Australian Outback Pioneers, the Duracks
From Ireland to Australia with Pioneering Spirit & Survival Instinct
Shortly after arriving in Australia, Michael Durack died in a wagon accident in New South Wales leaving his enterprising son, Patsy, with the family reins. Patsy set himself up financially by achieving his goals of selling a wagon load of goods at the goldfields and finding £1000 worth of gold.
Patsty Durack then established a cattle property at Dixon’s Creek, New South Wales, in partnership with his uncle Darby. He married Mary Costello, sister of good friend John Costello, in 1862.
Outback Queensland
Patsy led his family to outback Queensland in 1867. The following year Patsy Durack and John Costello ‘threw open’ thousands of square miles between Kyabra Creek and the Diamantina River. They prospered there despite regular drought periods.
By 1878 Patsy’s expanding interests included sheep, cattle, horses, country, hotels, butchery, houses and wool.
The Kimberley
In 1881 Patsy became a ‘map grazier’, speculating on land in the distant, remote Kimberley area in northwest Australia.
By June 1883 Patsy’s brother, Stumpy Michael, began an expedition to walk 7520 cattle 3000 miles to the Ord River. They arrived in September 1885 with less than half the cattle they began with.
Patsy’s son, Michael, was soon leading the family through tough challenges in the Kimberley. Instead of the extended droughts punctuated by floods that they had experienced in Queensland, they battled with fever and a lack of markets for their stock.
End of an Empire
It was the struggle to find buyers for their cattle that eventually led to the end of the Durack pastoral empire in 1950. But the pioneering spirit continued in the ventures of Michael Durack’s children as told by his daughter, Mary Durack, in her books Kings in Grass Castles and Sons in the Saddle.
Respecting the Locals
As the Duracks moved into new country they offered the local Aboriginal people beef and supplies in exchange for not spearing their cattle.
The Duracks befriended the local countrymen and some ended up life-long friends. Their respect for the original inhabitants of the land was an important part of the Durack’s survival.
Durack Holdings
Patsy Durack started with 273 acres (110 hectares) at Dixons Creek near Goulburn in New South Wales between 1855 and 1857.
Between them, members of the Durack family took up 2,432,000 acres (984,195 hectares) in the Coopers Creek area in remote western Queensland from 1867 to 1877.
In 1881 the Duracks, in partnership with Solomon Emanuel, reserved 2,500,000 acres (1,011,714 hectares) in Western Australia, mostly along the as yet unmapped Ord River.
What do you think about this article?
More in History
Latest Articles