| BACK HOME KARS STATION The original Kars sheep run was taken up in 1859 and was held in the name of F. A. Stratford. No details are available as to the use made of the run until it was taken over by H. B. Hughes at about the time that he acquired Kinchega sheep station in 1870. The holdings embraced an area that extended from the River Darling to the Pinnacles, a few miles short of the South Australian border. The western boundary of the Ophara run actually was the South Australian border. It was not a continuous block, and does not appear to have been held for many significant length of time. The boundary crossed the line of load around Block 7 or 8 (South Mine) surface structures at the Zinc and New Broken Hill mines stand on land that was part of the Kinchega run before silver-lead was discovered on the field. The history of Kars Station is closely linked with that of Kinchega. Kars was for many years an out-station of Kinchega, which was the headquarters for other sheep runs of H. B. Hughes in the district, namely, Mulculca, Coonbaralba, Balaklava, Pamamaroo, Silistria, Alma, Netley and Nocatunga. Kinchega originally consisted of 3,000 square miles (including the subsidiary runs mentioned above) and was well-established property, located four miles south of Menindee. In October 1860, when the Burke and Wills expedition crossed the River Darling at a point near the homestead, the manager of Kinchega at that time was William Wright, who joined the expedition, and later received most of the blame for the tragic outcome. Herbert Bristow Hughes was born at Lancashire, in 1820. He arrived in Australia in 1843 and took up land with his brother at Bundaleer, South Australia. He established Booyoolee homestead in 1855, where he bred a fine strain of Merino sheep. In 1870 he decided to acquire holdings in the district of New South Wales, his first venture being the purchase of Kinchega from George Urquhart (George Urquhart of Kinchega, was the uncle of George Urquhart of Mount Gipps Station who later became a member of the "Syndicate of seven' which was formed in 1883. The original "GU" brand of George Urquhart has been retained to this day at the official sheep, cattle and horse brand of Kars Station. In September, 1870, Thomas J. Taylor became manager of Kinchega sheep station, and was responsible for the operation of all the H. B. Hughes' runs in the district. On the Kars property a well (then referred to No. 2 well) was sunk and timbered to depth of over 200 feet. The chimneystack at Kars was erected in 1876, the bricks for which were transported via the River Darling paddle steamers. H. B. Hughes placed his own paddle steamer, Decoy on the River Darling in 1879, together with the barge Reliance. He later purchased another barge, Croupier. The steamer and barges were imported in sections from Glasgow and assembled in South Australia. Captain Barron had charge of the steamer and its barges. I n 1877 the original Kars homestead was constructed . There being no rocks in the vicinity it was necessary to quarry and cart building stones from Scrope's Range, a distance of about 30 miles. Mr G. C. Joslin was the first manager at Kars, and moved into the homestead with his wife towards the end of 1877, as was the custom with the early pastoral holdings. Kars gradually became a self contained unit, with its own bakery, killing Shed, vegetable garden and blacksmith shop The original owner, Herbert Bristow Hughes, died in 1892, since which date the property has been held in the name of the trustee of the estate of the late H. B. Hughes. Today, Kinchega no longer exist as a sheep station. All that remains are the ruins of the original homestead, and the large shearing shed, erected in 1875, the latter has been donated by the trustees of the estate of the late H. B. Hughes to the New South Wales Government for presentation within the Kinchega National Parks, established in 1967. John and Annie Hughes in 1972 managed Kars Station and today are the owners. Relics of early pastoral days may be seen at Kars Station's store, which also housed journals and records dating back to September, 1870. The blacksmith's shop, traction steam engine and brick chimney are typical reminders of the pioneering spirit and enterprise of the pastoralists of the West Darling District of New South Wales. Water tank still remains and the troughs are still visable. Cornish pumping equipment was imported (together with Cornish labour and materials) in order to raise water from a depth of 200 or 250 feet at Kars well, more than 20 miles west of the river. The boilerhouse and fine brick stack are still standing. The stack was built in the early 1870s. The new pumping plant enabled water to be drawn from Kars well, which was strategically placed at the corner of four paddocks, each five miles square. It thus provided water for 100 square miles of land. The excavation of earth tanks to trap surface run-off was also made possible by mechanisation. Two large steam tractors were used to haul a reversible plough backward and forward between them, ripping up the hard packed clay so that excavation work could proceed. The rusting plough may also be seen on the property. The homestead itself still remains which is 120 years old, also a sundial in the front yard which is over 100 years old. CONTINUE NEXT PAGE |