Bowes Station

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Bowes Station is a sheep station in the Mid West of Western Australia, about 90 km southeast of Kalbarri and 84 km west of Mullewa. It was started in 1850 by brothers William and Lockier Burges in what became the Champion Bay district. William moved from a property near York and by 1857 was grazing about 93,000 acres, even using rams from the royal flock of George II. In 1859, William’s nephew Thomas Burges took over Bowes Station. Thomas’ son William was born on the station in 1865 and later returned to manage Bowes before retiring around 1912.

In 1869, 15-year-old Edward Wittenoom began work as a jackaroo at Bowes, followed by his brother Frank in 1874. The Wittenoom family later built a large landowning empire, acquiring several other stations. That year the rams at Bowes produced about 18½ pounds of wool each, but heavy grazing led to an explosion of kangaroos, which became pests. From the 1870s, J. A. Wellington managed Bowes for the Burges family until his death in 1904. The Burges family took a 15-month holiday to Europe and the United States, returning to Bowes in 1908.

In 1874 the Wittenooms moved 15,000 sheep from Bowes to establish Yuin Station. A shearer, William Pearce, went missing in 1896, triggering a search by the station staff and police. Large bushfires swept through the area in 1900, destroying many paddocks at Bowes. In 1902 the Land Board resumed about 5,540 acres from Bowes for other selectors; Burges tried to obtain Block 1 but was unsuccessful. In 1914 S. L. Burges sold 7,000 sheep after a very dry season.

Bowes Station is listed on the Western Australia State Register of Heritage Places, designated in 1996 (Reference No. 3270).