Moola Bulla

{{Short description|Pastoral lease in Western Australia}}

{{Use Australian English|date=November 2014}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2014}}

{{Location map|Western Australia|label=Moola Bulla

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|lat_deg=18.188|lat_dir=S

|lon_deg=127.499|lon_dir=E

|caption=Location in Western Australia}}

{{coord|18.188|S|127.499|E|type:landmark_region:AU|name=Moola Bulla|display=title}}

File:Moolabulla1.jpg

Moola Bulla Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is approximately {{convert|20|km|mi|0}} west of Halls Creek and {{convert|150|km|mi|0}} south of Warmun, and occupies an area of {{convert|6600|km2|sqmi|0}}.{{cite web|url=http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/the-curse-of-moola-bulla-station-strikes-again-20110706-1h2d0.html|title=The curse of Moola Bulla station strikes again|date=7 July 2011|accessdate=24 November 2014|author=Aja Styles|work=WA Today|publisher=Fairfax Media}} It bisects the watershed of the Fitzroy River and Ord Rivers.

Moola Bulla was established in 1910{{cite web|url=https://open.abc.net.au/explore/17713|title=Now and Then: Moola Bulla Station|author=Beth Neate|date=19 March 2012|accessdate=24 November 2014|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation}} as a government-run station for the punishment{{clarify|"Punishment" seems to be contradicted by the rest of this paragraph."|date=July 2016}} of Aboriginal people,{{Citation | author1=Rumley, Hilary | author2=Toussaint, Sandy | title='For Their Own Benefit'?: A Critical Overview of Aboriginal Policy and Practice at Moola Bulla, East Kimberley, 1910–1955 | journal=Aboriginal History | publication-date=1990 | volume=14 | pages=80–103 | issn=0314-8769 }} and remains an area that indigenous peoples avoid.{{Citation | author1=Achoo, Henry | author2=Moola Bulla Oral History Project | author3=Kimberley Language Resource Centre | author4=Achoo, Henry |display-authors=etal | title=Moola Bulla : in the shadow of the mountain | year=1996 | publication-date=1996 | publisher=Magabala Books | isbn=978-1-875641-17-8 }}{{Citation | author1=Moola Bulla Oral History Project | author2=Kimberley Language Resource Centre | title=[Series of oral history interviews] | publication-date=1900 | url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/159332216 | accessdate=26 November 2014 }} With increasingly bloody conflict between Aborigines and pastoralists, it was hoped that opening a ration station would reduce the need for Aborigines to kill livestock for food, and that they could instead be trained for work on other cattle stations. The station was acquired for £18,061, and a manager and staff were appointed.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38831002 |title=The Aborigines |newspaper=Western Mail |location=Perth |date=15 July 1911 |accessdate=25 November 2014 |page=51 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} The station was proclaimed a reserve and used as a camping ground for the local Aboriginal peoples, who were free to come and go as they pleased. The property's name is Aboriginal [which language?] for meat plenty.

By 1912, the property carried a herd of approximately 12,000 head of cattle, and the following year turned off 650 head and slaughtered 400 head for their own consumption.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article33422064 |title=The Western Argus. |newspaper=Kalgoorlie Western Argus |location=Western Australia |date=13 May 1913 |accessdate=25 November 2014 |page=16 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} In 1916, it occupied an area of {{convert|2000|sqmi|km2|0}}, about {{convert|50|mi|km|0}} long and {{convert|40|mi|km|0}} wide.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26987622 |title=A trip through Kimberley |newspaper=The West Australian |location=Perth|date=8 August 1916 |accessdate=25 November 2014 |page=9 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

The homestead was stocked with 13,000 head of cattle and 500 head of horses in 1916. In 1917 the property recorded over {{convert|20|in|mm|0}} rain, far above the average of the previous few years and guaranteeing a good next season.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article81063277 |title=Big Rainfall |newspaper=The Daily News |location=Perth |date=16 February 1917 |accessdate=25 November 2014 |page=8 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

By 1920 the property occupied an area of {{convert|6475|km2|sqmi|0}} and was stocked with 14,000 cattle. Employees of the station numbered close to 260, of which seven were of European descent.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27779745 |title=5,000 miles tour |newspaper=The West Australian |location=Perth |date=29 June 1920 |accessdate=25 November 2014 |page=7 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} Aboriginal people such as young artist Daisy Andrews and her family, originally from the Walmajarri desert tribe, were sent to work at the station by authorities to prevent them from returning to their former tribal lands.{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/munmarria-daisy-andrews--red-was-for-blood-sacrifice-and-aboriginal-loss-20150403-1me47j.html|title=Munmarria Daisy Andrews - Red was for blood, sacrifice and Aboriginal loss|date=2015-04-06|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|language=en|access-date=2018-08-04}}

In 1955, the state government sold the station{{cite web|url=http://www.heartofthekimberley.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52:moola-bulla-lookout&catid=3&Itemid=78|title=Moola Bulla Lookout|year=2011|accessdate=24 November 2014|publisher=Halls Creek – The heart of the Kimberley}} to Queensland pastoralist Allan Goldman for £100,000.{{Citation|author1=Western Australia|title=Moola Bulla station in the East Kimberley District : particulars and conditions of sale|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/151778369|publication-date=1955|publisher=Govt. Pr|accessdate=24 November 2014}} When Goldman bought Moola Bulla station, its 200 Aboriginal residents were given 24 hours to leave, and Moola Bulla sent truckloads{{quantify|date=February 2020}} of them to United Aborigines Mission at Fitzroy Crossing.Westralian gems for Christ's crown by S Preston Walker, 2001, p.61 Goldman sold the station two years later, for £150,000, to a syndicate of investors including Northern Territory grazier H. J. Mortimer.{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91590344|title=Moola Bulla for sale|date=6 June 1957|newspaper=The Canberra Times|accessdate=24 November 2014|publisher=National Library of Australia|location=Australian Capital Territory|page=2}}

Peter Camm had been poised to buy the station, but the deal fell through when he was charged with cattle theft. The property was then acquired in 2001 by a syndicate of investors, including Andrew Cranswick, for {{AUD}}18 million. In 2006, the syndicate sold it to agribusiness company Great Southern Group for an estimated {{AUD}}30 million.

Following Great Southern Group's 2009 collapse, Moola Bulla was sold in 2010 to its former part-owner, the South African Western Australian Pastoral Company (also owner of Beefwood Park) for {{AUD}}20 million, with 25,000 head of cattle.{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-12-17/moola-bulla-station-sold/2377738|title=Moola Bulla Station sold|date=17 December 2010|accessdate=23 November 2014|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation}}

In December 2014, the pastoral lease, along with Mt. Amhurst, Beefwood Park and Shamrock Stations, was to become part of Gina Rinehart's Liveringa Station Beef company, pending approval of higher stock numbers by the Western Australian Pastoral Board. However, the deal fell through.{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-26/gina-rinehart-buys-more-cattle-stations-in-wa/5918982 |title=Mining magnate Gina Rinehart close to finalising deal to buy more Kimberley cattle stations as she expands Western Australian beef empire|author=Babs McHugh|date=26 November 2014|accessdate=26 November 2014|work=ABC Rural|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation}}

In November 2016, the pastoral lease, along with Mt. Amhurst, Beefwood Park and Shamrock Stations, was sold to Consolidated Australian Pastoral Holdings (CAPH).{{Cite web |date=2016-11-17 |title=Settlement completed on $100m Kimberley cattle land deal |url=https://www.beefcentral.com/property/settlement-completed-on-100m-kimberley-cattle-land-deal/ |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=Beef Central |language=en-US}}