Ranger's Valley Station (c. 1839 - )

Ranger’s Valley, a pastoral station located on the Severn River about 30 kilometres north of Glen Innes on the central New England tablelands, was taken up by the squatter Oswald Bloxsome in 1839. Bloxsome, who had arrived in Australia the previous year, was a member of the first European party to explore the region north of Glen Innes. He named the Severn River and Beardy Waters. After marking out the boundaries of Ranger’s Valley, which he named after the family home in Gloucester, England, Bloxsome appointed John McMaster to manage the property. By 1845, Ranger’s Valley covered an area of 45,000 acres and carried 335 cattle and 13,581 sheep. The Bloxsomes took up several more leases in the area, and by the mid-1880s Ranger’s Valley with an area of 80,000 acres ran 41,481 sheep, 1050 head of cattle and 154 horses. Despite the family’s success, the Bloxsomes sold out in the late-1880s. In 1899, Ranger’s Valley, which had now been reduced to 25,000 acres on account of the government’s various free selection laws during the nineteenth century, was acquired by the Campbell brothers, of Inverell Station. They extended the homestead and woolshed, built a stallion box and introduced Hereford cattle to Ranger’s Valley. In the 1950s, Ranger’s Valley passed into the hands of RJ Crothers, whose son, Bob, established the feedlot company which today administers the property. Under the ownership of the Marubeni Corporation of Japan, Ranger’s Valley now carries the maximum feedlot capacity of 24,000 head of cattle.

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References:
Genevieve Newbury, Echoes on the Wind: The Story of the Squatterages and Some Pioneers in Other Fields of the Central New England (Glen Innes: Glen Innes Examiner Printing Service, 1969).

Related Families

• Bloxsome Family