I was reading recently a passage: “the heirs of Robert Rand at Mahonga and Urangeline (stations) were a source of interest to Walbundrie residents as their wool and wheat wagons, their shearers, their show and racehorses, their smart hacks and horse drawn turn-outs passed back and forth over the Billabong.” (Source - Walbundrie Riverina Crossroads book)
The Lockhart Shire records list tenure of Urangeline (station) of 106,000 acres at an annual rental of £20 by H, HA, PH, BM Osborne on January 1st, 1852 terminated on December 31st, 1865 after which it passed to Robert Rand as a pastoral lease and conditional purchase from 1877. In 1866 it is listed that Robert Rand had a holding of 32,000 acres of Mahonga station. It also says that some state records list Robert Rand bought the Urangeline holding from the Osborne brothers of Brookong for £38,000 with 107,000 acres and 18,000 sheep and that building the Urangeline woolshed began soon afterwards using Murray or Cypress Pine which grew plentifully in the locality.
Drought in the 1860’s sheep were walked to Melbourne for sale, yielding good prices. Wool for Melbourne was carted on bullock drays to Wodonga and placed on the railway after it opened in 1873. Many stations were held up and robbed. Morgan visited Robert Rand’s station on March 18th, 1865, and is said to have forced Robert Rand himself to dance to the music of the concertina.
To the west of Pleasant Hills was the large estate of Urangeline, the owner was Robert Rand. The undulating country provided for dams and the frontage along the Billabong Creek gave further access to water. The property provided adequately for sheep and wheat growing gained attention on the fertile black soil. Rand founded a Merino flock hardy enough to withstand drought. With the first shearing shed probably being built about 1860 of Murray Pine and roofed with Murray pine shingles. The shed was remodelled, more sweating pens and a wool room added making nearly one acre under one roof. The greatest number of sheep was shorn in 1892 when 260,000 were shorn in 17 weeks producing 500 bales of scoured wool and 5000 bales of greasy, the sheep wash and wool scour was on the Urangeline Creek.
The shearing shed contained 100 stands reduced to 75 by 1889 when the Wolseley machines were introduced using the double rope overhead. The property was worked in conjunction with the old Mahonga Station by Rand from 1894 until after his death in 1904 the Urangeline Company was formed to administer part of the estate, which was built up to 107,000 acres.
In modern times, as with most of the large stations, the buildings deteriorated considerably and were replaced on smaller scales. The original Urangeline homestead was built of split log construction with sawn flooring, verandah posts and railing. The walls were horizontal drop-logs between round vertical posts. The whole was considered for preservation by the National Trust but deemed too isolated from the stream of tourist traffic.
Written by Fiona Beckett (Source - Land Galore book)