If
anyone ever wondered what it would be like
to start with a clean slate and design
a Sheep Station then the massive Rawlinna
Station is a glowing example of the result
of planning from the very beginning. The
Station was developed from a survey peg
in the ground in the late 1960’s
by the current Managing Director,
H.G. MacLachlan.
Located 400km East of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Rawlinna adjoins
the Transcontinental Railway line and the Eyre Highway with a total area
of approximately 2.5 million acres.
The size and distances involved at Rawlinna have to be seen to be believed
and development of the Station was completed with a laneway complex running
from the extremities of the Station to the 16 stand shearing shed centrally
located at Depot Outstation. An example of the massive scale of the Station
is that one paddock took 8 hours to muster with the wind and sheep all
in the “right place”.
The Station plane logged 8 hours for
the muster.
The Manager, Michael Simons started with Jumbuck Pastoral as a Jackaroo in 1983 and has managed "Lake Everard" and "Mulgathing" prior to being transferred to Rawlinna. Michael is married to Anne and they have two children, Elise and Sam. Michael runs Rawlinna with the help of 14 staff.
The average rainfall is 9” and daily temperatures are about 38
degrees in the summer and 19 degrees in the winter.
Shearing of the Station’s 70,000 sheep usually starts in February
with mustering beginning up to three weeks before. Mustering and droving
is done on motor bikes with the use of an aircraft to locate the sheep.
Wool is generally delivered to Adelaide to be core tested and the opportunity
to have most of the Station’s annual merchandise needs supplied
as backloading is always taken. Sheep are often sold privately on the
property.
Rawlinna hosts a very successful Gymkhana known as the “Nullarbor
Muster” in the last weekend of April.
