The station is named after Elsey Creek that runs through the property. Elsey Creek was named after
Joseph Ravenscroft Elsey, the
surgeon who travelled with the
Augustus Charles Gregory expedition from
Victoria River to
Queensland via the Roper River. The lease was taken up by Abraham Wallace in 1879, and he embarked on a trek from his other station,
Sturts Meadow in outback
New South Wales, in January 1880. Wallace headed north and arrived in
Longreach, some from Sturts Meadow, where he bought 2,728 head of cattle and continued his journey, eventually arriving in Elsey in July 1881 after covering a distance of about . The property was later named Elsey Station and Wallace left the next day to return to Sturts Meadows. The first Elsey Station homestead was built soon after at Warlock Ponds and later transported to Red Lily Lagoon. On 15 July 1882 Duncan Campbell, Elsey Station's head
stockman, was fatally speared; reprisals for this murder resulted in the
Red Lilly Lagoon Massacre, which led to the deaths of approximately 20
Mangarayi people. On 27 April 1884 Abraham Wallace, who had been managing the property from
Adelaide, was found with his throat cut by his own hand and the coroner found that his "mind had been unhinged" by a buggy accident six weeks before. Following his death the station was acquired by Victorian investors Osmand and Panton, who already had interested in
Ord River Station, and they took over during a period where there was a limited market for cattle from the Northern Territory. On 17 January 1895 Moolooloorun, an Aboriginal man, was hanged at Crescent Lagoon on the station. Aeneas and
Jeannie Gunn arrived at Elsey in 1902 after the death of Osmand, who had become the sole owner. Gunn was appointed by the executor and owned a quarter share in the property but died there on 16 March 1903 from
blackwater fever. Jeannie returned to
Melbourne and in 1908 wrote the book
We of the Never Never based on her time at Elsey. Elsey Station homestead was moved from Red Lily Lagoon to McMinn's Bar after the death of Aeneas. A replica of the homestead, built for the
1982 film based on Gunn's book, now stands at the Homestead Tourist Park in Mataranka. In 1946 the filming crew for
The Overlanders arrived at the Roper River camp the Station for a month, where the river crossing sequence was shot. The station was put up for auction by the owners, Elsey Downs Ltd., in 1951 and was advertised as covering an area of and stocked with 26,000 head of cattle. The auctioneer tried to open the bidding at £200,000 but could only attract a bid of £140,000 from an agent acting on behalf of a Victorian syndicate, who assured that all historic landmarks on the property would be preserved. During the 1960s,
Brahman cattle were introduced to the property, which coincided with the appearance of
Parkinsonia weeds at Elsey. The weevil
Penthobruchus germaini, a
chrysomelid of the subfamily
Bruchinae, was introduced as a biological control for
Parkinsonia in 1995, but it is still being poisoned to prevent it spreading. In February 2000,
Howard government representative
John Herron handed over the title deeds of the property in a formal ceremony at Elsey to the
traditional owners of the area, the
Mangarrayi people. The Elsey claim had taken nearly nine years to resolve. William Henric Nicholas, direct descendant of Wallace wrote: ==See also==