Pioneering Outback Northern Australia

The Challenges of Grazing Cattle in the Victoria River Region

Feb 8, 2009

In the 1880s pastoralists took ownership of the Victoria River area. Their goal was to make a profit. But the land was not easily owned and profit not so easily made.

Captain John Clement Wickham and Commander John Lort Stokes sailed the Beagle up the Victoria River to Timber Creek in 1839.

The majesty of the river inspired Wickham to name it after Queen Victoria. Stokes led a party further upstream and his reports of the Victoria Valley encouraged further exploration.

In 1855-56, Augustus Charles Gregory led the North Australia Expedition to report on the area. He visited during the wet season when the land was at its best and reported the land was:

Ownership and Cattle

Nat Buchanan walked cattle over 3000 km to Wave Hill and Victoria River Downs from Queensland in 1883-84.

Later in the 1880s the Durack family took on Auvergne, Newry and Legune stations. In the 1890s the Farquarsons started Inverway, and the Bradshaws, Bradshaw Station.

Conflict

With their lands and waterholes taken over the Aboriginal people retaliated. They speared cattle to protect their waterholes and make a stand for their land.

Settlers responded by killing Aboriginals, pushing them out of their country and restricting their movements.

Moving onto Stations

Pastoralists induced Aboriginal people to settle near the homesteads. Incentives included water, new foods, technology and a clear message that those who did not come risked being shot as suspected cattle killers.

By the 1930s most Aboriginal people worked on the cattle stations. As servants and cattlemen they could remain in their country and maintain traditional ties and culture.

Poor Pastures

With little water left by the end of the dry season, stock took their toll on natural water sources. Springs dried or become plugged up.

As the nutritional value of grasses declined through the long dry, so did the condition of cattle.

Distant Markets

At about 300km from Timber Creek, Wyndham and Katherine were the closest markets, although cattle were also walked 600km to Darwin and over 2000km to markets in Queensland.

With little water or grazing on the way to market, cattle lost condition and were not worth much when they got there.

Big Country, Big Men

The isolation of the Victoria River area meant extreme loneliness. White settlers lived across two cultures in a stratified social structure. Pretentious behaviour was expected in accordance with position. Many drowned their sorrows in alcohol and suicide was not uncommon.

Extreme Isolation Ends

Timber Creek township grew around the Police Station that was first built there in 1898, not far from the Victoria River Depot where supplies arrived by river and were distributed using donkey teams.

The first aeroplane came to the area in 1929. By 1971 the road between Kununurra and Katherine was sealed and a new bridge was built across the Victoria River. In 1978 the Victoria Wayside Inn opened.

In 1985 portions of several stations were combined to form Gregory National Park.

It took vast tracts of land to support enough cattle to make a living. The grazing was not as good as it first looked, annual flood and drought cycles restricted work, and the beef markets were far away.

Gregory National Park, Parks & Wildlife Service of the Northern Territory (internal report)

Beyond the Big Run, Charlie Schultz/Darrell Lewis, University of Queensland Press (1995)

Kelly, Kieran (2002). Hard Country, Hard Men: In the Footsteps of Gregory. Hale & Iremonger.

The copyright of the article Pioneering Outback Northern Australia in Australian History is owned by Susan Pedersen. Permission to republish Pioneering Outback Northern Australia in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.