Cattle station

Cattle station is an Australian term for a large farm (station, the equivalent of ranch), usually in the outback, whose main activity is the raising of cattle. The owner of a cattle station is called a grazier. The largest cattle station in the world is Anna Creek station in South Australia, Australia. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7443625.stm|title=Cattle farms lure Australian women|last=Mercer|first=Phil|date=2008-06-09|publisher=BBC|accessdate=2008-06-09]

Improvements

Each station has a homestead where the manager or property owner lives. Nearby cottages or staff quarters provide housing for the employees, storage sheds and cattle yards are also sited here. Most stations have stables and yards for their horses, silos and an airstrip. Other structures depend on the size and location of the station. The isolated stations will have a mechanic's workshop, school, a small general store to supply essentials and possibly an entertainment or bar area for the owners and staff. Some large cattle stations have their own post office. Water may be supplied from a stream, bores or dams in conjunction with rainwater tanks. Electricity is nowadays typically provided with a generator if rural power is not connected.

Children were originally educated by correspondence lessons supervised by a governess or more recently on the outback stations by the School of the Air until they reached high school age. The Royal Flying Doctor service is available to the remote stations.

History

Charles Brown Fisher and Maurice Lyons, a Melbourne magistrate stocked Victoria River Downs in the early 1880s. Nathaniel Buchanan (1826-1901), overlanded 20,000 head of cattle from Wilmot to Victoria River Downs in c.1881 to establish their cattle venture. Previously Nat had from 1860 to 1867, stocked and managed Bowen Downs Station near Longreach, Queensland. Buchanan was associated with the opening up and stocking of several cattle stations in the Victoria River district and the Ord River region. The Gordon brothers and Nathaniel Buchanan took up Wave Hill on the Victoria River in 1883, one of the first cattle stations established west of the Telegraph Line. Their nearest neighbour was two hundred miles (518 km) away.

By 1898 James Tyson (April 8 1819 - December 4 1898), held 5,329,214 acres (2,156,680 ha) including 352,332 acres (142,585 ha) freehold. His stations included Bangate, Goondublui, Juanbung, Tupra and Mooroonowa in New South Wales; Heyfield in Victoria; and Glenormiston, Swanvale, Meteor Downs and Albinia Downs, Babbiloora, Carnarvon, Tully, Wyobie, Felton, Mount Russell and Tinnenburra in Queensland.

Sidney Kidman (1857-1935) set up a chain of cattle stations along the sources of water, from the Gulf of Carpentaria, into South Australia to be within easy droving distance of the Adelaide markets.

Aborigines have long played a big part in the cattle industry where they were competent stockmen on the cattle stations of the north. In 1950 it was legislated that the Aboriginal workers were now to be paid cash wages.

Many cattle stations were established along the Great Dividing Range where only cattle raising was possible because dingo attacks on sheep. The original Kunderang Station, on the eastern fall of the Great Dividing Range was taken up by Captain George Jobling as an outstation, and later sold under the Subdivision of Runs Act 1884. Kunderang was one of the few Great Dividing Range stations which was inhabited. The isolated homestead here, was built of solid Australian red cedar (Toona ciliata).

Several major events have had an impact on cattle stations during about the last sixty years. These events are the Second World War, the beef depression of the early 1970s, the technological achievements of the 1980s and the advent of live export markets in the more recent years. Roads and communications were greatly improved as a result of the War. Many of the Northern Territory cattle stations had been previously owned by English companies who also did not pay tax in Australia. The 33,280 square kilometres Victoria River Downs was sold in March 1909 to Lord Luke’s Bovril Australian Estates for £180,000 and until 1950 they were not paying taxes to the Australian Government. In 1950 income tax was introduced to Northern Territory land owners. The very large stations were subdivided and country was available with reasonable conditions of tenure. This saw an influx of adventurous, working stockmen move in, with many doing well by mustering ‘cleanskins’ (unbranded cattle) on their new land.

The Brucellosis and Tuberculosis Eradication Campaign (BTEC) was a national program to eradicate bovine brucellosis and bovine tuberculosis that commenced in 1970 after years of local jurisdictional activities. In the 1970s interest rates soared and the American beef market collapsed causing the beef depression. A fat bullock was then worth less than a pair of locally made elastic side riding boots. The cattle herd was reduced to 21.8 million by 1978 in the wake of this crash. [Austin, Nigel, Kings of the Cattle Country, Bay Books, Sydney & London, 1986] Roads and communications were further improved as a result of the Tuberculosis Eradication Campaign. In 1979 a disastrous drought struck and continued into 1983 becoming one of Australia’s worst droughts.

Helicopters were now being used to assist in mustering in the 1980s. Australia entered the Japanese beef market in 1988 with improved expectations for a better future in the beef cattle industry.

Cattle empires

The North Australian Pastoral Company Pty Limited (NAPCO) is now one of Australia's largest beef cattle producers, with a herd of over 180,000 cattle and fourteen cattle stations in Queensland and the Northern Territory. [ [http://www.napco.com.au/ North Australian Pastoral Company] ] The Australian Agricultural Company (AA Co) manages a cattle herd of more than 585,000 head. [ [http://www.aaco.com.au/Cattle.aspx?dc=1 AACo] ] Heytesbury Beef Pty Ltd owns and manages over two hundred thousand head of cattle across eight stations spanning the East Kimberley, Victoria River and Barkly Tablelands regions in Northern Australia. [ [http://www.heytesburybeef.com.au/main.asp?sectID=2 Heytesbury Beef] ]

Cattle station has a parallel term, sheep station, for those stations carrying sheep rather than cattle. In most cases the stations are in a rangeland context on pastoral leases. Many are larger than small countries. Some stations are not exclusively sheep or cattle stations but have a mix of cattle, sheep and even goats to make the owner less vulnerable to changes in the wool or beef prices.

The phrase is also in traditional Australian English to denote something large and/or important.

References

ee also

* List of pastoral leases in Western Australia
* Muster (livestock)