Station (Australian agriculture)
Encyclopedia
Station is the term for a large Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n landholding used for livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...

 production. It corresponds to the North American term ranch
Ranch
A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though...

or South American estancia
Estância
Estância is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Sergipe. Its population was 62,218 and its area is 642 km². The city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Estância....

. The owner of a station can be called a grazier (which corresponds to the North American term rancher) or Pastoralist.

Terminology

Originally station referred to the owner's house and the outbuildings of a pastoral property, but it now generally refers to the whole holding. Stations in Australia are, in most cases, on pastoral lease
Pastoral lease
A pastoral lease is Crown land that government allows to be leased, generally for the purposes of farming.-Australia:Pastoral leases exist in both Australian commonwealth law and state jurisdictions....

, and are known colloquially as sheep station
Sheep station
A sheep station is a large property in Australia or New Zealand whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or south-west of the country. In New Zealand the Merinos are usually in the high country of the South...

s
or cattle station
Cattle station
Cattle station is an Australian term for a large farm , whose main activity is the rearing of cattle. In Australia, the owner of a cattle station is called a grazier...

s
as most are stock specific, dependent upon the country and rainfall.

Sizes

Sheep and cattle stations can be thousands of square kilometres in area, with the nearest neighbour being hundreds of kilometres away. Anna Creek station
Anna Creek station
Anna Creek Station is the world's largest working cattle station. It is located in South Australia, Australia. Its area is roughly which is slightly larger than Israel...

 in South Australia, Australia is the world's largest working cattle station
Cattle station
Cattle station is an Australian term for a large farm , whose main activity is the rearing of cattle. In Australia, the owner of a cattle station is called a grazier...

. It is roughly 34000 square kilometres (8,401,575.5 acre) which is 8,000 km2 larger than Alexandria Station a cattle station spanning more than 1.8 million hectares in the Northern Territory, Australia and four times the size of America's biggest ranch
Ranch
A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though...

, which is only 6,000 km2.

Facilities

Because of the extended distances, there is a School of the Air
School of the Air
School of the Air is a generic term for correspondence schools catering for the primary and early secondary education of children in remote and outback Australia.-History:...

 so that children can attend classes from their homes, originally using pedal powered radios to communicate with the teachers. The larger stations have their own school and teacher to educate the children on the station until at least they commence high school. Large isolated stations have their own stores to supply workers with their needs.

Medical assistance is given by the Royal Flying Doctor Service
Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia
The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia is an emergency and primary health care service for those living in rural, remote and regional areas of Australia...

, where medical staff such as doctors and nurses can treat patients at their homes, or airlift emergency and seriously ill patients to hospitals at the nearest towns. The Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter Service
Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter Service
The Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter Service was founded in 1973 by Surf Life Saving Australia. Since this time, the Service has carried out more than 50,000 flights ranging from patient transfers to search and rescue missions...

 and its trained medical crews also respond quickly to emergencies threatening the life, health and safety of people caused through medical emergency, illness, natural disaster, accidents or mishap.

Personnel

A station hand is an employee, who is involved in routine duties on a station and this may also involve caring for livestock, too.

Some stations are in remote areas that are not easy to access, limiting their population greatly. Accommodation for couples and families may be limited. Consequently, many station employees are young and temporary. An important example is the jackaroo (male) or jillaroo (female), a young person who works on a station for several years in a form of apprenticeship, in order to become an overseer or rural property manager. Aborigines
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....

 have played a big part in the northern cattle industry where they were competent stockmen on the cattle stations. Nowadays staff on these stations may work in the homestead and in stock camps. Stockmen, especially ringers, may be seasonal employees. Others include boremen, managers, mechanic
Mechanic
A mechanic is a craftsman or technician who uses tools to build or repair machinery.Many mechanics are specialized in a particular field such as auto mechanics, bicycle mechanics, motorcycle mechanics, boiler mechanics, general mechanics, industrial maintenance mechanics , air conditioning and...

s, machinery operators (including grader drivers), station and camp cooks, teachers, overseers and bookkeepers. Veterinary surgeon
Veterinary surgeon
Veterinary surgeon is a term used to describe:*The full title of a vet, who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals, in the United Kingdom and several Commonwealth countries**See also Veterinary medicine in the United Kingdom...

s also fly to some of the more distant cattle and sheep stations.

Popular culture

The long running television drama, McLeod's Daughters
McLeod's Daughters
McLeod's Daughters is a Logie award-winning Australian drama series that aired on the Nine Network from 2001 to 2009. It tells the story of two sisters, Claire and Tess McLeod, who are reunited after they inherit the family farm...

is set on an Australian cattle station
Cattle station
Cattle station is an Australian term for a large farm , whose main activity is the rearing of cattle. In Australia, the owner of a cattle station is called a grazier...

.

See also

  • Cattle station
    Cattle station
    Cattle station is an Australian term for a large farm , whose main activity is the rearing of cattle. In Australia, the owner of a cattle station is called a grazier...

  • Jackaroo (disambiguation)
  • Jillaroo (disambiguation)
  • List of pastoral leases in Western Australia
  • List of ranches and stations
  • Outstation
    Outstation
    Historically, an outstation was a subsidiary homestead or other dwelling, on Australian sheep or cattle stations which were large enough to have more than a day's travel between different parts of the property....

  • Sheep station
    Sheep station
    A sheep station is a large property in Australia or New Zealand whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or south-west of the country. In New Zealand the Merinos are usually in the high country of the South...

  • Station (New Zealand agriculture)
    Station (New Zealand agriculture)
    A station, in the context of New Zealand agriculture, is a large farm dedicated to the grazing of sheep and cattle. The use of the word for the farm or farm buildings date back to the mid-nineteenth century....

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