In the heart of Australia’s wild Kimberley, where the sun scorches the red earth and rivers carve ancient paths through rugged landscapes, one family’s name looms large—Durack. They weren’t born to riches, nor did they inherit vast estates, but through sheer grit, ambition, and an audacious cattle drive across thousands of kilometres, the Duracks carved out an empire. Yet, for all their triumphs, they knew their castles were built on fragile ground, vulnerable to nature's whims and the shifting tides of fortune. This is the epic tale of the Duracks, the cattle kings who ruled the outback—until their grass castles, like so many before, were swept away.
Australia’s pioneering days were full of grit, determination, and larger-than-life characters, but few families have captured the imagination like the Duracks. Their story, immortalised in Kings in Grass Castles by Mary Durack, is one of endurance, ambition, and ultimately, the end of an era.
At the heart of it all was Argyle Downs Station, a vast pastoral property in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It was the jewel in the crown of the Durack family’s empire, the result of one of the longest and most legendary cattle drives in Australian history. But today, Argyle Downs is no longer in the hands of the Duracks, and the original homestead site lies at the bottom of a massive lake, Lake Argyle, submerged beneath the waters of a changing world.
So how did a family from Ireland come to be cattle kings in Australia’s rugged north, and why don’t they own Argyle Downs anymore? Let’s go back to the beginning.
The Durack story starts with Patrick Durack, an Irishman who left his homeland in the 1850s. Now, Ireland at the time was doing it tough—real tough. The Great Famine had devastated the country in the 1840s, and while Patrick didn’t leave in the thick of it, the aftermath of the famine meant life was hard. People were poor, hungry, and there wasn’t much opportunity for those, like the Duracks, who were trying to make a living off the land.
From what I have learned, I think the series is available on Apple TV.
So, like many Irishmen at the time, Patrick Durack made the call to leave. He and his family headed to Australia, a land of promise where, if you had the guts to work hard and take risks, you could carve out a fortune. They weren’t alone....by the mid-19th century, there was a steady stream of Irish immigrants looking for a fresh start in Australia.
At first, Patrick set up in New South Wales, where he got involved in farming and grazing. He started off small, but the bloke had big ambitions. Australia was still a young country back then, and land was the key to wealth. Patrick and his family were hungry for more—more land, more cattle, and more opportunities.
By the 1870s, they had their sights set on something much bigger—the Kimberley region in Western Australia. At the time, it was still largely uncharted territory, a wild and rugged land, but Patrick had a vision. And he was willing to risk everything to make it happen.
If you want to talk about legendary feats in Australian history, the Durack cattle drive has to be right up there. In 1879, Patrick Durack made the decision to move his cattle from Cooper’s Creek in Queensland all the way to the Kimberley—a trek of almost 5,000 kilometres. Just to give you an idea of how big that is, we’re talking about a journey that would take you across the width of Europe, and then some.
Durack and his family, along with other pioneering families, herded up 7,000 head of cattle and 200 horses, ( no cats this time ) and set off on what would become one of the most gruelling and dangerous cattle drives in Australian history. They crossed rivers, mountains, and deserts, facing down droughts, floods, and a landscape that could kill you just as easily as it could make you rich.
The cattle drive took nearly three years, from 1879 to 1882, and not everything made it to the other side. There were losses along the way—cattle died, and so did people. But the Duracks pushed through, driven by the dream of claiming a slice of the Kimberley for themselves.
Mr Absalom was on ABC TV in the 1970s and 1980s, starring in programmess in which he travelled the country painting outback scenes and demonstrating the skills of a bushman.
When they finally arrived, they set up Argyle Downs Station, which would become one of the largest and most successful cattle stations in the Kimberley. It was a monumental achievement, but Patrick Durack knew, even then, that their success was always precarious. His famous words, “Cattle Kings ye call us, then we are Kings in grass castles that may be blown away upon a puff of wind...”, capture the fragility of life on the frontier.
Argyle Downs became the centre of the Durack family’s pastoral empire. They didn’t just build a station—they built a community. The station was vast, and it took a massive workforce to keep things running. Over time, the Duracks established themselves as one of the most powerful and successful pastoral families in Australia. They ran millions of acres and had thousands of cattle spread across their properties.
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. The Kimberley, while rich in opportunity, was a harsh and unforgiving land. Droughts, floods, and market crashes kept the Duracks on their toes, and running a cattle empire in such a remote part of the country meant you were always one step away from ruin. The Duracks knew this well. As cattle kings, they lived in the shadow of natural disasters and financial collapse, and they weren’t the only ones. Many other families who tried to make it in the Kimberley found themselves defeated by the land.
The story of Argyle Downs’ fate is tied to one of the biggest developments in the Kimberley—the construction of the Ord River Dam. In the 1950s and 60s, the Australian government was looking at ways to open up the north for agriculture, and the Ord River Irrigation Scheme was the answer. The plan was to dam the Ord River and create a massive reservoir that could be used to irrigate farmland in the region.
By the 1970s, construction of the Ord River Dam was in full swing, and part of the plan involved flooding huge areas of land—including much of Argyle Downs. When the dam was completed in 1972, the waters of Lake Argyle, as it came to be known, submerged the original homestead site of Argyle Downs under tens of metres of water. Once the Ord River Dam was completed, in early 1971, Lake Argyle began to fill more rapidly than anyone anticipated. The Homestead was dismantled stone by stone, stored in Kununurra, and rebuilt towards the end of the decade, 15km from its original position. In 1979 the building was opened as a museum, dedicated to the pioneering spirit of the Durack family. The Homestead is now managed by the Kununurra Visitor Centre and provides a wonderful opportunity for visitors to learn about the lives of the region’s early pioneers.
It was the end of an era for the Durack family. Lake Argyle, the largest water storage facility in mainland Australia, holds more than 20 times more water than Sydney Harbour.
Mary Durack’s book, Kings in Grass Castles, also keeps the family’s story alive, offering a personal and detailed account of the Durack family’s struggles, triumphs, and tragedies. It’s a story that hits home with Australians because it speaks to the heart of what it means to take risks, endure hardship, and build something lasting in a land that’s as beautiful as it is unforgiving.
The Duracks were kings in a wild and rugged part of Australia, but their castles were always made of grass—fleeting, fragile, and vulnerable to the whims of nature. Today, the landscape of the Kimberley has changed, and the era of cattle kings like Patrick Durack is long gone, but the story of their daring cattle drive and the empire they built will always be a defining chapter in Australia’s history.
In the end, the Durack family’s story is about much more than just cattle and land. It’s about vision, endurance, and the never-ending pursuit of opportunity in a country that rewards those who are willing to take risks but also reminds them that nothing lasts forever—not even the mightiest of grass castles.
I do urge you to watch the videos. They are well worth it.
