Station (Australian agriculture)

In Australia, a station is a large landholding used for producing livestock, predominantly cattle or sheep, that needs an extensive range of grazing land.

Isolated stations will have a mechanic's workshop, schoolroom, a small general store to supply essentials, and possibly an entertainment or bar area for the owners and staff.

[12] Because of the extended distances, there is a School of the Air so that children can attend classes from their homes, originally using pedal-powered radios to communicate with the teachers, developed by South Australian engineer and inventor Alfred Traeger in 1929.

[citation needed] Medical assistance is given by the Royal Flying Doctor Service (also originally using Traeger's pedal radio technology), where medical staff such as doctors and nurses can treat patients at their homes, or airlift emergency and seriously ill patients to hospitals at the nearest towns.

The Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter Service and RAC rescue helicopter and its trained medical crews also respond quickly to emergencies threatening the life, health and safety of people caused through medical emergency, illness, natural disaster, accidents or mishap.

[14] An important example is the jackaroo (male) or jillaroo (female), a young person who works on a station for several years in a form of apprenticeship, in order to become an overseer or rural property manager.

Jeannie Gunn arrived at Elsey Station in 1902, leaving after her husband died, and in 1908 wrote the book We of the Never Never based on her time on the property.

[19] The 2016 videogame Sid Meier's Civilization VI introduces Australia into the series, with one ability being a unique tile improvement called the Outback Station.