Carlton Hill Station
| Company type | Pastoral lease |
|---|---|
| Industry | Cattle station |
| Founded | 1893 |
| Founder | Patrick Durack and Michael Durack |
| Headquarters | Kimberley , Australia |
Area served | Kimberley, Western Australia |
| Products | Cattle (Brahman breeding cows, steers) |
| Owner | Shanghai Zhongfu (Kimberley Agricultural Investment) |
Number of employees | 20 (2010) |
Carlton Hill Station operates as a pastoral lease and cattle station situated in the Kimberley area of Western Australia. It is positioned approximately northwest of Kununurra and eastward from Wyndham, encompassing an area of .
The station occupies land traditionally owned by the Gajirrawoong and Miriwung peoples, whose native title rights were officially acknowledged by the Federal Court of Australia in 2006.
The property is divided by the course of the Ord River, which flows from Lake Argyle down to the Cambridge Gulf. Carlton Hill shares boundaries with Ivanhoe Station, another property held by the Consolidated Pastoral Company.
The terrain includes alluvial flats and black soil plains that provide abundant grazing resources such as couch and buffel. Together, Carlton Hill and Ivanhoe manage a combined herd of 50,000 cattle, featuring 18,000 Brahman breeding cows. The station annually produces roughly 9,000 steers destined for live export markets across Asia and the Middle East.
History
Founded in 1893 by siblings Patrick Durack and Michael Durack, Carlton Hill had approximately 3,000 cattle on its grounds by 1901.
In 1909, Sidney Kidman’s enterprise Bovril Australian Estates purchased Carlton Hill along with Northcote and Victoria River Downs stations for a sum of £200,000.
In August 2016, ownership of Carlton Hill transferred from the Consolidated Pastoral Company to Shanghai Zhongfu (operating as Kimberley Agricultural Investment), a Chinese development firm. CPC arranged a leaseback agreement for ten years to maintain cattle operations over most of the property.
By 2010, station manager Stirling Fearon supervised a workforce of 20 during the annual cattle muster, which was mainly carried out on horseback using traditional station stock horses.
Significantly, director Baz Luhrmann selected House Roof Hill within Carlton Hill as the setting for the fictional Faraway Downs homestead in his 2008 motion picture Australia.
Tourism
During the Ord Valley Muster event, visitors can join tours at the station that include a stop at the Hoochery, a family-run distillery recognized as Western Australia’s oldest licensed still.