Avon Downs

Location: 415 km east of Threeways and 70 km west of Camooweal on the Barkly Highway

Patrol area: 147 000 sq km, from Benmara Station to Calvert Hills in the north, Brunette Downs and Rockhampton Downs Stations to the west and Lake Nash and Georgina Stations on the Sandover Highway to the south.

Police in the community: Police duties include motor vehicle registration and firearms licensing as well as motor vehicle accidents, traffic related matters, occasional flooding and patrols to local cattle stations and Aboriginal communities. As the only police station for travellers on the Barkly Highway for many kilometres, Avon Downs is an important police presence for many on the road.

Avon Downs police officers work closely with Camooweal Police in Queensland and members are appointed Special Constables in Queensland.

There is an Aboriginal Community Police Officer at Alpurrurulam, who works closely with the community Night Patrol.

The Georgina River on the Queensland border is prone to floods, creating additional duties and an Emergency Services unit operates from Avon Downs. Members are often away from the station for several days to carry out their duties.

Services: There is no service infrastructure at Avon Downs. The police station is self reliant for power, water and other facilities. The nearest banking, shopping, post office, medical and dental services are at Camooweal, Mt Isa, or Tennant Creek. Education is available from the School of the Air and Northern Territory Open Education Centre. Remote Area Family Services (RAFS) visits every couple of months and conducts playgroups.

Housing: There are two three bedroom homes with large verandahs which make up members’ residences and a two bedroom visiting officer’s quarters.

Recreation activities: Annual events include Camooweal, Brunette Downs and Mt Isa Rodeos and the ABC Races at Brunette Downs over four days in June. Police host an annual Camooweal vs Barkly cattle stations cricket match. There is also fishing and bush activities such as barbecues and socialising with local residents.

Population: The immediate Avon Downs population consists of police and their families. The district population fluctuates widely with the movement of seasonal workers and Aboriginal groups, ranging between 1150 and 1500 people through the year. The largest Aboriginal community, Alpurrurulam, averages about 800.

Description:

The police district contains 15 cattle stations, including Alexandria (1.9 million hectares), Brunette Downs (1.3 million hectares) and Avon Downs itself (0.5 million hectares). Other smaller properties within the district are Austral Downs, Rockhampton, Alroy Downs, Rocklands, Lake Nash, Anthony Lagoon, Eva, Georgina, Mittiebah, Benmara and Walhallow.

The major Aboriginal community is Alpurrurulam, a 404 hectare excision from the Lake Nash station, with smaller Aboriginal communities being established at No. 47 bore, Alexandria, Connell’s Lagoon, Corella Creek, Alroy Downs and adjacent to the old Frewena Roadhouse site. The Barkly and Tablelands Highways dissect the district and a wide variety of traffic including road-trains, tourist coaches, trucks from the Macarthur River Mine, caravans, bikes and private vehicles travel the roads.

Police are often asked to assist travellers with fuel, water and repairs. The climate varies with summer temperatures fuelled by hot north-westerly winds reaching 50^oC and in winter a cold and strong south-easterly lowering the temperature to below zero. Average annual rainfall is 300 mm, mostly falling in February to March although storms can occur as early as October. Police may have to join fire station staff to fight bushfires while local flooding can be experienced during February-March causing traffic disruption, particularly at the Georgina River crossing.

History:

A permanent Police presence on the Barkly Tablelands was first established in 1958 on the Rankin River, although as early as 1911 the founder of Avon Downs Station, Thomas Guthrie, wrote to the government seeking a permanent police protection from ‘horse thieves and cattle duffers’.

The original Avon Downs Station first stocked sheep but in 1919 cattle were introduced, as the black soil of the Barkly Tablelands was found to be unsuitable for sheep. Avon Downs Station today has some 14 000 head of Santa Gertrudis cattle.

The Avon Downs Police District was known as the Rankin River Police District until 1963 with the old complex set on the banks of the Rankin River on the Barkly Stock Route. Later a one person Police complex was opened at the present site just north of the Barkly Highway.

In 1982 an updated NT Police complex for two staff was built. Originally designed as the turn-around point of the Police Highway Patrol scheme, it became a two person station when the Highway Patrol was ended and the Anthony Lagoon and Lake Nash Police Stations areas were absorbed into the Avon Downs Police District.