Factsheet 03 – How did Kidman change from to national icon?

Quirky fact : Australian Curriculum Links The Kidman family Year Subject Curriculum Links still operates 19 5 Geography ACHGK029 pastoral stations History ACHHK094, ACHHK097 and remains one of 6 History ACHHK094, ACHHK097 7 Geography ACHGK040, ACHGK043 ’s largest Science ACSSU222, ACSHE121 beef producers! 8 Geography ACHGK049, ACHGK051, ACHGK056

Background Information Pastoralist Sir was born in 1857 near opened a butcher shop to service the rapidly expanding and educated at private schools until he left district. This enterprise made enough money to establish home at age 13, with five shillings in his pocket, riding Kidman as a large squatter. He grew his business by a one-eyed horse he had bought with his savings. He setting up coach services in western found work with a landless who moved his stock and . He also supplied horses to the throughout the ‘corner’ country of New South Wales in British Army in India, and bought and sold cattle. search of unfenced runs and good feed. During this time Kidman married in 1885 and the following year bought his Kidman befriended an Aboriginal man known as Billy and first station south-west of Alice Springs. He began buying it was he who taught Kidman the tracking and bush skills a chain of stations stretching from the wet tropics of the that would found his future. For the rest of his life, Kidman , south through western always travelled the back-country with an Aboriginal guide to , and across the border into . and offsider. Many stations were located on the great rivers of western As Kidman matured, he continued to work for pastoralists Queensland’s and Corner Country. until he had the money to buy a bullock team. From that During the next decade he acquired a second chain of time on he worked for himself, at first contracting to cart stations which ran from the Fitzroy River and River supplies in the country between the isolated settlements Downs in the north to the Flinders Ranges near Adelaide. of the northern border regions of South Australia, Victoria Dubbed the ‘Cattle King’, by 1915 Kidman controlled and western New South Wales. Then later, when copper pastoral country almost equal to the area of Victoria was discovered at Cobar in the early 1870s, Kidman and was on his way to becoming a national icon.

Dusk, Australian Wool press, Australian ’s Hall Stockman’s Hall of Fame of Fame

56 Queensland Education Handbook | Australian Curriculum Factsheets Inquiry Questions Subject Years Questions ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Geography 5/6 What environmental challenges did the early The Diamantina Drover Lyrics by John Williamson settlers have to deal with? www.lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/t/ How has settlement and management of spaces thediamantinadrover.shtml affected these places? REFERENCES 7/8 Why did Europeans move to such remote places? S. Kidman & Co Ltd www.kidman.com.au What were the lifestyle challenges they had Australian Dictionary of Biography to address? www.adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kidman-sir- How was their response to the landscape different sidney-6948 from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people? FURTHER INFORMATION History 5/6 What was the contribution of families like the Diamantina National Park Tourism Information Kidmans, and why were they so successful? Phone: 1300 794 257 How did the knowledge of Aboriginal peoples Email: [email protected] www.diamantina.qld.gov.au help them succeed? , Longreach Science 7 What are the important features of the water cycle Landsborough Highway in the Outback and how do people use scientific PO Box 202, Longreach QLD 4730 understanding to manage this resource? Phone: (07) 4652 7333

Points of Interest Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre, Longreach The Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre is Australia’s premier outback heritage institution. In Queensland’s central western town of Longreach, the centre provides visitors with a spectacular outback experience and there you will find some information on Sidney Kidman. 229 164 74 Landsborough Highway, Longreach QLD 4730 WINTON 146 MIDDLETON MUTTABURRA Cost: Entry fee applies r 118 85 114 89 63 i v e R BLADENSBURG Hours: 9.00am to 5.00pm daily a 110 73 n LARK NATIONAL BOULIA i 116 t QUARRY PARK 179 Phone: (07) 4658 2166 53 n 125 a CONSERVATION 39 m a PARK 1 Email: [email protected] i 113 D 131 OPALTON 58 LONGREACH 27 ILFRA Website: www.stockmanshalloffame.com.au r 168 e v i 80 R 191 48 DIAMANTINA 61 n Big Red – Munga-Thirri () NATIONAL LOCHERN o m s 89 1 PARK NATIONAL o PARK h 151 National Park via Birdsville T 44 101 46 ISISFORD 104 D iamantina National Park 112 OURIE 99 STONEHENGE 102 47 22 r Bu rke and Wills Dig Tree, Cameron Corner, e 67 v 52 i R IDAL via EMMET JUNDAH o o NA 253 c YARAKA LAKE 92 r a MACHATTIE B 50 94 164 109 WELFORD 52 NATIONAL WINDORAH PARK 51 109 r BETOOTA e k v e i 168 40 e R ADAVALE r 158 C o 12 Haddon r o e l

p l o Corner o u C 85 B 85 QUEENSLAND 69 QUILPIE 74 CHEEPIE 37 EROMANGA 74 161 Townsville 167 e r v Mt Isa i R TOOMPINE ALIA n 36 180 o s Longreach l DIG TREE 5 i 55 W 120 82 20 CharlevilleINNAMINCKA 23 25 BRISBANE46 7 THARGOMINDAH k e 191 e 131 r LAKE BINDEGOLLY 215 NATIONAL PARK

Outback Queensland Education Handbook | Australian Curriculum Factsheets 57