Innamincka Station
Innamincka Station is a large cattle station in South Australia. It sits about 4 kilometres northeast of the town of Innamincka, near the Queensland border and about 246 kilometres southeast of Birdsville. In 2012 it covered about 13,552 square kilometres, making it the second biggest station in South Australia after Anna Creek. It is owned by S. Kidman & Co.
The name comes from two Aboriginal words meaning your shelter and your home. Innamincka Station was started in 1872 by Robert Bostock as the first permanent settlement along Cooper Creek. It grew to more than 15,000 square kilometres.
In 1881 the station was sold to William Campbell for £60,000 and it supported about 8,000 cattle. Sidney Kidman bought Innamincka in 1908; he later sold it during tough droughts and then bought it back. By 1954 the area was about 9,175 square miles (24,000 square kilometres). In 1981 it covered about 6,180 square miles (16,000 square kilometres).
In the late 1950s and 1960s, Santos Limited drilled for oil and natural gas in the nearby Cooper Basin. The first gas was found in 1963, and many fields followed, feeding production at Moomba about 70 kilometres southwest.
Floods and droughts are common in the Australian outback. The 1981 season was excellent, with the country covered in wildflowers.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 19:13 (CET).