Cattle Industry

Non-Aboriginal people are relatively recent arrivals in this country. Augustus Charles Gregory (1856) was the first to arrive in 1856. He explored the country at the southern end of what is now the Shire of Halls Creek around Burrwi (also known as Ngurriny or Tjurabalan or Sturt Creek) and Paruku (Lake Gregory).

In 1879 another party led by Alexander Forrest came from the north exploring the Ord and Margaret Rivers. Both expeditions reported favourably on the pastoral grazing potential of the region. It was this that prompted the first pastoralists to drive their cattle from Queensland and elsewhere to the eastern and central Kimberley.

When local Aboriginal people first encountered white (gudiya) cattlemen and their stock in the 1880's they initially thought they were white ghosts ('gudiya gugurr') because of their appearance. This occurred at a place called Mundarrbarri, also known as the 18 Mile.

The arrival of cattle made conflict between the pastoralists and Aboriginal people all but inevitable.  The Aboriginal social system had always worked to ensure that there was never any competition for water resources or for food amongst the people. But the existence of thousands of head of cattle meant that there most certainly was competition for resources.

For the stations were always established near water holes and in places of economic importance because of their fertility. In many instances these were also places of ritual significance to Aboriginal people.

The cattle were quickly followed by police and foreign laws which made it difficult for Aboriginal people to continue their traditional hunter and gatherer lifestyle. They had to compete with cattle for water in an arid land and grazing reduced the supply of native flora and fauna on which Aboriginal people depended.

There were murders and massacres. Frontier tensions culminated in the Sturt Creek Massacre. In 1922 the cook and manager of Billiluna Station were shot dead. Police pursued and shot the Aboriginal man thought to be responsible. Subsequently a general massacre of the local Aboriginal population ensued, spurred on by a punitive police expedition that was bent on revenge.

It was the norm for Aboriginal people to be carted off in neck chains over hundreds of kilometres, charged with cattle spearing and other offences. There are many reports of Aboriginal prisoners from this region being brought into Halls Creek or Wyndham in chains from the early 1900s right through until the end of the 1950s.

The Anthropologist Ronald Berndt was appalled:

It is urgently necessary that all forms of chaining Aborigines be abandoned at once, and that Aboriginal prisoners be treated in the same way as ‘white’ prisoners are treated, with the same protection against abuses … It is notorious in the Kimberleys, as in certain other areas, that the police (generally, but there are possibly some exceptions here) tend to be harsh in their treatment of Aborigines and those of Aboriginal extraction. The reasons for this are not always clear, but often they reflect the opinion and prejudice of the uninformed and unsympathetic public.

Over time Aboriginal people adapted to the presence of the cattlemen in their midst. Many Aboriginal people became skilled stockmen. In this way they were able to stay on their ancestral lands and continue their cultural obligations and responsibilities as custodians of country.

They began to congregate in camps near the homesteads. Aboriginal people’s knowledge of their country and waters made them invaluable to early pastoralists unfamiliar with the terrain. Many became great and valued stockmen.

Some cattle dynasties were forged in this country. Durrack and Buchanan's were the first. At one stage Lord Vestey owned numerous pastoral leases in the Halls Creek area including Flora Valley, Sturt Creek, Nicholson, Gordon Downs and Margaret River. Tom Quilty had Springvale, Bedford Downs and Lansdowne. The Bridge family had Mabel Downs, Alice Downs, Koonjie Park and Elvire. Ben Taylor owned Lamboo. These are legendary names in the history of the Halls Creek cattle industry.

The cattle industry brought some Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people together in enduring relationships. Bonnie Edwards mother was a local traditional Aboriginal woman named Topsy. Her father was a non-Aboriginal stockman Leslie James Banks Lawrence who had originally come to the Kimberley from the Dandenong Ranges in Eastern Victoria. He worked many stations in the Halls Creek area over many years, including Turner River and Flora Valley.

Life on the cattle stations, however harsh it may have been, at least allowed people to remain on their ancestral lands and to continue their culture and lifestyle in a great many respects.

Up until the late 1960's Aboriginal people on the stations were predominantly paid in rations; primarily flour, tea, sugar, station meat, tobacco and clothing.  Extended family members also lived on the stations, even if they were not employed. Aboriginal workers shared their rations with them.

Bonnie Edwards recalls being paid about $8 per month when she got her first job as a domestic working on Nicholson Station at the age of 15.  She feels that in her particular case she was generally treated well, but recalls hours spent polishing the station silver and brassware.

The introduction of award wages for workers in the pastoral industry from 1968 onwards had the unintended consequence of forcing most Aboriginal people off the stations and into town. Some stations signalled that from now on they would only provide rations and accommodation to those who worked as stockmen, not to their extended families.

As a result many people were displaced off their country. Prior to this time, they had only ever known a few intermittent periods of time when they might be absent from country. This was a new and traumatic experience for the people.

Award wages were not the only factor that reduced demand for Aboriginal labour. Other factors were also at work such as mechanisation, greater use of sub-divisional fencing to control stock, use of cattle trapping, the introduction of road transport (replacing the old cattle droving), and the introduction of helicopter mustering.

Many station owners said it was not economic to retain their previous workforce, particularly where there were whole extended families and communities to support.

Most Aboriginal people were forced to relocate to towns such as Halls Creek. In more recent decades some have re-gained possession of ancestral lands by acquiring ownership of cattle leases such as Billiluna, Lake Gregory, Koongie Park, Lamboo, Louisa Downs, Mount Pierre and Bohemia Downs.

Aboriginal people once again have opportunities to return to the cattle industry.

The cattle industry remains central to the identity of many people in Halls Creek, even those who may have never worked on a station.

It was here in this region that Western Australia's first Aboriginal pastoralists, families such as the Bridge's established themselves. Many Aboriginal people have proudly taken their Anglo surnames from the places where they once worked. The Gordon family name for instance derives from Gordon Downs. 

Others ‘borrowed’ their surname from a former station owner or other employee. The Stretch family, for example, take their name from a former owner of Sturt Creek Station. To this day many local residents continue to proudly sport the trappings of cattle culture; cowboy boots, jeans, checked shirts, rodeos and country music.