Old Cork Station
Old Cork Station is situated on a slight rise above the eastern bank of Cork Waterhole, a permanent waterhole in the channels of the Diamantina River, about 132 kilometres south-west of Winton.
Cork Station was established in the 1870s as the headquarters of a large pastoral property. The substantial homestead, built from local sandstone in the early 1880s, was accompanied by a number of outbuildings. Cork also served as a mail distribution centre for the surrounding district before the establishment of Winton.
Its position beside the Diamantina had its disadvantages. When the river flooded, Cork could be isolated for weeks at a time. Around the turn of the twentieth century the administrative centre of the property was moved away from the river. Old Cork continued to be used for many years before eventually being abandoned.
Today only parts of the sandstone homestead and several other structures remain beside the waterhole.
Old Cork Station became widely known through Hugh McDonald's The Diamantina Drover, recorded by Redgum. The song's references to Old Cork Station and the Diamantina have made the ruins something of an icon of Queensland's Channel Country.
Mackunda SF54-12
54K 589 464
130 metres
Cork
Ayrshire
