Ivanhoe Station

The station was initially established by Patrick Durack and his brother Michael, who founded the station in 1893.^{[citation needed]}

Kimberley Durack first experimented with growing cash crops in the fertile soil of the floodplains, which later led to the establishment of the Ord River Scheme. An experimental farm was established on the Ord in 1941 and then closed in 1945 when joint Commonwealth-State Research Station was completed at Ivanhoe. The station experimented with crops such as rice, linseed and cane sugar for the next 12 years.^[3] Kununurra was built on land resumed from Ivanhoe Station during 1961,^[4] as the town for the Ord River Irrigation Area, which started as the Ord River Project or Ord Scheme, with survey work starting in 1959.

Ivanhoe Crossing,^[5] built in 1954 on a rocky outcrop to cross the Ord river, was featured in the film Australia when Lady Sarah Ashley is brought to Faraway Downs station.^[6] The crossing is close to where the Duracks constructed the Ivanhoe Station homestead and the unusual sandstone formation named "City of Ruins".

The local Aboriginal peoples, the Miriuwung and Gajirrawoong, are the traditional owners of the area. The labour force of the station was often provided by these peoples, who lived and worked on the property often under terrible conditions. Aboriginal workers were often not paid wages and only received rations for their labour until the Pastoral Award was introduced in 1968. At Ivanhoe in 1961, 90 Aboriginal people were living in three huts.^[7]

• List of ranches and stations

15°41′24.35″S 128°40′57.58″E / 15.6900972°S 128.6826611°E / -15.6900972; 128.6826611