Nappa Merrie

The property is located {{convert|40|km|mi|0}} north east of Innamincka and {{convert|260|km|mi|0}} south east of Birdsville in the Channel Country of Queensland. It has double frontage to Cooper Creek and is bounded to the west by the South Australian border.

The property has a limited number of channels through the area but is part of a natural floodplain and contains low lying swamps that provide excellent feed after floodouts that last until the dry season. The homestead has been built above and adjacent to the Nappa Merrie waterhole.

The station currently occupies an area of {{convert|7275|km2|sqmi|0}} and is able to carry 11,000 head of cattle. It is currently owned by Morella Agriculture (David Coulton) and is managed by Peter Degoumois.{{cite web|url=http://www.kidman.com.au/properties/12/nappa-merrie/|title=Nappa Merrie|year=2012|accessdate=5 May 2013|publisher=S. Kidman & Co.|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130502235323/http://kidman.com.au/properties/12/nappa%2dmerrie|archivedate=2 May 2013|df=dmy-all}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/story/4272255/coultons-buy-nappa-merrie/|title=Coultons buy Nappa Merrie|last=Phelps|first=Mark|date=4 November 2016|work=Queensland Country Life|access-date=7 January 2018|language=en|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170529195900/http://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/story/4272255/coultons-buy-nappa-merrie/|archivedate=29 May 2017|df=dmy-all}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.beefcentral.com/property/property-pre-emptive-strike-secures-channel-countrys-famed-nappa-merrie/|title=Property: Pre-emptive strike secures Channel Country's famed Nappa Merrie - Beef Central|date=4 November 2016|work=Beef Central|access-date=7 January 2018|language=en-US|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161117185503/http://www.beefcentral.com/property/property-pre-emptive-strike-secures-channel-countrys-famed-nappa-merrie/|archivedate=17 November 2016|df=dmy-all}}

The traditional owners of the area are the Wongkumara people. The name means "sandhill waterhole" and comes from the words ngappa meaning water and merri meaning sandhill.{{cite book |last1=Tolcher |first1=Helen |title=Conrick of Nappa Merrie, a pioneer of Cooper Creek |date=1997 |publisher=Itter |location=Swan Hill |url=https://asrp.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/conrick-of-nappa-merrie_the-book.pdf}}

British explorers started to enter the area from 1845 with the expedition led by Captain Charles Sturt. Augustus Charles Gregory journeyed through the region in 1858, while the 1860-61 Burke and Wills expedition made the area famous for the camps they made in the vicinity of ngappa merri, including the Dig Tree camp.

The pastoral station of Nappa Merrie was established along Cooper Creek in 1873 by colonist John Conrick.{{cite web|url=http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/conrick-john-241|title='Conrick, John (1852–1926)', Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography|year=2012|accessdate=5 May 2013|publisher=Australian National University|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903210709/http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/conrick-john-241|archivedate=3 September 2014|df=dmy-all}} Conrick and five companions, all under the age of 21 and guided by Wongkumara man Jimmy Bostock, overlanded a herd of 1,600 cattle to the property from Koroit, Victoria.{{cite web|url=http://www.thargotourism.com.au/dig-tree|title=Dig Tree - Nappa Merrie|accessdate=19 May 2013|year=2012|publisher=Bulloo Shire Council|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130411131516/http://www.thargotourism.com.au/dig-tree|archivedate=11 April 2013|df=dmy-all}}tolcher

Conrick initially constructed the head station at Baryulah waterhole, but after floods and violence with the numerous local Aboriginal people, he soon moved it to the Bullah Bullah waterhole where Burke and Wills had previously established their depot. In 1876, former Native Police officer John Bligh Nutting formed the Chastleton run on the north side of Cooper Creek across from Nappa Merrie. This property was named after Nutting's home town of Chastleton in England where his father had been a reverend. A Native Police detachment under Sub-Inspector Walter Cheeke was stationed at Chastleton in 1877, and committed a massacre of the resident Aboriginal population.

The Conrick family later took up the Chastleton lease, amalgamating it with Nappa Merrie. The Conricks stayed on the station for the next 83 years. From 1892 to 1934 the property was running mostly sheep with only a few cattle. Remains of fences and an old wool scour can still be found on the property. Much of the labouring at Nappa Merrie at this time was done by the remnant Wongkumara people. However, by the 1940s there was only three Aboriginal labourers present. At one point a flock of 46,000 head of sheep were grazing on the property resulting in the land collapsing and the station being vacated for a time.{{cite web|url=http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/reps/commttee/r4225.pdf|title=Official Committee Hansard - House of Representatives - Standing Committee on Environment and Heritage|date=September 2000|accessdate=19 May 2013|publisher=Commonwealth of Australia|url-status=bot: unknown|archiveurl=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20020513140000/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/24569/20020514-0000/www.aph.gov.au/hansard/reps/commttee/r4225.pdf|archivedate=13 May 2002|df=dmy-all}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} In the late 1940s the Tancred brothers invested in the company with Harry Tancred later appointed as the chairman of directors. Shortly afterwards the Lake Pure lease was acquired. Cattle grazing, which had been confined to the channels and wetlands, was expanded after bores were sunk in the plains away from the channel country allowing stock to roam further.

The entire area was struck by drought in 1946 with many cattle dying and properties destocking.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article133046638 |title=Drought Closes On South-West Queensland. |newspaper=Western Grazier |location=Wilcannia, New South Wales |date=15 November 1946 |accessdate=9 October 2014 |page=4 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

Airmail delivery to remote properties in outback South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland commenced in 1949. Nappa Merrie along with other remote properties including Mungerannie, Clifton Hills, Glengyle, Davenport Downs, Morney Plains, Mount Leonard, Durrie, Mulka, Tanbar, Durham Downs, Cordillo Downs, Lake Pure and Naryilco were also on the route.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article140892061 |title=Airmail Service For Outback Stations Commences Next Week. |newspaper=Barrier Daily Truth |location=Broken Hill, New South Wales |date=15 April 1949 |accessdate=23 August 2014 |page=1 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

Cooper Creek broke its banks in 1950 resulting in widespread flooding through the area.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48626192 |title=Floods in the state have caused heavy damage |newspaper=Barrier Miner |location=Broken Hill, New South Wales |date=13 June 1950 |accessdate=9 October 2014 |page=8 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

In 1954 the station was sold, Nappa Merrie included the Lake Pure and Chastleton leases and occupied an area of {{convert|2833|sqmi|km2|0}} and was sold to the Playford River Pastoral Company by the Tancred Brothers and Conrick family.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article97443098|title=Nappa Merrie Sold.|newspaper=Queensland Country Life |location=Queensland|date=16 September 1954 |accessdate=5 May 2013 |page=21 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

Oil and gas exploration and extraction began on Nappa Merrie and the surrounding region in the latter half of the 20th Century. Construction of the large Ballera gas plant processing facility near Ballera creek on Nappa Merrie started in 1991 and was completed and upgraded in 1997.{{cite web |title=Official opening of upgraded Ballera Gas Plant |url=https://www.santos.com/news/official-opening-of-upgraded-ballera-gas-plant/ |website=Santos |access-date=29 July 2023}}

Peter "Whip" Degoumious became the manager of Nappa Merrie in 2004 when it was still owned by the Stanbroke Pastoral Company. S. Kidman & Co. took up the lease in 2007 for a seven-year period.{{cite web|url=http://www.kentsaddlery.com.au/articles/2009/nappa-merrie-sw-qld|title=Nappa Merrie, SW Qld - Nearly a Circle|publisher=Kent Saddlery|date=11 February 2009|accessdate=16 May 2013|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130627221332/http://www.kentsaddlery.com.au/articles/2009/nappa-merrie-sw-qld|archivedate=27 June 2013|df=dmy-all}}

Bushfires swept through the area in late 2011 burning a large portion of the station resulting in the loss of feed for stock.{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/09/20/3370673.htm|title=Fires updates for western Qld, October 2011|date=18 November 2011|accessdate=8 October 2014|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141113082444/http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/09/20/3370673.htm|archivedate=13 November 2014|df=dmy-all}}

In November 2016, the property was purchased by Morella Agriculture.

Approximately 30,000-35,000 people enter Nappa Merrie every year to visit the heritage-listed Burke and Wills Dig Tree, situated on a small reserve held in the name of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland.{{cite web|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.arc-134604-20120615-0000-www.southwestnrm.org.au/sites/default/files/uploads/ihub/conservation-outside-nature-reserves-8_0.pdf|title=On the process of extending conservation beyond nature reserves|author1=Hugh Lavery|author2=Tom Kirkpatrick|author3=David Foote|accessdate=19 May 2013|year=1997}} The tree was made famous for its part in the Burke and Wills expedition and is situated near Bullah Bullah waterhole, part of Cooper Creek about {{convert|6|km|mi|1}} from the station homestead.{{cite web|url=http://www.burkeandwills.net.au/Memorials/heritage.html|archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20081002215000/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/88665/20081003-0750/www.burkeandwills.net.au/Memorials/heritage.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 October 2008|title=Heritage Listed Sites|accessdate=19 May 2013|year=2008|publisher=Pandora Web Archive}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

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{{Coord|27.596|S|141.106|E|type:landmark_region:AU-QLD|display=title}}

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Category:Stations in Queensland

Category:South West Queensland

Category:1871 establishments in Australia