Inverway Station
17°50′56″S 129°38′06″E / 17.849°S 129.635°E
Inverway Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the Northern Territory.
Location
Situated approximately 119 kilometres (74 mi) north west of Lajamanu and 134 kilometres (83 mi) south west of Daguragu in the Victoria River district. The property was originally much larger until it was carved up into Inverway, Bunda and Riveren Stations.[1] Inverway is bounded by Bunda to the west, Riveren to the east, Limbunya to the north and Birrindudu Station to the south.[2]
Description
The property currently occupies an area of 2,538 square kilometres (980 sq mi) and is stocked with a herd of 17,000 cattle. The country is a mix of black soil plains covered with pastures of Mitchell grass, Queensland Blue and silky brown top grasses. The red dirt country supports stands of spinifex.[3]
History
The area was originally scouted by Nat Buchanan and his son Gordon. The three Farquharson brothers; Archie, Harry and Hugh acquired the lease to the 6,220 square kilometres (2,402 sq mi) holding in 1894.[4] The men stocked the property by overlanding cattle from Inverell. By 1905 the property was struck by drought and in 1909 the dry had still not lifted. Cool weather helped the men make the decision over drove the cattle over the dry Murranji Track despite there being no water along the way. Over 1,000 cattle were taken and the only five were lost on the 200 kilometres (124 mi) journey that took five days.[4]
The Farquharsons remained at the property until the 1940s. Archie was the sole remaining owner in 1946 when he sold a large portion of the station. He remained on the property living in the log homestead he had built with his brothers until his death in 1950. He is buried at Inverway along with one of his brothers.[5]
The Westaway family bought the property in 1956 and placed on the market in 2007. The Underwood family acquired the property later the same year at auction for A$17.65 million.[6]
Mick and Georgia Underwood sold the property in a private sale along with Riveren Station in 2013 to the Indonesian company, Japfa Santori[7] for an estimated A$35 million.[8] The decision came following live export ban on livestock by the Gillard government in 2011.[7] The station had been passed in at auction in 2012 for A$15 million.[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b Carl Curtain (3 October 2013). "Indonesian company buys NT properties". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
- ^ "Northern Territory Pastoral Properties" (PDF). Northern Territory Government. 2003. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ^ "NT icons Inverway and Riveren go under hammer in July". Queensland Country Life. Fairfax Media. 14 May 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
- ^ a b Jack Drake (2012). The Wild West in Australia and America. Boolarong Press. p. 12. ISBN 9781921920479.
- ^ "Grand old man of the Kimberleys". Centralian Advocate. Alice Springs, Northern Territory: National Library of Australia. 25 August 1950. p. 16. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
- ^ "NT station sells at auction for $17.65m". North Queensland Register. Fairfax Media. 18 June 2007. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
- ^ a b Ginny Stein (5 October 2014). "Live cattle: Northern Territory stations changing hands as fallout from 2011 export ban continues". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
- ^ Matthew Cranston (1 December 2014). "CPC buys Bunda for close to $15m". Farm Weekly. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 4 December 2014.