Mallina Station

Statement of Significance

Mallina Station is of significance as one of the earliest pastoral stations in the region.
Mallina Station is the site one of the earliest gold discoveries in the North West. The original windmill still operates and reminders of the gold rush era remain.
The station complex is also of research significance for the way it represents changes in pastoral life over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Physical Description

Mallina homestead complex includes evidence of 16 identified buildings and structures dating from a range of periods and in various states of condition. Refer to the site plan for detail; key historical structures are described below with corresponding numbers.
Homestead (3) – The homestead is constructed of concrete walls with a curved corrugated iron vaulted roof. The concrete and tile floor covers the original flagstone floors. The roof over the living room is a double skinned corrugated iron vault roof, added in the 1920s. This serves as protection against the heat and the gap between the two skins was once filled with brushwood for insulation.
The layout of the homestead building reflects the mode of life of Pilbara stations – there are no internal passages or formal entry. In addition, the kitchen block was originally separate from the main building and there is an extensive verandah around the building. There is a breezeway at the south, between the central part of the house and a demountable. The verandahs are constructed of rail posts and rafters, the latter placed over the verandah roof sheeting to prevent it being lifted by cyclones. The northernmost homestead block is aligned on a north-south axis. This block consists of a living room with a flat galvanised iron sheet roof and has a fireplace and chimney at the south end. At the north end of the verandah there is a modern enclosure, which provides a kitchen and dining room of timber framed construction. The walls of the living block are of concrete block work. The bedroom wing is on an east-west axis and has a corrugated iron vaulted roof of one skin.1
Cookhouse, Mess and Original Store (5) –This building is adjacent to the homestead and has a curved corrugated iron vaulted roof and a skillion roof over the ‘store’. The walls are of corrugated iron and there is a concrete floor. Corrugated iron window awning shutters open out of the store, from where meat, groceries and goods would have been purchased from the station.
Shed (6) – This structure has a corrugated iron roof with external steel post supports, corrugated iron walls and a concrete floor. Adjacent is a meat shed (11). This is constructed of mesh and corrugated iron to dado walls, with wooden and metal post frame and a concrete floor. This structure does not have a roof.
Shed (8) – This structure has a corrugated iron roof and walls, wooden and metal post frame, a concrete floor and a partially enclosed verandah.
Shearing Shed (14) – This building is the original shearing shed, but it has been converted to a garage and storage shed since the conversion from sheep to cattle. It is constructed of corrugated iron roof and walls, timer frame, concrete and earth floor with shearing pens in the south-east corner.

History

Mallina Station was one of the earliest pastoral leases in the North West, with the lease being taken up by the Withnell family in the late 1870s/early 1880s.
Gold was discovered at Mallina homestead in January 1888; Jimmy Withnell and his brother Harding were carrying out work on the station and on returning from the bush, where they had been to get timber, they noticed a crow sitting on their lunch box. Jimmy picked up a stone to shy at it and noticed something shining in it which proved to be gold. This was one of the earliest reported discoveries of gold in the North West.
Two deposits were worked close to the homestead; one 100 m to the north of the homestead and another 500 m east-northeast of the homestead. At the peak of production, in approximately 1890, there were up to 150 miners working on Millina station. Indeed in 1892, arrangements were being made for the flotation of the Mallina mine ‘considered one of the finest properties in the district.’2
A number of other mining companies started up the Mallina area, with two of the more substantial sites being the Station Peak gold mine and Towerana gold mine. Following the establishment of gold mining at Mallina, the township came into existence to cater for the growing needs of the district. Mallina was gazetted as a Townsite in 1896; street names included Roe St, Davis St, Hester St, Kerr St and Withnell St.3 Little evidence remains of the townsite and it is likely that the built structures were minimal.
Mr S. P. McKay took over the lease of the station from the Withnells and in 1900 subsequently sold it to Milton and Frank Murray and Archie Campell, who managed the station for the syndicate. Archie Capell’s son, Noble, inherited a portion of Sherlock station in 1900 and a piece of Balla Balla country was acquired from J. G. Mears and these were added to the Mallina lease.
The homestead building was remodelled in the 1920s to deal with the harsh climatic conditions. These modifications included the construction of a double skinned corrugated iron vault over the living room as protection against heat, and also the use of railway line rafters fixed over the verandah roof sheeting to protect the sheeting being lifted by cyclones.
There is an old grave at Mallina station which dates back to the gold rush days. The headstone is constructed of cast iron.
Mallina Station is described in 1920 as ‘one of the best of the spinifex properties... a comparatively small proportion of worthless country, abundance of shade, safe in flood time.’ The station is described as carrying a ‘fair herbage for a few months after heavy rains.’ 4 The station had about 20,000 sheep and 180 horses, with 30 mills and 2 permanent wells. Wool was carted to Whim Creek and then by tram to Balla Balla landing.
Today Mallina Station is a working cattle station comprising 300,000 hectares of vast spinifex plains, mountain ranges and gorges running from the Chichester Ranges to the Indian Ocean. The property, traversed by the Sherlock River, also provides a home for a myriad of bird and wildlife.

Archaeology

There is the potential for archaeology in locating the remains of the old Mallina townsite.
The station buildings also provide insights into the working of the pastoral station over time. There is also clear evidence of adaptation to the conditions and the nature of station life, especially with the use of materials to protect against heat and cyclones.

Integrity/Authenticity

Moderate

Condition

Fair

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.