South Galway Station

South Galway Station and often referred to as South Galway and also once known as Galway Downs is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station.

South Galway Station
Location in Queensland

Description

It is located about 64 kilometres (40 mi) south west of Windorah and 275 kilometres (171 mi) east of Birdsville in the Channel Country of Queensland.

The property occupies an area of 4,876 square kilometres (1,883 sq mi) of and is able to carry a herd of approximately 13,000 cattle. It is currently owned by the Australian Agricultural Company.[1] Situated along Cooper Creek approximately half the property is flooded river country and about one quarter is rolling downs. The remaining quarter is a mix of spinifex, red sand, mulga and hard hilly country.

History

Initially established by Patrick and Michael Durack along with John Costello in 1873, the property was one of the first to be settled in the region. the area was struck by drought from 1897 to 1901.[2]

The Duracks placed the property on the market in 1878 at which time in encompassed about 500 square miles (1,295 km2) and was stocked with approximately 3,000 head of cattle.[3] The property sold in about 1884 to the Queensland Cooperative Pastoral Company who placed it on the market when it went into liquidation along with several other properties including Thylungra, Buckingham Downs and Pikedale in 1886.[4]

The property was purchased by the Schmidt family in 1937. In 1945 the station was hit by a rat plague which consumed six months worth of feed. The plague extended through the Cooper Country from Windorah to Durham Downs.[5]

In 1951 a pilot from Trans Australia Airlines was hired by the station owner to ride the range in a de Havilland Dragon to rescue a mob of cattle threatened by floods. All the cattle but 300 were driven to higher ground saving the owner £10,000.[6] Bushfires ravaged the station later the same year with an area of over 1,000 square miles (2,590 km2) being burnt out, stockmen from South Galway were at the fire front for five days in an attempt to control the blaze.[7]

See also

References
  1. "South Galway Station". Australian Agricultural Company. 2012. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  2. K.T. Cameron. "Pastoral Settlement of the far south-west of Queensland" (PDF). University of Queensland. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  3. "Classified Advertising". The Queenslander. Brisbane.: National Library of Australia. 9 November 1878. p. 163. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  4. "Classified Advertising". The Queenslander. Brisbane: National Library of Australia. 25 September 1886. p. 2. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  5. "Rat plague in Cooper Country". Queensland Country Life. National Library of Australia. 29 March 1945. p. 1. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
  6. "Air Cowboy Saves Cattle". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 10 February 1951. p. 3. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
  7. "Fires leap in Far West". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane: National Library of Australia. 27 November 1951. p. 1. Retrieved 21 March 2013.

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