The Old Kinchega Woolshed: Steam Traction Engine (Menindee, Far West New South Wales)

            This old steam traction engine was originally "walked" up from Melbourne to dig earth tanks to provide stock with water. However it proved to be as costly and slow to cart water for the boiler with bullock teams as it was to use the teams themselves to dig the tanks. 

The steam engine was to povide power for machine shearing in the Kinchega Woolshed until the 1920s when combustion engines took over.

Kinchega Woolshed:

Originally an early West Darling property named 'Menindel', which was first held by the explorer John McKinlay in the 1850's, was taken up by Peter McGregor and it had become known as 'Kinchega' by 1860.  Burke and Wills visited it in 1860 and Kinchega's manager, William Wright, accompanied them as third in command and was blamed almost entirely for the tragedy that befell the expedition after he failed to meet the party on its return to Cooper's Creek.

In 1870 the station was sold by George Urquhart in 1870 to Herbert Bristow Hughes.  Hughes had two river steamers built in England to service the station named the 'Jandra' and the 'Nile'. Steam engines were installed in 1875 and by 1875 'Kinchega' was running 75,000 sheep and its boundary extended beyond the southern end of the Barrier Ranges. It is during this period that the present shed came into being.  Kinchega Station remained in the Hughes family for almost a century. In 1883 when Kinchega was at its peak the property was running 160,000 sheep and employed 73 men.

In 1967 Kinchega Woolshed became part of Kinchega National Park, by that time it is estimated that six million sheep had passed through the shed.

In 2018 the fate of Kinchega National Park (KNP) is in the hands of water managers. KNP borders the Tandou irrigation property where the federal Agriculture Department paid $78m for water rights in 2017. The park, which contains half of Lake Menindee, is one of at least four sanctuaries in the Murray-Darling Basin where OEH face being overrideen by other demands, such as by irrigation, environmentalists claim. About 28% of KNP is wetland and OEH have 'no control over water' says Richard Kingsford, Professor of Environmental Science, UNSW.

Source: New South Wales Heritage Register.

Taken on: January 1, 2024

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Sets appears in: • Broken Hill & Far West New South Wales (Wilyakali & Barkindji Country)

Groups appears in: • Ruins • Rust Never Sleeps more » • Ruins and Rust~(NO PEOPLE) • Outback of Australia • Abandoned, Derelict, Ruins « less

Camera: Nikon D5600, f/8.0, 1/200 sec, 12mm (=18mm), ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D5600
Lens:	TAMRON SP AF 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 Di II LD Aspherical IF B001N
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.005 sec (1/200)
Focal Length:	12mm (35mm equivalent: 18mm)
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 13.5 (Windows)
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