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Mardie Station is a pastoral lease and sheep then cattle station that was established in 1866 in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia near the mouth of the Fortescue River. The leasee in 2012 was Fourseasons Corporation; Mardie is operating under the Crown Lease number CL453-1984 and has the Land Act number LA3114/1027. ==History== The original pastoral lease was taken by Simpson and MacIntoch who worked for the Denison Plains Pastoral Company. The company equipped the barque ''Warrier'' in Melbourne and had intended to sail to Roebuck Bay to settle in another area but following a succession of calms the ship had to land at Cossack when the stock started to die of dehydration. Upon landing the group decided to trek south west and eventually squatted at Mardie Springs. The station was established and by 1883 three paddocks were fenced, several wells had been dug and the flock was about 18,000 head of sheep. The Murray Squatting Company, composed of Cornish, Richardson and the Paterson brothers, sold Yeeda Station in the Kimberley in 1883 and acquired Mardie shortly afterward paying a ''handsome price for the Fortescue River Station''. Richardson maintained an interest in Mardie over the next 30 years and invested in other nearby properties including Oakabella, Tallering and Boodarrie Stations.〔 The station was owned at one time by members of the Withnell family who had also established or owned many other stations in the North West including Sherlock, Mount Welcome, Mallina, Karratha, Chirritta and Edjudina. The station covers an area of about and has over 8,000 head of specially bred cattle. The station was hard hit by flooding in 1894 when the Fortescue River, usually about away from the homestead, rose to within metres of the front door. The stockyards were destroyed and hundreds of sheep were washed away. James Withnell, the owner of Dirk Hartog Station acquired Mardie in 1913 from the Mardie Pastoral Company. At this stage the property occupied an area of and was carrying a flock of 19,000 sheep. The station was sold by Withnell to B. H. Sharpe who owned Wooleen Station, along with 30,000 head of sheep and 100 cattle in 1923 for £50,000.〔 It switched from sheep to cattle in 1998.〔 It is owned by CITIC-Pacific, a Hong Kong-based company, who bought the station in 2007. Home to the largest infestation of mesquite in the state, following the introduction of two trees as shade trees around the homestead and shearing shed in the 1930s, it is estimated that around of the station now contain the plant.〔 About of the infestation is described as dense. Stock must be quarantined in paddocks free of Mesquite so the seeds can pass through their guts before they can be moved on to prevent the pest from spreading further.〔 The station experienced heavy rains followed by flooding during Cyclone Monty in 2004 then again in 2009. Fences were swept away, roads were cut and cattle were stranded when of rain fell in a few hours. The property is also home to one of the largest holes ever dug in the earth. Sino Iron, a Chinese iron producer, is mining magnetite at Mardie and planning an open cut mine of long, wide and hundreds of metres deep. The company has a 25-year lease obtained in a deal with billionaire Clive Palmer. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mardie Station」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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