Willowra Station was a pastoral property in the

Northern Territory of Australia The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

located about north west of

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

. This station straddles the Lander River and is adjacent to the

Tanami Desert The Tanami Desert () is a desert in northern Australia, situated in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. It has a rocky terrain and small hills. The Tanami was the Northern Territory's final frontier and was not fully explored by Austral ...

. In 1979, Willowra was subjected to land claim and after this process the land became Aboriginal Freehold.

History

This station was formerly established on

Anmatyerre The Anmatyerr (also spelt Anmatyerre, Anmatjera, Anmatjirra, Amatjere and other variations) are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory, who speak one of the Upper Arrernte languages. Language Anmatyerr is divided into Eas ...

tribal lands by James Wickham in 1940 when he obtained leases over several areas he previously held under grazing licences. Wickham ran Willowra in partnership with Robert Edward Davis and by 1946 they were running 2000 head of cattle. Davis was charged for the murder of two Aboriginal men in December 1943, one of whom was named Chuckara. Davis was acquitted in July 1945. In 1946, Willowra was sold to Jack Parkinson for £12,000. He began to develop the station in earnest and by 1953 it boasted six wells, one bore, and five yards. The initial homestead was a Sidney Williams hut but this was soon to be replaced with a new building made of concrete bricks on site. Parkinson was charged for stealing calves from Anningie Station in 1951. He was found not guilty. Parkinson was then charged for shooting an Aboriginal man Johny Granite, "with intent to do grevious bodily harm". Parkinson allegedly shot at Granite after ongoing incidents of theft and violence towards his former partner, a woman named Mavis. The case was dismissed as evidence given by Granite was "almost impossible to follow". Parkinson died in 1958 and his son Edgar took over running Willowra, along with adjoining Mt Barkly. Despite drought he continued to develop the station and by 1962 his herd, improvements, and maintenance was described as excellent. In 1972, Willowra received national publicity when it was one of several stations proposed to be acquired on behalf of the Indigenous

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

, of whom 150 lived on the property. The proposal, initiated in the last days of the McMahon government, was implemented in 1973. In 1979, Willowra was subjected to land claim and after this process the land became Aboriginal Freehold.

References

{{coord, 21.245381, S, 132.612903, E, format=dms, display=title Farms in Australia Buildings and structures in Alice Springs Pastoral leases in the Northern Territory Central Desert Region

History

See also

References