Paraway Pastoral Company

Paraway was established in 2007 and a name for the new company was based on the nickname, “Paraway”, given to pastoralist, drover and explorer Nathanial ‘Nat’ Buchanan by the local Aboriginal people. Nathaniel "Nat" Buchanan Nathaniel Buchanan (1826 – 23 September 1901) was born in Ireland, near Dublin, although was originally of Scottish descent. He arrived in Sydney in January 1837 and settled in the New England area in 1839. Buchanan became known as ‘Paraway’ because of its similarity to the phrase, “far away”, as the local Aboriginals noted that he was always coming from or going somewhere far away. 'Paraway' was also the first European to cross the Barkly Tablelands from east to west during which he took a large herd of breeding cattle from Queensland to the Northern Territory. Today, Paraway Pastoral owns several portions of this land, thus maintaining their connection to the Paraway name. In 1859, Buchanan and fellow explorer, William Landsborough embarked on a joint search for grazing land. Setting off from Rockhampton on their first voyage, they explored country around the Fitzroy and Belyando Rivers before heading further west. They ran out of supplies on this voyage however, and had to be rescued by a relief party. The following year they found 1500 sq. miles (388 500 ha) of land on the Thompson River which they secured in 1863 with the capital being supplied by Robert Morehead of the Scottish Australian Company. Similarly, in 1861, William Landsborough formed the Landsborough River Company with Buchanan and Edward Cornish through which they applied for 15 runs of 100 sq. miles each (25 900ha) near Longreach to stock what he named Bowen Downs. Bowen Downs prospered for a time but there was eventually a fall in the market (mainly due to drought) and the price of cattle and wool dropped so low that the station had to be abandoned and Buchanan lost almost everything he had to his name. These exploratory missions and the introduction of pastoral companies such as the Scottish Australian Company into Australia paved the way for companies like Paraway to emerge. After several decades of exploring and establishing various properties and pastoral expeditions across Queensland and the Northern Territory, Buchanan died in 1901 (aged 75) on his farm Dungowan Creek, his final property purchase. He married his wife Catherine Buchanan (née Gordon) in 1863 who survived him along with their son Gordon (born 1864). == Operations ==

Cattle Paraway is involved in the breeding and growing of beef cattle across all its portfolios. The 'Northern' properties run a mix of Brahman and Brahman X in their herds, whilst those based in the 'Central' regions run an Angus breeding herd. In the Southern region, several properties run trade cattle and when conditions permit they are used to finish Paraway bred cattle as well. One such finishing property, Newstead Station, was the subject of Tom Robert's oil painting The Golden Fleece. Collectively, Paraway's properties have the ability to run over 200 000 head of cattle and produce in excess of 20 million kilograms of beef each year. Oxley Oxley Station is a 35 000 hectare holding located on the Lower Macquarie River, approximately 75 km north of Warren, NSW. It was purchased by Paraway in 2011 and is located at the point where the river fans into natural wetlands (that account for nearly one third of the property's total area) known as the Macquarie Marshes, increasing its grazing potential as even during times of drought the marshes remain green. The property began with the name "Ringorah" and became part of the Buttabone Pastoral Company in 1876. By 1924 this aggregation encompassed almost 97 000 hectares and Buttabone had become the largest freehold in the Macquarie Valley until it all went up for subdivision during auction later that year. So remarkable was Leahy's breeding that from January 8 to May 2, his stock who were sold under the name "J.J. Leahy", secured top prices for steers and bullocks, twenty times with his cows, heifers and dealers topping the market on five other occasions. Oxley was sold in 1949, remaining JJ's cattle breeding base until this time. After JJ Leahy died in 1959, his son Keith bought Ringorah South but the main Oxley property was purchased by Berawinnia Pastoral Company, a joint venture of the Crawford, Moxham and Stalley families. In 1969 Berawinnia was bought ad lib by British American Tobacco Australia as part of its diversification strategy. This enterprise was later called Amatil and thus Oxley became part of Amatil's Naroo Pastoral Company. a purchase the corporation had coveted for some time. After a run of good years early on, the 2000s drought hit Oxley hard as it received next to no flooding from 2001 to 2007 and in the following years, Clyde began to reduce its pastoral investment. In 2011 Oxley was bought by Paraway in a ''"bulk deal worth close to $50 million". The ram breeding enterprise that began as the foundation of what is Pooginook today was established by the Culley and Taylor Partnership in 1912 as Yoorooga Merino Stud at Jerilderie. The base of the breeding ewes came from Wanganella and the rams from Murga. When the partnership dissolved in 1937, Pooginook Stud was formed with half of the stud sheep and Wonga Stud was formed with the other half. The Pooginook Stud stock that have descended from Yoorooga's original flock is what Paraway purchased in 2007. Cropping As an addition to its sheep and cattle operations, Paraway has dryland cropping area totally over 20 000 hectares as well as 2 500 hectares of irrigated cropping. This land produces a variety of cereal crops, legumes, rice and cotton. Paraway retains a significant amount of the grain and hay it produces to use in its livestock operations == Properties ==

Source: . The properties are listed below in alphabetical order and with details about their size, region and property type as well as when they were purchased by Paraway. == References ==