Pastoral pioneer

Patrick Durack was born in Scarriff, County Clare, in 1874 the eldest son of eight
children. His family emigrated to New South in 1853 in the hope of a better life but tragedy struck when Durack’s father was accidentally killed only weeks after their arrival, leaving the young man to support his large family.

Durack worked hard and within two years purchased
a small holding near Goulburn, where he continued to build
his assets.

By the early 1860s, south-west Queensland was opening up and in 1868, Durack established Thylungra and Kyabra stations on a tributary of Cooper’s Creek. He pegged out claims across 17,000 square miles, stocked and then sold them to friends and new settlers.

Profits paid for other ventures – a butchery at Roma, holdings at Thargomindah, Adavale and Windorah, and hotels to service the influx of opal miners and Cobb & Co. services. By the close of the 1870s, Durack was a wealthy man with substantial business interests in both New South Wales and western Queensland.

He died at Fremantle in 1898 and was reinterred in 1901 beside his wife in the pioneer cemetery at Goulburn.