Toorale Station

Toorale Station is a defunct pastoral lease that once operated as a sheep station and cattle station in New South Wales.

Toorale
Location in New South Wales

Toorale Station during the floods of 1886

The property is situated approximately 53 kilometres (33 mi) south west of Bourke and 130 kilometres (81 mi) north of Cobar. The confluence of the Warrego River and the Darling River is located on the property.[1]

First established in 1857,[2] by 1880 it was owned by Sir Samuel Wilson went to England and selling it to Samuel McCaughey bought Toorale along with another property, Dunlop Station. The old shearing shed was built in 1873 and in 1894 about 265,000 sheep were shorn there. In 1892 the poet, Henry Lawson worked as a roustabout in the Toorale woolshed. Lawson composed many works including A Stranger on the Darling, Bourke and Bosses Boots while at working at Toorale. McCaughy owned the property until 1913.[2]

A Company, the Australian Sheep Farms Limited, with directors including Sir Arthur Stanley, R. H. Caird and G. Slade raised £400,000 in capital to acquire Toorale, Dunlop and Nocoleche Stations in 1925.[3] Shearing in 1931 took nine weeks and had 24 shearers pass 81,000 sheep over the boards for 2,095 bales of wool.[4] In 1936 Toorale was placed on the market, at this time it occupied an area of 850,452 acres (344,166 ha) and was stocked with 54,355 sheep and 1,089 mixed cattle.[5]

The last big wool clip from the station was in 1953 with 2,100 wool bales being produced. Toorale was owned by the Berawinnia Pastoral Company and had run flocks of between 50,000 to 100,000 sheep for the last several years. Much of the property was then resumed for soldier settlement.[6]

The property occupied an area of 91,000 hectares (224,866 acres) in 2008. In the same year it was acquired by the Federal and New South Wales Government for A$24 million. It had been planned to turn the area into a National Park with the century-old dams to be demolished and the stored water released by into the river system.[7] The 30,866 hectares (76,272 acres) Toorale National Park was declared in 2010.[8] The remaining area is now part of a 54,385 hectares (134,388 acres) state conservation area.[9]

See also

References
  1. David Wroe (24 December 2011). "Station buyout a 'waste of money'". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
  2. "Toorale". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 1 December 2008. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
  3. "Australian Sheep Farms, Ltd". Western Herald. Bourke, New South Wales: National Library of Australia. 18 February 1925. p. 2. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  4. "Toorale Shearing". Western Herald. Bourke, New South Wales: National Library of Australia. 2 October 1931. p. 2. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  5. "Auction of Toorale Station". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 25 July 1936. p. 21. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  6. "Toorale's Last Big Wool Clip". The Land. Sydney: National Library of Australia. 15 May 1953. p. 2. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  7. Natasha Bita (16 May 2012). "$24m for Australia's biggest birdbath". The Australian. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  8. "Toorale National Park". New South Wales Government. 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
  9. Julian Luke (17 August 2012). "'Toorale' sale reflects Basin flop". The Land. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
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