OUR MELANGATA STORY

We’re Ken Darnell and Jo Clews, and we are the current owners and custodians of this magnificent property in the outback Murchison region of Western Australia. Originally from the Margaret River region in the South West and then Geraldton in the Midwest of Western Australia, we purchased and took over the pastoral lease onMelangata Station in February 2016. (pronounced Melang-ata)

From its inception in 1916, the station has run Merino sheep for wool with varying degrees of success. Melangata has seen a few owners since the first owners, the Williamson family, sold out in 1927. It survived for a number of years during the 1930s depression when it was repossessed by the bank and lay vacant until 1946 when the Seaman Family took over the lease and they have had the longest European connection to the station, over 50 years, until they sold the property in 1998. 

During the early 2000s the property was used as a depot for the collection of feral goats that were breeding up in large numbers throughout the region. A small amount of restoration was done to the homestead but mostly it was in very poor condition when we took over.  Our vision was to renovate, reinvigorate, rehabilitate, regenerate and restore not only the deteriorating unique homestead but also the degraded landscape from years of neglect. In order to do this, as we don’t have a bottomless pot of money, we initially created a campground with basic facilities for self-sufficient travellers to enjoy the serenity of the bush.

Since those early days in 2016, we have renovated and upgraded the facilities at the Historic Homestead to offer a hosted accommodation experience, where we get to mingle with people from all over Australia and around the world. It’s a vital human connection for us in a remote location like Melangata and it gives us the unique opportunity to share our passion for our historic home. We’ve also added glamping tents and repurposed our Shearing Quarters and Cottages to offer an authentic outback accommodation experience for visitors who are exploring our region but prefer not to camp.

Tens of kilometres of new fencing has been erected to stop the threat of wild dogs killing our flock of sheep and keep the sheep contained where we want them. We are running Dorper Sheep for meat instead of wool. In the near future we will be introducing more sheep to our pastoral enterprise to continue our regenerative agriculture journey.

We are excited for what the future holds and look forward to seeing the changes that will assist us in making our little piece of the Southern Rangelands productive, sustainable and vibrant once again.