first Govern ...

’s course at and near its headwaters flows along the edge of a roughly circular crustal anomaly that might well be an

impact structure An impact structure is a generally circular or craterlike geologic structure of deformed bedrock or sediment produced by impact on a planetary surface, whatever the stage of erosion of the structure. In contrast, an impact crater is the surface ...

. It is 130 km in diameter, and Dagworth lies in its northeast quadrant. The

asteroid impact An impact event is a collision between astronomical objects causing measurable effects. Impact events have physical consequences and have been found to regularly occur in planetary systems, though the most frequent involve asteroids, comets or me ...

, if indeed this is the explanation for the anomaly, would have happened roughly 300 million years ago.

References

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External links

Waltzing Matilda - Australia's Favourite Song
Stations (Australian agriculture) Central West Queensland Pastoral leases in Queensland 1876 establishments in Australia

History

See also

References

External links