Drysdale River Station

Drysdale River Station is a pastoral lease and cattle station located just off the Kalumburu Road 360 kilometres (224 mi) west of Kununurra and 470 kilometres (292 mi) east of Derby^[1] in the Kimberley region. The station is approximately 1,000,000 acres (404,686 ha) in size and runs about 7,000 head of cattle.^[2]

The pastoral lease is currently owned by the Koyers family who took up the lease in 1985.^[3]

The area was initially taken up in 1882 by the victorin Squatting Company and the Drysdale River was named by explorer Charles Burrowes in 1886. Captain Joe Bradshaw took up the lease in 1891 as part of a large area extending along the Prince Regent River. While lost dring an exploration of the area Bradshaw stumbled across the Indigenous Australian Gwion Rock paintings which are over 50,000 years old and are commonly referred to as the Bradshaws once rediscovered in 1998.^[4] He sent his steamer, the Red Gauntlet, ahend of him with Aeneas Gunn to construct stockyards while Bradshaw began to drove his herd overland from Queensland. Bradshaw was met at the border by a party of policemen who demanded a tax of 1 pound per head to bring them into Western Australia. He refused and took his stock down the Victoria River to establish another station, Bradshaws Run now known as Bradshaw station. The remoteness of the station was partially remedied by the surveying and construction of the Kalumburu Road from the Gibb River Road to Kalumburu in 1954.

The station is almost inaccessible by road during the wet season between December and May each year. During this time the area is dependent on the station's airstrip which was upgraded in 2002 following funding from the state government in 2001.^[5]

Coordinates: 15°42′10″S 126°22′44″E / 15.7028°S 126.3790°E / -15.7028; 126.3790

See also

• List of ranches and stations

References

1. ^ "Drysdale River Station - North Kmberley". 2011-09-09. http://www.drysdaleriver.com.au/. 
2. ^ "Western Australia - Drysdale River Station". 2011-09-09. http://www.west-oz.com/viewdetails.asp?id=18558. 
3. ^ "Gibb River road". 2011-09-09. http://www.gibbriverroad.net/gibb-river-road-accommodation.html. 
4. ^ "Discover West Holidays - Drysdale River Gibb River road". 2011-09-09. http://www.discoverwest.com.au/western_australia/drysdale_river.html. 
5. ^ "Media Statement - Government to contribute to improvement of airports in the Kimberley region". 2011-09-10. http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/88569/20080905-1741/www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/GallopLaborGovernmentSearch0750.html.