What is the biggest cattle station in Australia?

The Anna Creek Station in the South Australian outback is the biggest cattle station in Australia. It is bigger than Northern Ireland.

Australia is so big that ‘farm’ often doesn’t cut the mustard. Some Australian sheep and cattle properties are so vast that they get called ‘stations’. And some of these stations are the size of small to medium-sized countries.

But what is the biggest cattle station in Australia, and just how big is it?

The biggest cattle station in Australia

Anna Creek Station is the biggest cattle station in Australia. In fact, it’s the largest working cattle station in the world. It covers 15,746km square kilometres of stark South Australian outback. For an idea of scale, that is bigger than Northern Ireland, East Timor or Montenegro.

The Anna Creek Station is located 160km east of Coober Pedy, South Australia.

Anna Creek Station history

When it started in 1863, Anna Creek Station had sheep rather than cattle. The local dingo population saw this as an all-you-can-eat buffet, however, and the switch to cattle was made after flocks were devoured.

The surprising thing nowadays is just how few cattle are raised on the property. According to the Williams Cattle Company website, there are just 9,500 head of cattle across that vast area. The annual rainfall of 140mm might give a clue as to why that is.

Things to do on Anna Creek Station

The Anna Creek Station does get some tourism, although many visitors might not realise they’re on the station. William Creek, the jump-off point for Lake Eyre scenic flights, is surrounded by the station.

You can also scenic flights to the Painted Hills, a stretch of multi-coloured desert scenery that is within the station boundaries. These Painted Hills tours are run by Wrightsair from William Creek.