Anna Creek Station facts for kids
Anna Creek Station is the biggest working cattle station in the world. It is located in the Australian state of South Australia.
Contents
What is Anna Creek Station?
Anna Creek Station is a huge area of land, about 23,677 square kilometers (9,142 square miles). To give you an idea, it's much bigger than the largest ranch in the United States, which is the King Ranch in Texas. Anna Creek is over seven times its size!
This station is in a very dry area. It is used for raising cattle. Since 2016, a family business called the Williams Cattle Company has owned Anna Creek. They bought it from another company, S. Kidman & Co. The closest small town is William Creek, which is actually surrounded by Anna Creek Station. The nearest bigger town for getting supplies is Coober Pedy.
History of Anna Creek
The station first started in 1863. It moved to its current spot in 1872. At first, they raised sheep there. But wild dogs called dingos kept attacking the sheep. So, the station owners decided to switch to cattle instead.
In 2013, the government of South Australia officially named the area of the station 'Anna Creek'.
Anna Creek in Recent Times
Even though it's huge, Anna Creek Station sometimes has fewer cattle. For example, during a big drought in the 2000s, they only had about 1,500 cattle. This was a very small number for such a large place.
After floods in 2010, the land got better. The station was able to get more cattle. By 2011, they had 10,000 cattle. In a good season, Anna Creek can have up to 16,500 cattle. They raise a special type of cattle called Santa Gertrudis cattle. These cattle are good at living in hot, dry places.
In 2016, the Williams Cattle Company bought Anna Creek Station. This family business from South Australia planned to invest a lot. They wanted to build new water sources and yards for trucks. This would help them raise even more cattle on the station.
Life at Anna Creek
Anna Creek Station has a main homestead, which is like the main house and buildings. It also has an outstation called The Peake. These places are very far from other towns. But they have satellite communication, so people there can watch TV and use the internet.
A special mail service called the Coober Pedy Oodnadatta One Day Mail Run delivers mail twice a week. It can also bring small packages. Some old ruins on the station are protected because they are historically important. These include the ruins of an old telegraph office and a mine site.
In the past, many stockmen worked at Anna Creek. They would gather the cattle using horses. Today, things are different. Workers use small planes to spot the cattle. Then, stockmen on motorbikes round them up. This means fewer people are needed to do the work now.
See Also
- List of the largest stations in Australia
