Murnpeowie

29.594°S 139.051°E / -29.594; 139.051

Dust storm over homestead in 1952

Murnpeowie is located in South Australia
Murnpeowie
Murnpeowie
Location in South Australia

Murnpeowie or Murnpeowie Station is a pastoral lease in outback South Australia. The pastoral lease once operated as a sheep station but now operates as a cattle station. The land occupying the extent of the pastoral lease was gazetted as a locality by the Government of South Australia on 26 April 2013, with the name "Murnpeowie".[1][2]

It is located approximately 96 kilometres (60 mi) east of Marree and 102 kilometres (63 mi) north east of Lyndhurst. The area is composed of gibber plains that support dense stands Mitchell grass and saltbush.

The unusual name is Aboriginal in origin and means place of the bronzewing pigeon.[3]

Leases in the area were taken up by John Baker in 1857, with more added through the 1860s. Baker was surrounded by leases held by Thomas Elder. When Baker died in 1872, Elder consolidated all of the runs into a single entity of approximately 4,000 square miles (10,360 km2) named Blanchewater Horse Station, with a carrying capacity of 20,000 head.[3] The homestead was constructed in the 1880s, the woolshed in 1890. Both buildings had stone walls and round iron roofs. By 1894, the station was shearing 106,000 sheep, yielding 2,400 bales of wool.[3] In 1909, a total of 120,000 sheep were shorn at Murnpeowie.[4] The Blanchewater Homestead Ruins are listed on both the South Australian Heritage Register and the former Register of the National Estate.[5][6]

In 1910, boundary riders at the station discovered a meteorite. The 2,520-pound (1,143 kg) stone was thought to be a rock until the men struck it with a hammer and were amazed by the bell-like sound they heard. A small sample was sent to the School of Mines for analysis and once confirmed the meteorite was donated.[7]

In 1920, the property was carrying 90,000 sheep. By 1924, the station was approximately 4,000 square miles (10,360 km2) in size and was stocked with about 70,000 sheep.[8] By 1935 the 3,500 square miles (9,065 km2) was carrying 60,000 sheep.[9]

The area was struck by drought and then huge dust storms in 1952.[10] The property was purchased in 1998 by David and Nell Brook, who have stocked the property with Poll-Hereford cattle. The family holdings are certified organic and include Adria Downs and Cordillo Downs stations, encompassing a total area of 30,000 square kilometres (11,583 sq mi).[11]

Murnpeowie meteorite in the South Australian Museum

IBRA biogeographic subregion

Murnpeowie is also the name of an IBRA subregion (STP03), an area of 2,910,385 hectares (7,191,720 acres) in the Stony Plains IBRA biogeographic region.[12]

See also

References
  1. "Search result for " Murnpeowie (LOCB)" (Record no SA0067144) with the following layers selected - "Suburbs and Localities" and " Place names (gazetteer)"". Property Location Browser. Government of South Australia. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  2. Proposed Locality Boundaries for Pastoral Areas (PDF) (Map). Government of South Australia. 31 October 2012. Rack Plan 951. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 February 2018. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  3. James Waite Morgan (2011). Premier & the Pastoralist. Wakefield Press. ISBN 9781862549722.
  4. "Around the Campfire". Townsville Daily Bulletin. Queensland: National Library of Australia. 26 July 1952. p. 3. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  5. "Blanchewater Homestead (Ruin)". South Australian Heritage Register. Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  6. "Blanchewater Homestead Complex ruins and St Mary Pool, Strzelecki Tk, Murnpeowie via Lyndhurst, SA, Australia". Register of the National Estate. Department of the Environment. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  7. "The Murnpeowie Meteorite". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 6 April 1910. p. 7. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  8. "Per Camel Back". Robertson Mail. New South Wales: National Library of Australia. 20 June 1924. p. 3. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  9. "State's Sahara in Far North". The Chronicle. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 4 April 1935. p. 6. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  10. "Dust — Scourge Of The Drought Lands". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 19 January 1952. p. 12. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  11. "David & Nell Brook" (PDF). World Hereford Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  12. Commonwealth Government of Australia (2012) "Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia Version 7 (IBRA 7)" (PDF). Retrieved 5 March 2018.
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