Last muster looms at cattle station

The last muster is the hardest for John and Annette Henwood as they prepare to say goodbye to the iconic Kimberley cattle country their families pioneered.

Time has caught up with the couple 133 years after Mrs Henwood's family took up the land that became Fossil Downs Station and bucked incredible odds to turn it into the jewel of WA's pastoral industry.

They are the last station-owning family from the hardy bunch who settled in WA's far north. And they will leave an incredible legacy when Fossil Downs - covering almost 400,000ha where the Fitzroy and Margaret Rivers meet - goes on the market next week.

Part of that legacy are 15,000 cattle in one of northern Australia's finest herds and a stunning two-storey homestead.

GALLERY: LIFE ON FOSSIL DOWNS IN PICTURES

The story of Fossil Downs started when Mrs Henwood's grandfather Donald MacDonald rode from Derby in the tracks of Alexander Forrest to inspect the land and negotiated its lease in 1882.

His brothers William and Charles then set off on the longest cattle drive in history - about 5600km from near Goulburn, NSW, through the outback and across the Top End to the Kimberley.It took 3½ years and almost killed them. William and Charles left with 670 head of cattle, a team of bullocks to pull two wagons and 60 horses. They arrived with 327 cattle, 13 horses and one wagon - regarded as the first set of four wheels to cross the continent.

A waterbag the MacDonald brothers carried on their epic drive hangs above the hallway in the heritage-listed homestead.

All this history and a lifetime of her own memories are weighing on Mrs Henwood after the traumatic decision to sell.

"I feel an absolute traitor. I never wanted to be the MacDonald who quit," she said.

At 72, Mrs Henwood is being incredibly hard on herself.

She had a pacemaker installed to control a racing heart and broke her back last year but she continues to shoulder a big workload.

The decision to leave is slightly easier for John Henwood even though - as he often teases his wife of 50 years - his family ties to the Kimberley go back longer than hers.

Mr Henwood's grandfather George Rose was a horse carer on the Forrest expedition of 1879 that triggered excitement about grazing in the Ord and Fitzroy valleys.

George Rose became a legendary Kimberley pioneer on Mt Anderson and other stations.

Mr Henwood grew up on Calwynyardah and his father Bill managed Noonkanbah when it was a sheep station.

When John Henwood and Annette MacDonald became engaged, old-time pastoralists said they were the first "district breds" to marry.

"It was like they were marrying off a couple of racehorses," Mrs Henwood recalls.

Mr Henwood, 75 this month, pulled up the reins on the couple's long ride at Fossil, telling his wife late last year: "Darling, I can't do this anymore."

"This" is rising at 4am every day and working until dark in a constant cycle of caring for the land and herding mainly Droughtmaster cattle.

He climbs windmills, works the cattle and stockyards, baits wild dogs and cats, musters in his Cessna 182. Then there are controlled burns needed to keep the country at its best, fences to mend, roads to grade, 39 bores to keep flowing and all the machinery to maintain.

"I've loved the life but I just want to do something a little bit different," Mr Henwood said. "I've had enough and this place is a young person's place. It is a lot of work - and hard work."

The end result is a property in tip-top condition with the potential to carry more cattle and for tourism. Fossil Downs includes parts of the King Leopold Ranges and Leopold River, spectacular gorges, billabongs and vast plains.The homestead has pride of place - designed and built by Mrs Henwood's father Bill MacDonald in a labour of love for her mother Maxine.

He made the bricks in the Margaret River's bed and cut the timber from trees on the Fitzroy's banks. It took almost 12 years and much ridicule for building the "Taj Mahal of the Kimberley".

Those knockers are long gone but the immaculate homestead is going strong after surviving flood and fire.

Even its billiard table has a tale. It was bought at tender for £28 after surviving a direct hit on Broome's billiard hall by Japanese bombers in World War II.

The Henwoods will sell the property with almost all its items and furniture to the right buyer.

"If they are interested in the history of the place, some things we would take otherwise will be left in their care to be part of history going on," Mrs Henwood said.

These items include the waterbag and a portrait which captures the enchanting beauty of her mother.

"Some of the family feel we should take it (the portrait) but my argument is that none of us will ever have a home big enough to hang it," Mrs Henwood said.

"Mum was also the heart and hub around which everyone revolved and it would be like taking the heart out of the building."

Veteran real estate executive Malcolm French said he had seen nothing that compares to Fossil Downs in 50 years with Elders.

He refused to speculate on the price but industry sources put it close to $30 million.

A recent visitor said arriving at the homestead was like "driving into the grounds of Government House only you are out the back of Fitzroy Crossing".

A boab avenue leads to a homestead surrounded by lawns and gardens, but Mrs Henwood stresses that life on Fossil is far from easy street.

"This is not a bed of roses," she said. "This is what can be done with a great deal of love and dedication. It has been John and my life's work to look after it."