Meeberrie facts for kids
Meeberrie is a large farm, known as a 'station', located in the Murchison district of Western Australia. It's about 160 kilometers (or 100 miles) north of a town called Mullewa.
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About Meeberrie Station
Meeberrie Station is a very large property. It covers an area of about 1,852 square kilometers (715 square miles). To give you an idea, that's bigger than many cities! A small part of this land, about 118 square kilometers, is made up of special nature areas and government-owned land.
Who Lived Here First?
The first people to lease this land and start the station were the Butcher family. They moved all the way from Victoria in 1876 to begin their new life here.
The Old Homestead Building
The main house on the station, called the homestead, is very old and special. It was designed by an architect and built between 1917 and 1919 using local stone. It has a strong iron roof and a verandah that goes all the way around the building. You can also see two bay windows that stick out. Behind the main house, there's another building where young farm trainees, called jackaroos, used to live. This building also had a laundry and a storeroom. The homestead is now considered a heritage place, which means it's important to history and protected.
A Long Journey with Sheep
In 1915, a man named Alf Cream had to move 2,350 sheep from another station called Boolathana to Meeberrie. This was a very long trip! It should have taken about five weeks, but heavy rain made the journey last nine weeks. It rained for twenty days straight, making the land very wet. The Wooramel River even rose by 20 feet (about 6 meters), and the drovers had to wait nine days for the water to go down before they could cross.
Australia's Biggest On-Land Earthquake
Meeberrie Station was the center of a huge natural event on April 29, 1941. A powerful earthquake, measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, shook the property. Some even say it was a 7.2 magnitude quake! This was the largest earthquake ever recorded on land in Australia.
