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Famous Ranches and Stations

Brunette Downs Station: A Barkly Tableland Giant Built on Mitchell Grass

From a 2,000 square mile lease in 1881 to the second-largest station in the Northern Territory, owned today by AACo.

What is Brunette Downs Station?

Brunette Downs is a pastoral lease on the Barkly Tableland in the Northern Territory, about 216 kilometres north-east of Tennant Creek and 229 kilometres north-west of Camooweal in Queensland. At 12,212 square kilometres it is the second-largest station in the Territory after Alexandria, according to the Wikipedia article on the station. The Tablelands Highway cuts through it.

The country is open black-soil plain under Mitchell grass and Flinders grass, at about 218 metres above sea level. The traditional lands belong to the Wambaya people. The ephemeral Playford River and Brunette, Cresswell and Boree creeks cross the property, filling in the wet season and drying out for much of the year.

Early history: from Douglas to Harry Readford

The station was taken up in 1881, when Kilgour and Woodhouse sold the lease to Walter Douglas for 4,000 pounds. In 1883 Douglas sold it for 10,000 pounds to McDonald, Smith and John Macansh. That price rise in two years shows how fast the Barkly grazing frontier was being valued.

From 1884 the drover Harry Readford brought the first overland mob, 120 mixed cattle, and managed the station for several years before founding Corella Downs. Wikipedia notes that Readford is the drover on whom the fictional Captain Starlight was based. In 1887 manager John Roberts sent 1,200 bullocks to market, one of the early records of the station's output.

Who owned Brunette Downs over the years?

By 1918 the Gulf Cattle Company offered it at auction with 40,000 cattle and 900 horses. No bids were received and it was passed in. The following year the James White family of Muswellbrook bought it.

In 1958 the King Ranch Pastoral Company, the Texan-Australian arm of the famous Texas ranch, bought it for more than 1 million Australian dollars and spent 500,000 pounds on improvements. By 1966 manager Charles Weiss had introduced 1,200 Santa Gertrudis stud bulls and developed 75 bores. In 1979 the Australian Agricultural Company, known as AACo, acquired the station. Ken Warriner was manager in 1978 and left in 1980, and Henry Burke, who had managed Brunette Downs, became AACo general manager in 2012.

The cattle and the lake country

The herd today is a mix of Barkly Composite, Brahman and Santa Gertrudis cattle. The station reports a carrying capacity of 110,000 head and an annual turnoff of 35,000, with more than 50 staff. It runs 53 paddocks averaging about 336 square kilometres each, 19 holding paddocks and 16 steel yards.

The Brunette Lake system, made up of Lakes Sylvester, de Burgh and Corella, covers about 20 percent of the property and is prized as fattening country. The first sub-artesian bore was sunk in 1903, and by 2010 there were 180 bores drawing from about 100 metres, feeding more than 200 ponds and 400 troughs. In farm.FM style, think of it as a story about cattle country on the Barkly on a very large scale.

What Made It Work

Brunette Downs has lasted more than 140 years in country where a single drought can kill tens of thousands of animals. The record points to water, scale and ownership with deep pockets.

The record also includes costs. Floods and drought have repeatedly hit stock, and the early frontier years included violence between stockmen and Aboriginal people.

  • Water development: a sub-artesian bore in 1903, then 180 bores by 2010 and hundreds of ponds and troughs.
  • Fattening country: the lake system gives the station a natural finishing ground for cattle.
  • Breed change: Santa Gertrudis stud bulls were introduced in the 1960s, and the herd is now a Barkly Composite, Brahman and Santa Gertrudis mix.
  • Capital: King Ranch spent 500,000 pounds on improvements after buying in 1958, and AACo has run it since 1979.
  • Agistment in drought: in 1952 more than 6,000 cattle were overlanded to Mount Isa for agistment.
  • Scale of paddocks and yards: 53 paddocks and 16 steel yards allow large mobs to be handled.

Droughts, floods and hard events

The station's climate is extreme. A monsoon in 1895 dropped 394 millimetres in January and 241 in February. In 1958 drought killed about 25,000 head. In 1973 and 1974 record rainfall of 1,575 millimetres against a 355 millimetre average left 4,050 square kilometres underwater and filled Lakes Corella and Sylvester, and in 1977 the lakes hosted more than 500,000 nesting pelicans.

The frontier years were violent. On New Year's Eve 1888 an Indigenous man named Caliph fatally stabbed stockman Robert Hamilton and died of his own wounds the next day. Wikipedia records the episode briefly and gives no further detail.

Visitors and the wider record

Brunette Downs has hosted some famous visitors: Nazi Germany's consul general Dr Rudolf Asmis for three days in 1935, and Prince Philip in 1956 on the way to the Melbourne Olympics. In 1978 the station carried 56,000 cattle and 800 horses and maintained 3,600 kilometres of graded roads.

It is a working station, so access is by arrangement. For more on ranching worldwide, see the ranching section and the full station article for sources and further reading. For the full record, see the source article's ownership history.

Timeline

  1. 1881Walter Douglas buys the lease from Kilgour and Woodhouse
  2. 1884Harry Readford drives in the first mob of 120 cattle
  3. 1903First sub-artesian bore sunk
  4. 1919James White family buys the station
  5. 1958King Ranch Pastoral Company buys it; drought kills about 25,000 head
  6. 1966Manager Charles Weiss introduces 1,200 Santa Gertrudis stud bulls
  7. 1973-1974Record rainfall floods 4,050 km2
  8. 1979Australian Agricultural Company acquires the station

Frequently asked questions

Where is Brunette Downs Station?

It is on the Barkly Tableland in the Northern Territory, about 216 kilometres north-east of Tennant Creek and 229 kilometres north-west of Camooweal, Queensland. The Tablelands Highway runs through the property.

Who owns Brunette Downs Station?

The Australian Agricultural Company, known as AACo, acquired Brunette Downs in 1979. Before that, the King Ranch Pastoral Company owned it from 1958 and the James White family from 1919.

How big is Brunette Downs?

The current area is 12,212 square kilometres, making it the second-largest station in the Northern Territory after Alexandria. Its size has varied, from 14,170 square kilometres in 1918 to 12,302 in 1966.

How many cattle does Brunette Downs run?

The station reports a carrying capacity of 110,000 head and an annual turnoff of 35,000. In 1978 the herd was 56,000 cattle and 800 horses, so numbers move with seasons.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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