Inverway Station


Inverway Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the Northern Territory.

Location

Situated approximately north west of Lajamanu and south west of Daguragu in the Victoria River district. The property was originally much larger until it was carved up into Inverway, Bunda and Riveren Stations. Inverway is bounded by Bunda to the west, Riveren to the east, Limbunya to the north and Birrindudu Station to the south.

Description

The property currently occupies an area of and is stocked with a herd of 17,000 cattle. The country is a mix of black soil plains covered with pastures of Mitchell grass, Queensland Blue and silky brown top grasses. The red dirt country supports stands of spinifex.

History

The area was originally scouted by Nat Buchanan and his son Gordon. The three Farquharson brothers; Archie, Harry and Hugh acquired the lease to the holding in 1894. The men stocked the property by overlanding cattle from Inverell. By 1905 the property was struck by drought and in 1909 the dry had still not lifted. Cool weather helped the men make the decision over drove the cattle over the dry Murranji Track despite there being no water along the way. Over 1,000 cattle were taken and the only five were lost on the journey that took five days.
The Farquharsons remained at the property until the 1940s. Archie was the sole remaining owner in 1946 when he sold a large portion of the station. He remained on the property living in the log homestead he had built with his brothers until his death in 1950. He is buried at Inverway along with one of his brothers.
The Westaway family bought the property in 1956 and placed on the market in 2007. The Underwood family acquired the property later the same year at auction for 17.65 million.
Mick and Georgia Underwood sold the property in a private sale along with Riveren Station in 2013 to the Indonesian company, Japfa Santori for an estimated 35 million. The decision came following live export ban on livestock by the Gillard government in 2011. The station had been passed in at auction in 2012 for 15 million.