Your Hosts-Past & Present
1845 - George & Bessy



Today - Sal and George Hawker with
their 2 dogs Wombat & Harley

On reaching the colony in 1840 the Hawker brothers completed the purchase of 2000 sheep from NSW for 2 Pound 10 Shilling per head and went to discover land. It was initially at Mount Dispersion that they learnt what it was to be a 'squatter', a path-finding settler. Surveys and maps were few, roads and bridges were not yet built, and movement was limited to horse back and bullock dray, or to one's own feet.

On Christmas day 1841 the brothers came to a place near the Hutt River, sank a well and recorded that they 'found good drinkable ground water' at about 8 feet (2.5 metres). So it was that they selected a spot for a slabhouse and called the place by its aboriginal name. 'Bungurrie' meaning "my country" or "place of deep water". Over time 'Bungurrie' was anglicised to 'Bungaree' and established as a sheep run with 100,000 sheep by the mid 1880's.

By the 1860's Bungaree was generally spoken of as a showplace, a virtual village. Today you don't have to look hard to see that every building is symbolic of the social, economic and spiritual climate of the time.

With the choice of comfort one desires, and down-to-earth country hospitality provided by Sal and George Hawker, along with their children it is no wonder Bungaree has won numerous regional and national tourism awards.

Amongst Bungaree's most notable tourism awards are the National Award for Heritage, Cultural and Environmental Tourism as well as the prestigious R. M. Williams Outback Heritage Award.

Bungaree Station
Email: Bungaree Station
Telephone: 08 8842 2677
Outside Australia Telephone: 618 8842 2677
Fax 08 8842 3004
PO Box 231
Clare South Australia 5453
Australia