Newcastle Waters Station
| Company type | Pastoral lease |
|---|---|
| Industry | Cattle ranching |
| Founded | Early 1880s |
| Founder | Dr. W.J. Browne |
| Headquarters | Newcastle Waters , Australia |
Area served | Northern Territory |
| Products | Cattle |
Newcastle Waters Station is a pastoral lease positioned between Alice Springs and Darwin, encompassing an area of 10,353 square kilometres. This well-irrigated property supports a herd of approximately 45,000 cattle. Among its notable associations, media tycoon Kerry Packer once held a partnership interest, and his son James Packer spent a year working there.
Description
Located roughly north of Alice Springs and south of Darwin, the station is situated close to the community of Elliot, approximately southeast. The property features a mix of open grasslands, floodplains, and wooded sandhill terrain. It maintains a cattle population near 45,000 head, including about 20,000 brahman breeding stock. Each year, around 13,000 cattle are prepared for export markets in Indonesia.
History
The region was first explored by John McDouall Stuart in 1861, who named the river "Newcastle Waters" in honour of the Duke of Newcastle. The station was founded in the early 1880s by Dr. W.J. Browne from Adelaide, who also established Springvale Station near Katherine. Alfred Giles managed the property initially, with stockman D'Arcy Uhr driving cattle from Queensland in 1883. Browne sold the lease to John Lewis in 1895; the Lewis family maintained ownership for fifty years.
Initially devoted to sheep grazing until 1897, Newcastle Waters transitioned to cattle ranching in the early 1900s, with substantial cattle sales recorded by 1905 and again in 1910. The station experienced quarantines due to pleuropneumonia outbreaks in both 1921 and 1927. Following severe flooding caused by heavy rains in 1929 near the police station, the government resumed one square mile of land from the station in 1930 to establish a township. By the 1960s, road trains had largely replaced traditional cattle droving methods, contributing to the town’s decline.
In 1951, a significant bushfire consumed over along a front; station personnel employed backburning techniques to manage the blaze. In 1965, folk singer and former Northern Territory Administrator Ted Egan became stranded at Newcastle Waters due to flooding.
In 1983, Kerry Packer formed a partnership with Ken Warriner, Peter Baillieu, and Tony Chisholm to purchase the property. Packer’s subsequent attempt to acquire Victoria River Downs Station was blocked by government authorities in 1984. Prior to selling Newcastle Waters alongside sixteen other properties from his family’s pastoral holdings to Terra Firma Capital Partners for AUD 425 million in 2009, James Packer worked there as a jackaroo.
Another bushfire event occurred in 2012 when a vehicle fire on the Stuart Highway ignited surrounding pasture; station staff successfully contained the fire before it reached Lake Longreach.
The traditional custodians obtained native title over sections of Newcastle Waters and adjacent lands covering approximately , becoming the fourth Indigenous group in the Northern Territory to achieve this recognition. The Federal Court conducted a ceremonial sitting on location to commemorate this achievement; this native title determination also includes ten other pastoral leases as well as the town of Daly Waters.