Momba Station

Momba Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a sheep station in New South Wales. The property is situated approximately 42 kilometres (26 mi) south east of White Cliffs and 66 kilometres (41 mi) north east of Wilcannia.

Momba
Location in New South Wales

Momba House at Momba Station
Aborigines at Momba Station by Frederic Bonney in the 1870s
Wild dromedaries at Momba Station in about 1935

History

Momba Station on the Paroo River and the Darling River was established by the brothers Edward and Frederic Bonney. Frederic arrived in 1865 to join his brother after both of them had been attracted to the country by their uncle, Charles Bonney. Frederic Bonney sold the station and went back to the United Kingdom in 1881 due to his brother's poor health. Bonney however recorded some important anthropology through his writing and his enthusiasm for photography. Some of his original images were lost, but his work has been published in two books and they include photographs of the Paakantyi. These were the Aboriginal people who lived near the Paroo river who became labourers on the station.[1]

In the late 1860s the property occupied an area of 6,000 square kilometres (2,317 sq mi).[2] Charles Dickens' son, Plorn, was withdrawn from school and he was at Momba Station a few days before his sixteenth birthday in 1868.[2] He worked as a stockman at Momba in the late 1860s to 1872 when he established Yanda Station.[2]

By 1883 the owners had spent £102,080 on improvements at both Momba and Mount Murchison.[3] In 1884 the property occupied an area of 8,480 square kilometres (3,274 sq mi),[4] and was the largest grazing property in New South Wales.[5] At the time it extended 140 kilometres (87 mi) north from the Darling River at Wilcannia and was 100 kilometres (62 mi) wide. It was owned by the Momba Pastoral Company, the principals of which later formed Elders.[5]

From 1902 Momba was successively subdivided.[4] Peter Waite owned the property[6] in 1906 when he and other pastoralists in the area formed the Pastoralists' Association of West Darling.[7]

Momba was advertised in 1913 with a total area of 6,640 square kilometres (2,564 sq mi) and carrying a flock of 55,000 sheep, 44 cattle and 154 horses.[8] At his time the property had approximately 100 miles (161 km) of double frontage to the Darling River including the flood plains and wetlands of the Paroo River.[8] It was most likely purchased by Joseph Timms who owned the property in 1917.[9] Timms disposed of 100,000 sheep to Ben Chaffey of Moorna Station.[10] Later the same year, Timms sold of a 500,000 acres (202,343 ha) portion of the station to Messrs King and Allison of Wilcannia.[11]

In 1924 the station was put up for auction by Timms and Sidney Kidman[12] as part of an aggregation of over 1.4 million acres. Momba with an area of 658,000 acres (266,000 ha), Mount Murchison with 336,000 acres (135,974 ha), Purnanga with 381,000 acres (154,185 ha), and two smaller leases which all had a combined carrying capacity of approximately 100,000 sheep.[13]

Struck by drought in 1927, the property had been carrying 9,000 head of cattle but only 2,000 were expected to survive.[14]

In 1950 the remainder of the property was divided into ten leases including Peery, Mandalay and Arrowbar.[4]

The station today

Tom Brinkworth acquired Momba at some point prior to 2006. He also owns the 455 square kilometres (176 sq mi) Duntroon, the adjacent property Mena Murtee, Goorimpa on the Paroo, Ulalie and Bon View Stations.[15]Since then the Brinkworth family has also acquired the properties Kalkaroo, Annalara, Wild Duck, Tillenbury, Purnawilla, Bimpero and Gumbalara to add to the Watervalley Pty Ltd portfolio of Western NSW holdings


See also

References
  1. The People of the Paroo River: Frederick Bonney's Photographs by Jeanette Hope and Robert Lindsay, anu.edu.au, retrieved 19 June 2014
  2. Thomas Keneally (5 March 2011). "A harsh reality". The Australian. News Limited. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
  3. "Western Improvements". The Riverine Grazier. Hay, New South Wales: National Library of Australia. 26 December 1883. p. 4. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  4. Westbrooke, M., J. Leversha, M. Gibson, M. O'Keefe, R. Milne, S. Gowans, C. Harding, and K. Callister. 2003. The vegetation of Peery Lake area, Paroo-Darling National Park, western New South Wales. Cunninghamia 8: 111–128.
  5. "Peery National Park, White Cliffs – Wanaaring Rd, White Cliffs, NSW, Australia". Department of Environment. 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
  6. Marjorie Findlay (1976). "Waite, Peter (1834–1922)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
  7. "History". The Pastoralists’ Association of West Darling. 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
  8. "Advertising". The Australasian. Melbourne, Victoria: National Library of Australia. 12 July 1913. p. 58. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
  9. "Local and General". The Western Grazier. Wilcannia, New South Wales: National Library of Australia. 17 November 1917. p. 2. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
  10. "A big sheep deal". The Register. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 1 July 1918. p. 4. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
  11. "Land Sales". The Register. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 8 August 1918. p. 4. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
  12. "Momba Station sold". Barrier Miner. Broken Hill, New South Wales: National Library of Australia. 29 April 1924. p. 4. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
  13. "Momba Station". Chronicle. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 3 May 1924. p. 7. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
  14. "Momba Station". Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record. Renmark, South Australia: National Library of Australia. 18 November 1927. p. 9. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
  15. Peter Austin (13 July 2006). "Opportunity graziers knock". The Land. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
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