Banka Banka Station
{{Short description|Pastoral lease in Northern Territory, Australia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Location map|Northern Territory|label=Banka Banka Station
|position=left
|lat_deg=18|lat_min=47|lat_sec=31.6|lat_dir=S
|lon_deg=134|lon_min=01|lon_sec=49|lon_dir=E
|caption=Location in Northern Territory}}
Banka Banka Station is a location in the Northern Territory of Australia, 100 kilometres north of Tennant Creek along the Stuart Highway. The historic cattle station was the first operational pastoral lease in this region, and a supply camp during World War II, providing meat, eggs, fruits and vegetables. It was occupied and run by the Ward family and is still the site of a mudbrick homestead.
The station is on the lands of the Warumungu and Warlmanpa peoples who are its traditional owners.{{Cite web |title=Banka Banka West Yesterday |url=https://www.bankabankawest.com.au/banka-yesterday/ |access-date=2025-04-22 |website=Banka Banka West |language=en-AU}}
Origin of place name
The name Banka Banka is the anglicisation of the Warumungu language word Parnkurr-parnkurr which Ernestine Hill stated meant 'many bees'.{{Citation |author1=Hill, Ernestine |title=The Territory |pages=214 |publication-date=1951 |publisher=Angus and Robertson |isbn=978-0-7254-0019-4 |author2=Durack, Elizabeth, 1915-2000, (illustrator.)}} The name was first adoptedd by Tom Nugent when he took over the station.{{Cite web |title=Bank Banka (Homestead) |url=https://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/placenames/view.jsp?id=10598 |access-date=2025-04-22 |website=NT Place Names Register}}
Historical significance
= Tom Nugent =
Tom Nugent, a stockman and Bushranger who had previously been the leader of 'The Ragged Thirteen' was the first lease holder of Bank Banka Station in around 1895 and kept it until his death in 1911.{{Cite book |last1=O'Brien |first1=VT |url=https://territorystories.nt.gov.au/10070/492231 |title=Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography |publisher=Charles Darwin University Press |year=2008 |isbn=9780980457810 |edition=Rev |location=Darwin |pages=345–346 |chapter=Thomas (Tom) Brian Nugent (c1848-1911)}}{{cite news |last=Hill |first=Ernestine |date=5 August 1939 |title=The Ragged Thirteen |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46414136 |accessdate=22 April 2025 |newspaper=The West Australian |location=Western Australia |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=55 |issue=16,565}}{{cite news |last=Hill |first=Ernestine |date=12 August 1939 |title=The Ragged Thirteen—a Legend of the Outback |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41083569 |accessdate=22 April 2025 |newspaper=The Advertiser (Adelaide) |location=South Australia |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}} Before Nugent this area was part of another cattle station known as Radford Springs.
=Ward family=
Philip and Mary Alice Ward bought Banka Banka Station in 1941. Mary supervised the development of an extensive garden at the station. The homestead was a regular stopping place for travellers.In 1945, Philip Ward was among the first to truck cattle by road.{{Citation |last=Nash |first=David |title=Mary Alice Ward (1896–1972) |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ward-mary-alice-11962 |access-date=2025-04-22 |place=Canberra |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |language=en}}{{Cite book |last1=Tuxworth |first1=Hilda |url=https://territorystories.nt.gov.au/10070/492231 |title=Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography |publisher=Charles Darwin University Press |year=2008 |isbn=9780980457810 |edition=Rev |location=Darwin |pages=607–608 |chapter=Mary Ward nee McEntyre (1895-1973)}}
After her husband's death in 1959, Mary ran the station and, due to her efforts, a government school for Indigenous Australians openened at Banka Banka in 1961. She became known as "The Missus of Banka Banka". In 1970, suffering ill health, she sold the station and moved to Adelaide, where she died two years later.
=Mudbrick homestead=
The Banka Banka mudbrick homestead is a single story, rectangular building with a pitched roof consisting of a timber roof frame and corrugated metal roof sheeting, mudbrick walls, concrete floors, surrounded by a veranda supported by concrete posts. The building consists of three rooms. The homestead, which was partly reconstructed in 2001, is of architectural interest for its extensive use of mudbrick. It represents an unusual construction material and technique for pastoral homesteads.{{Cite web |title=Banka Banka Mud Hut |url=https://northernterritory.com/tennant-creek-and-barkly-region/see-and-do/banka-banka-mud-hut |access-date=2025-04-22 |website=northernterritory.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2007-05-21 |title=Heritage: Banka Banka Mudbrick Homestead - NRETA - NT Government - Australia |url=http://www.nt.gov.au/nreta/heritage/ntregister/declared/display.html?bankabanka |access-date=2025-04-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070521021356/http://www.nt.gov.au/nreta/heritage/ntregister/declared/display.html?bankabanka |archive-date=21 May 2007 }}
Modern Amenities
Banka Banka Station operates as a campground. There is a scenic walk through native flora to a bush watering hole.
See also
References
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