Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 1 January 1910, page 9


MILLY MILLY STATION.

ONE AND A QUARTER MILLION

ACRES.

(From a Correspondent.)

Some idea of the vastness of the Mur-chison pastoral arces may be gained from the fact that several stations exceed a mil-lion acres in extent whilst many other holdings range from 330,000 to 900,000 acres. Most of them are well stocked and highly improved which is only to be expected after an occupancy extending over so many

years

The Milly Milly Station, with a total area of a million and a quarter acres. To cross this property from east to west would necessitate a journey of 80 miles, whilst the distance between the north and south boundaries is only ten miles less. The Murchison River runs for 37 miles through Milly Milly paddocks, and a little further north the Wooramell, for most of the year a broad, sandy watercourse devoid of sur-face moisture, has a 50 miles double fron-tage to the same estate There are two fine permanent pools known as Bilang and Walthrey, which give an unfailing supply of good water for stock and these are supple-mented by numerous wells to which wind-mills are attached. Over three hundred miles of fences afford the necessary sub-divisions, and in every direction signs of progress and good management are evident.

Originally Milly Milly was owned by Bob and Hubert O'Grady, and their old home-stead, erected when blacks were hostile and the conditions of pioneering were extremely hard, still stands as a monument to their courage and indomitable perseverance. From them it passed into the ownership of Mr. James Aitken and on the sale of that gentleman's estate it was acquired by Messrs Dan and Michael Mulcahy, the well-known hotel proprietors of Perth, Fremantle, and Kalgoorlie The station is under the man-agement of Mr Fred Caesar, son of a very old Fremantle resident, who died several years ago full of years and honour. Mr.

Caesar familiarly termed "Julius," has had the management of Milly Milly for over 12 years, after a probation of several years as foreman, and the enormous extent of country under his supervision has afforded him ample employment. There is naturally a great diversity of soil and climate, as bold ranges alternate with plains and salt marshes but taken all through it is ad mirably adapted for both sheep and cattle

as well as horses

Saltbush and mulga are the pervading vegetation but there is a luxuriant growth of grass, good crops being cut by the na-tive hands for hay year after year. Using the old-fashioned sickle, the natives cut this year 25 tons which the white men employed on the station carted and stacked for the use of the homestead stock. It may be mentioned that Milly Milly is one of the earliest stations on the Murchison, and un-der the management of Mr. Caeser it has been steadily improved. The present pro-prietors have wisely given him a free hand, with a result that must be extremely gra-tifying from both points of view. The property now carries 27,000 merinoes, and bred from imported rams and ewes, and the clip amounted to 480 bales. Some of the sheep averaged 8½lb. , and the wool rea-lised in Melbourne up to 9½d. per lb. Last season 4,000 fat sheep at market scaled 53lb. and realised 5d per lb. At the time of writing several thousand fat wethers were ready for the road. All the flock rams are bred on the station and a fine, healthy lot they appear to be.

Cattle flourish exceedingly in such a well-watered country and dry, healthy climate There are 2,700 head of Shorthorns of various ages, and a very fine herd they form, One fine stud bull purchased from Mr Watty Grant, and bred on the Rich-mond River, New South Wales, took sec-ond prize at the Royal Agricultural Show in Sydney and one of his companions is a yearling champion of our own show at Claremont also purchased from the squire ot Newmarracarra. Two prize bulls have also been imported from Victoria, to that Mulcahy Bros are apparently determined to maintain a high standard of stockbreeding in both sheep and cattle. That Milly Milly contains a lot of superior fattening country was amply demonstrated by the appearance

of stock wherever met with- one mob of 300 cattle being in Christmas market con-

dition

Horses are also in congenial surroundings

There are about 300 light and medium

draughts and some excellent station hacks. The Clydesdale stallion is a nice compact horse, bred in New Zealand and his pro-geny promise to turn out a first-class lot.

The blood stallion is a big upstanding bay, a fine lengthy horse, but not leggy. His name is Cobbler, by Grafton-Amatie, and when exhibited in Sydney was awarded first prize as a station stallion. His stock at Milly Milly show plenty of quality, good bone, and should make desirable hacks up to any weight.

Such an up to-date station would not be complete without pigs, and here again the owners have gone in for the best quality. Some of the best strains have been obtained from the well-known establishment of Mr T W Hardwick in the South Western dis-trict, and they have taken very kindly to their new habitat. Taken altogether, the livestock throughout is of the very best quality, and should serve to maintain the reputation of the Murchison as one of the finest pastoral districts in Australia.

Great improvements have been effected since the Mulcahy Bros became proprietors. The old homestead did good service for many years, but recently a new building re-plete with all modern improvements has been erected. It is built of sandstone, with concrete quoins jambs and arches and the floors are all of cement baffling white ants, so destructive all over the northern portion of the State. The rooms are lofty and so well arranged that they open on a broad passage 47ft long and also on a verandah 10ft broad which runs right round the house. The kitchen, also of sandstone, is 25 x 20 feet, and water is laid on every where from two 7 000 gallon tanks con-tinuously fed by windmills There are few better residences of its class anywhere than Milly Milly homestead, and but for the sake of change there is no inducement to leave its hospitable shelter Both sandstone and limestone of first rate quality can be quarried within a mile of the homestead, and there is also a plentiful supply of a particularly tough timber locally known as salmon gum but it differs somewhat from that species of the eucalyptus family met

with further south

Fifteen persons have been arrested in

connection with the assassination of Mr A. Jackson, Magistiate and Collector at Nasik, in the Bengal Presidency. The

prisoners include a law student who is a brother of the assassin, Savarkar, and Orso, a native banker, of Yedla. The latter is charged with having financed the Deccan conspiracy. A mass of in-criminating documents, and enough pis-

tols and ammunition to exterminate the English population of the district have

been seized