Back of Beyond The NT: Gimbat District/ SouthWest Kakadu Part I

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In 1862 John McDouall Stuart was sponsored by the South Australian colony to find an overland route to the north coast of Australia and fertile grazing country. He reported that 'the country gone over today … is good for pasturage purposes … of the finest description … splendidly grassed … with all the water that could be desired … and beautiful alluvial soil'. History tells a different story.

In southern Kakadu much of Goodparla and Gimbat was claimed in the mid-1870s by two pastoralists, Roderick Travers and A. W. Sergison. The leases where subsequently passed on to a series of owners, all of whom were unable for one reason or another to make a go of it.

Pastoralism in these areas first began to produce a meagre return in 1907, for George Cooke at Goodparla, and in 1937 for Joseph Callanan at Gimbat.

When Cooke died in 1937 Goodparla was sold and subsequently had a number of owners. In 1965 it was sold to two Americans, who brought stockmen from the United States to work with Aboriginal labour. A period of more intensive development followed and both cattle and buffalo were grazed. New Goodparla homestead and an outstation were established at Minglo and Shovel billabong. Despite the American owners' optimism, the demise of Goodparla as a cattle station was complete by 1975, hastened by a slump in the beef market. In 1987 the station was acquired by the Commonwealth and incorporated in Kakadu National Park. The outgoing owners were given until December 1988 to clear the area of buffalo and cattle.

Joseph Callanan established Gimbat in about 1937. He employed Aboriginal men as station hands, and some Aboriginal women were employed to look after 'coachers' (quiet cattle that on a muster were put with wild cattle to steady them down). Callanan is described by some as a tough man who wanted hard work for little reward. As was the practice on many pastoral stations in northern Australia, Aboriginal people were paid in food rations. In 1964 Gimbat was bought by Sir William Gunn, but by the late 1960s Gunn's ventures were in financial difficulty and Gimbat was virtually abandoned. In 1980 Helmut Schimmel bought Gimbat with the intention of exploiting the large number of buffaloes that were now on the station. The Commonwealth bought the station in 1987 and incorporated it in Kakadu National Park.
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