Mundabullangana is a settlement in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, located approximately 100 km south-west of

Port Hedland A port is a maritime law, maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge Affreightment, cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inla ...

. It is the site of a 225,000 hectare cattle

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

. Mundabullangana is more commonly known as Munda Station. In 1872, brothers Roderick Louden MacKay and Donald McDonald MacKay, then their younger brother Donald MacKay and his son, Samuel Peter Mackay, took up a tract of country on the

Yule River The Yule River is an ephemeral river in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It was named on 10 August 1861 by the surveyor and explorer Frank Gregory while on expedition in the area, after Thomas Newte Yule, at times farmer of Toodyay, wi ...

, where there was a good pool of permanent water, bearing the Aboriginal name ''Mundabullangana''. Although for most of its history Mundabullangana was predominantly a sheep station, in 1985, long after it passed out of the MacKay family, it was destocked in favour of cattle. The station originally occupied an area of and by 1903, following the death of his father, Samuel Mackay became the sole owner of the station. Mundabullangana Station is significant in the occupation of the north-west of Western Australia as the first pastoral lease taken up by European settlers in the Yule and Turner River areas, in the 1870s. It became one of the largest and most successful enterprises of its kind in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and its pastoral use continued through the twentieth century, and into the twenty-first century. In 1898 the station recorded of rain following a

cyclone In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an ant ...

in the area. The Aboriginal workers on the station said the Yule River ran higher than ever before as a result of the deluge. In 1925 the property was sold by the MacKay estate for £87,000, when it occupied an area of and was stocked with 35,000 sheep and 190 horses. It was acquired by the Craig brothers, who also owned Portree, Yalbago, Wandina and

Maroonah Maroonah Station, often referred to as Maroonah, is a pastoral lease that operates as a sheep station. It is located about east of Coral Bay, Western Australia, Coral Bay and south of Onslow, Western Australia, Onslow in the Pilbara region ...

Stations. The homestead at Mundabullangana Station is a good example of Victorian Georgian style architecture. On 2 March 1984, Mundabullangana homestead was entered on the

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heri ...

. The nomination lapsed, and it was removed from the Register on 14 May 1991. The lessee in 2015 was Michael Thompson, who also grazes his cattle on neighbouring Boodarie Station. Following a series of incidences of

poaching Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the huntin ...

and

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

in 2015 costing Thompson $100,000, he closed the gates to Mundabullangana and employed guards to keep the public out.

References

External links

Map of Mundabullangana
{{Stations of the Pilbara Western Australia Pastoral leases in Western Australia 1872 establishments in Australia State Register of Heritage Places in the Town of Port Hedland

See also

References

External links