Wallal Downs Station Group

Physical Description

Wallal Downs Station Group comprises a small complex of utilitarian sheds and farm buildings and residential buildings surrounded by open landscape. The structures date from the 1920s through to the present, with a number of later cyclone rated residential and operations structures built after the devastation of Cyclone Laurence in 2009. The main homestead building (Homestead) and adjacent ablutions block, Kitchen, and Single Quarters (North), are located in a cluster in the eastern side of the group. The group is separated from the garage building and car parking area to the west by a fence. A small fenced grave site with marble headstone is located approximately 80 metres north of the Married Quarters building. It is the only known grave site on the station and is dedicated ‘In Loving Memory of Geoffrey Wyndham. Husband of Margaret, Father of Alex, Marjorie, Alward (sic) and Frank. Died 11th August 1952’.

History

Wallal Downs Station Group comprises a small collection of stone buildings and structures, archaeological deposits and structural remains dating from the 1920s as well as more recent permanent and temporary buildings and sheds, which form part of the homestead complex associated within the large 600,000 acre pastoral station of Wallal Downs, the southernmost station in the Kimberley region. The station originally grazed sheep but is now a cattle station.
The first lease of Wallal Downs Station and homestead was taken up in about 1900 by Messrs Piper and Galbraith who were bought out by Somerset in 1910. In the early 1920s a syndicate of ten returned soldiers bought the sheep station property. The stone section of the Homestead dates from c. 1922, as do two of the Stone Water Tanks and the aqueduct. In 1922 the station comprised six white men, including the owner/managers Davidson, Lacey and King, and approximately fifty Aboriginal men and women.
In late 1922 Wallal Downs Station briefly became internationally significant due to its location along the path of totality of a solar eclipse. In August and September 1922, Wallal Station was the site of an important scientific astronomic expedition led by the University of California’s Lick Observatory and including contingents from Australia, the University of Toronto, India, and a private party from England.
In June 1928, it was reported that the Wallal Downs Station Homestead had been destroyed by fire, and the original 1900 structure was used as the homestead. During WWII, the isolation of the place meant it was under threat from Japanese attack and invasion. Two Flying Dornier Boats flying Dutch refugees fleeing Java landed at Wallal, having lost their way to Broome, and subsequently avoided the Flying Boats Massecre there. The refugees were hosted at Wallal station for four days before they could fly on to safety.
Following the death of Reg King in 1973, the remaining members of the syndicate surrendered the lease of the property.
In December 2009, Eighty Mile Beach and Wallal Downs Station were hit by a category 5 storm, Cyclone Laurence. The storm wrought severe damage across the Kimberley and along the Pilbara coastline, including considerable damage to the Wallal Downs Station. Several buildings were completely destroyed during the storm, including the ‘Old Stone Building (Ruins)’ and the shearers' kitchen/dining room, and others required considerable repair works. The structural debris and rubble was removed by machinery soon after the cyclone to reduce the snake hazard.

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