Anlaby Station

Anlaby Station
Location in South Australia

Anlaby or Anlaby Station is a pastoral lease located about 12 kilometres (7 mi) south east of Marrabel and 14 kilometres (9 mi) north of Kapunda in the state of South Australia.

The locality was first explored by Europeans in March 1838 by the party of Hill, Wood, Willis, and Oakden, who were scouting an overlanding route from the Murray. The station is the oldest merino stud in Australia and was settled in 1839 by John Finniss.[1] The property was acquired in 1841 by Frederick Dutton, at which time it was at the frontier of European settlement.

In the early days Anlaby extended from near Kapunda to Tothill's Creek occupying an area of 160,000 acres (64,750 ha) with a length of 25 miles (40 km) and a width of 10 miles (16 km).[2] The neighbouring pastoralist to the west and north was W.S. Peter, while to the south was Bagot's Koonunga. To the east was the Murray scrub.

Aboriginal depredations on sheep resulted in a two-man mounted police station being established at Julia Creek 1842-46 to protect the Anlaby and Koonunga flocks. The property ran as many as 70,000 sheep and shearing lasted nine months employing 70 people.[3]

In 1843 a log hut was constructed for the manager Alexander Buchanan. The name of the run was also changed by Dutton from the Aboriginal name Pudna to Anlaby. Anlaby was the name of the Yorkshire village that his sister's husband hailed from.[2] By 1851 the size property had been reduced to 70,000 acres (28,328 ha) with the loss of another 24,000 acres (9,712 ha) so closer settlement could be made. Another 30,000 acres (12,141 ha) from Anlaby was subdivided for wheat farming up until 1917. Returned servicemen were allocated another 8,000 acres (3,237 ha) between 1918 and 1922.

Frederick Dutton died in 1890 and left Anlaby to his nephew Henry Dutton who promptly carried out extensive improvements. In 1907 Henry purchased the James Martin & Co. foundry and workshops in Gawler.[4] The stud was transferred in 1932 to Emily Dutton. The Anlaby Pastoral Company was formed in 1960 and took over control of the property. By 1968 the stud and property were acquired by the Mosey family. In early 2009 Andrew Morphett acquired Anlaby.[5]

The prolific author Geoffrey Dutton grew up at Anlaby and includes information about his ancestors in his 1985 book The Squatters.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Dutton, Francis Stacker (1818–1877)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. 1966. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Dutton Family Records". Government of South Australia. 8 March 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  3. ↑ "Anlaby Homestead". Nine Network. 23 May 2010. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  4. ↑ "Martin & Co's Works.". Bunyip (Gawler, SA: National Library of Australia). 16 April 1915. p. 2. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  5. ↑ "Stud Details Stud name: Anlaby". Australian Association of Stud Merino Breeders Limited. 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  6. ↑ "Papers of Geoffrey Dutton". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 19 November 2014.

Coordinates: 34°13′06″S 138°57′57″E / 34.2182°S 138.9659°E