Moolooloo facts for kids
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Moolooloo Station is a large property in South Australia. It is also known as Moolooloo and Moorillah Stations. This station is a type of farm called a sheep station, where many sheep are raised.
It is located about 15 kilometres (9 mi) north-west of Blinman. It is also about 47 kilometres (29 mi) south of Leigh Creek.
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About Moolooloo Station
Moolooloo Station is a big piece of land used for farming. It is known as a "pastoral lease," which means the land is rented from the government for farming animals. On a sheep station, the main activity is raising sheep for their wool and meat.
The Beginning of Moolooloo
The Moolooloo property started in 1851. It was first called Oratunga Station. Two brothers, John McKinley and his brother, were the first to bring sheep to the land. They built a stone hut called Howannigan, and you can still see its old ruins today.
In 1853, two other brothers, John and James Chambers, took over the station. They were "pastoralists," which means they managed large areas of land for grazing animals. Between 1853 and 1858, they rented five different areas of land. These areas added up to about 18 square miles (47 km2) in total.
Discovering Copper
In 1857, James Chambers and William Finke found copper on the southern part of the station. They started a mine there, which they called the Oratunga mine.
Sadly, in 1861, the store at Moolooloo caught fire. A big explosion happened, and the Chambers brothers lost many of their supplies. A few years later, in 1863, another fire accidentally destroyed the woolshed and the sheep yards next to it. A woolshed is a building where sheep are shorn (their wool is cut off).
Changing Owners
In 1870, a company owned by Philip Levi sold many of its properties. Moolooloo was one of them. Other properties sold at the same time included Wirrealpa, Oulnina, Wadnaminga, Mount Margaret, and Booleroo Station. Together, all these properties had more than 70,000 sheep and 3,000 cattle.
Moolooloo Today
Today, Moolooloo Station and Moorillah Station are run by the same family. Together, these two stations cover a huge area of about 609 square kilometres (235 sq mi).
The buildings where the shearers (people who shear sheep) used to live are now used for tourists to stay. This means visitors can experience what it's like on a working sheep station.
On April 26, 2013, the Government of South Australia officially named the land of the Moolooloo pastoral lease as two separate places. These places are now called Moolooloo and Moorillah.
