Jimba Jimba Station facts for kids
Jimba Jimba Station, often called Jimba Jimba, is a very large property in Western Australia. It's like a huge farm that raises animals. It used to be a sheep station, where they raised sheep for their wool. Now, it's a cattle station, which means they raise cows there.
This station is located about 150 kilometres (93 mi) east of a town called Carnarvon. It's also about 310 kilometres (193 mi) north of Kalbarri. The Gascoyne River flows along the property for about 50-kilometre (31 mi) of its length. The land also touches the Kennedy Range area.
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History of Jimba Jimba Station
Jimba Jimba Station began in 1878. It was started by two people named G. Hamersley and S. Simms. Back then, the property covered a huge area of about 100,000 acres (40,469 ha). By 1885, the station had new owners. It was bought by Samuel James Phillips and his brother, John H. Phillips.
Floods and Sheep Farming
In 1896, Jimba Jimba and other nearby properties had a very bad flood. Heavy rains caused the Gascoyne River to overflow its banks. Many animals were lost because of the rising water.
By 1906, the Phillips family still owned Jimba Jimba. They had a lot of sheep, about 23,000 of them. These sheep were shorn, and their wool was collected. They produced 290 large bundles of wool that year.
Philip Ryan was the manager of the station until 1907. Then, Douglas Philips, who was John Phillip's son, took over managing the property. In 1911, the station had another good year for wool. They produced 400 large bundles of wool. After John and Samuel Phillips passed away, Douglas inherited the property in 1921. In 1926, about 19,000 sheep were shorn, producing 475 bundles of wool.
In 1954, a team of eight shearers worked at Jimba Jimba. Led by Bill Young, they managed to shear 8,205 sheep in just 38 and a half hours!
The Big Flood of 2010
A very long dry period, called a drought, ended in 2010. The area had its wettest day ever recorded. This caused huge floods along the Gascoyne River. The water levels rose incredibly high, up to 17 metres (56 ft) above normal. The floodwaters almost completely surrounded the main house, called the homestead. People even had to be rescued from their rooftops by a police helicopter!
Amazing Fossils at Jimba Jimba
The Jimba Jimba Station is so important that a rock layer was named after it! It's called the Early Permian Jimba Jimba Formation. This rock layer is part of a larger group of rocks called the Wooramel Group.
In the limestone rocks of this formation, many amazing fossils have been found. These include fossilized bivalves (like clams), gastropods (like snails), and brachiopods (another type of sea creature). A special type of crinoid (a sea lily fossil) called Jimbacrinus bostocki was also found near the station. It was found in sandstone rocks of the Cundlego Formation and was also named after Jimba Jimba.
