ADVENTURE
Game for the Gulf
The untamed tracts and rivers of Strathmore Station, in Queensland's
Gulf Country, are luring tourists keen for wilderness fishing and hunting
holidays.
Story and photos John Denman
When Dale Appleton
bought his first rural property near Clermont, Qld, he had just three thousand
hard-earned dollars in his pocket; the majority of the purchase price he had
to borrow. Today, Dale and his wife Kris have reached the position they have
been aiming for all this time. Their recent purchase of Strathmore Station
in Queensland's Gulf Country has vastly increased the family holdings. Apart
from this spectacular station, their other properties in Queensland include
"Bulliwallah" and Mount Hope, between Charters Towers and Clermont, and "Bingeringo".
Dale's philosophy is that the land is the valuable part of the equation, because
it continues to appreciate. By comparison cattle prices fluctuate, so he leases
back a lot of his land to other cattlemen. This was one of the important factors
in his recent purchase of Strathmore; a five year agreement with cattleman
Ron Earl to lease back 450,000 acres to run his own cattle. His other ideas
centre on tourism.
Dale realised
some time back that tourism is set to be one of the great saviours of rural
Australia, provided you have the right location, and the right people to run
it. "It's the sort of thing that should work well on Strathmore, because
it's got a wilderness quality that people want," he says. In fact, people
were already being attracted by that quality. "We had a lot of people
coming in here, and we had to find a way to regulate who was on the place
and where they were. We've invested about a hundred grand in the tourism side
so far and it's a bit early yet to say whether it's going to work or not.
But at least we'll have some control over who's in and where they are,"
he smiles.
Strathmore's 2.23 million acres are blessed with three good river systems:
the Gilbert, the Einasleigh, and the Red River. The Red River is part of a
1.3 million-acre section of the station that is not used for cattle work.
Infested with wild pigs, brumbies and feral cattle, it's an untamed, remote
place that challenges the senses. The rest of the station is mostly open grassland
and light timber, liberally endowed with picturesque billabongs, and the other
two rivers snaking their way through it all. Staaten National Park, one of
Queensland's biggest, butts up to Strathmore's northern boundary, adjoining
the Red River section. 
Full story Issue 31, Oct-Nov 2003
