Mundabullangana Station

Child Places

• 18445 Mundabullangana Wool Shed - Shearing Shed

Statement of Significance

Mundabullangara Homestead is significant as a fine representative example of a pastoral homestead. It has significant associations with pioneering pastoralists MacKays, in the 1870s and their organised labour, with the use of Asian indentured labourers, mainly Malays and Cantonese Chinese, and was the first station in the Pilbara to introduce the payment of award wages for Aboriginal workers.

Physical Description

Single storey bluestone and concrete homestead has an expansive single pitched
roof and a surrounding verandah supported by cast iron posts. Features include a
large concrete arch entrance and full-length shuttered doors open onto the
verandahs.

Oasis. The homestead group comprising: the homestead, the windmill room, store,
old kitchen, grave, and other more utilitarian structures are located around an
expansive grassed area.

History

It is recorded that a sealed history is stored in a bottle built into a corner of the building. Mundabullangara Homestead was the first pastoral lease taken up in the region south west of Port Hedland by European settlers, the MacKays, who between 1872 and 1923 developed it into one of the largest and most successful enterprises of its kind that has continued pastoral use into the twenty-first century. The MacKays organised labour in the latter part of the nineteenth century, with the use of Asian indentured labourers, mainly Malays and Cantonese Chinese, which was not a widespread practice in the pastoral industry, and was the first station in the Pilbara to introduce the payment of award wages for Aboriginal workers, in the mid 1940s, under the management of R. F. Lukis, and maintained a longstanding use of Aboriginal labour, from the 1880s to the 1960s. It was the first pastoral station in the North-West of Western Australia at which Birdwood Grass was sown and, following success it became widely used in the region.
The significant shearing shed and woolstore were demolished in cyclone in recent decades.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: High degree
Authenticity: High degree

Changes to place: Minimal evident

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.