Who Was Ned of Ned's Corner ?

Since Trust For Nature acquired Ned's Corner Station, a lot of people have said "That's great - but it's a big area. Who established it originally, and how come it's called "Ned's Corner Station".   To answer those questions we have to go back to the days when this area was first settled.

By the early 1840s graziers had come to appreciate the value of saltbush country, which could keep sheep in good condition through dry periods provided there was accessible water, and also keep cattle in fair working order. When they realized this there was somewhat of a scramble to develop runs along the Murray in the new colony of South Australia and through into NSW (Victoria was not a separate colony until 1856). There was some uncertainty however, regarding where the SA/NSW border was and which State jurisdiction was involved; and squatters occupied runs for some time until surveys were done and they were able to establish leases. On the south side of the river this situation was sorted out sooner and the first leases were taken out in 1847, but on the north side of the river the position of the border was not established until 1853 and the first leases weren't granted until 1854.

One of the South Australian graziers who took up property at this time was Edward Meade Bagot who travelled up the Murray from South Australia and established a sheep station on the north side of the river at Lowelowelo, a few miles west of the Anabranch junction, and others at Moorna and Wangumma.  Bagot also had cattle at Moorna and another herd at Reminnia, north of Bundawingie Creek; whilst further down the Murray he had a run called Murtho on the south side of the Murray. a few miles across the border in South Australia.

In 1847 George Tingcombe took out leases for Bagot of Lindsay Island and Walwalla runs on the south side of the river (Ref.1, p 259), and Bagot took these over directly from Tingcombe in 1849.  Then in 1854 he added the lease of Watermeit, and in 1856-7 he bought the western half of Kulnine and Cullulleraine. Together these five

properties made-up what came to be known as Ned's Corner Station, although in 1991 the western part of the Station was resumed as part of the "Mallee-Sunset National Park".

The original Ned's Corner Station homestead was on the river in Kulnine, approx 34 km upriver from the present homestead, (17 km as the crow flies) not far from the eastern boundary of the property, but in 1959 it was burnt down and a small overseers cottage near the main woolshed was expanded, to become the present homestead.

Bagot had many other business interests in South Australia, and was a well-known identity in Adelaide. In the early sixties he lived at "Beefacres" near Adelaide, and at that stage Ned's Corner Station gradually came under the control of the Elder Smith group who held it for many years.

In later years people came to think that Ned's Corner Station had been named after Bagot, but Murray Forster, who was the son of Armourer Forster*, knew that this was not so, and in 1905, he wrote to E B Scott at Currency Creek in South Australia, to confirm this. At that time Scott was an old man living with his daughter, Heloise Higgins; but he had been a prominent explorer, grazier and businessman and had lived in the Annabranch country for some years, including several years at Moorna Station which he appears to have bought directly from Bagot. By 1905 Scott was probably the only one of Bagot's contemporaries still living, who would have been in a position to know, and he replied to Forster on 3/9/1905 saying 'I have much pleasure in complying with your request. Ned's Corner was named after an old shepherd of the late E M Bagot. Your father told you correctly.' (Ref 2, pp 13-16 includes a photo copy of this letter)

Unfortunately Scott did not explain any further in his letter who the shepherd was, or why Ned's Corner was named after him, and we do not have a copy of the letter which Forster had written to him.  It should be noted however that Scott's letter referred to 'Ned's Corner' and not 'Ned's Corner Station'.

At this point it is relevant to note that the very pronounced corner on the NSW side of the Murray near the old Ned's Corner homestead site was called 'Ned's Corner' on the NSW Parish Plan (and also on the adjoining  Victorian Parish Plan), and the larger area bounded by the River and a short anabranch called Cappitts Creek is called 'Ned's Corner Island'. The Secretary of the Geographical Names Board of New South Wales has advised  me that they are unable to find an origin or history for these names which were in existence long before they captured the names for their mapping. They said only that the field surveyors report stated that the names were locally known and in current use.

Knowing this, and in the light of what Scott said in his letter and the fact that this area on the NSW side of the River is part of the original Moorna Station, it is suggested that 'Ned' was almost certainly a shepherd who worked for Bagot on Moorna Station when Bagot still owned it, and that the area came to be known as Ned's Corner because 'Ned' lived there, or perhaps because he corralled the sheep he cared for, on the Murray River 'island' formed by the Cappitts Creek anabranch.

It appears also that Ned's Corner Station perhaps did not come to be known under that name until the 1860s** and it is presumed that the name simply came to be used for the Station because its homestead was at the location commonly known as Ned's Corner.

Laurie Jones

*

Armourer Forster managed Moorna for Bagot for several years, and then for E B Scott and from 1863 for John Crozier.
A Police report written 18/1//68 indicated that it was written from 'Ned's Corner', whereas a Police Station letter written in 1862 referred to Bagot as 'Bagot of Mertho and Wal Walr'.