This is the remains of the first shelter William Warwick built for his wife and 10 children when they arrived at Holowiliena in 1852. Southern Flinders Ranges South Australia

            Holowiliena Station is a pastoral lease located south of Blinman and east of Hawker and is one of South Australia’s most remote and historic sheep stations. It is the only pastoral property in Australia still owned by the original family.

To get there you need patience for the fifty odd kilometres in from the highway. The track leads through lovely hills and creeks, with red gums and native pines. 
Don’t turn left or right, just keep going and be rewarded by the homestead.

The station was settled in 1852 by William Warwick and his wife, Jennet, natives of Canonbie in Southwest Scotland. 

The couple with their ten children had arrived in South Australia in 1839. 
William worked for Doctors William and John Browne at Williamstown before managing their Canowie Station. After advice from his employers about unexplored country in the north, the family made a long trek across country with their possessions loaded on a horse-drawn dray. Two more children were born later at their new home. 

Initially Holowiliena was described as a vacant waste land when settled in 1852, with a twelve month occupation licence. It was replaced by a pastoral lease in 1853 and remains under the same lease. 
The homestead, positioned beside a creek, was built by the family in 1855.

Richard and Janne Warwick are the present owners: they have three daughters. In 1981 he had worked on the property for thirteen years when he received the shock news that he would no longer inherit the family property as promised: he could buy it within two weeks or get out. His Uncle Ray mysteriously reneged on a promise to leave him the property. 
His inheritance withdrawn, Richard was faced with trying to borrow most of the money to buy Holowiliena or leave and start again. 
Richard’s luck changed when he secured the money. However, he was left with a millstone and virtual servitude to the historic wool producing station for the nearly thirty five years that followed. 

Richard Warwick was born at Hawker, before moving with his parents and their family to the Darling River in western New South Wales in 1950 at the age of seven. His future was mapped out from the age of twenty five when his Uncle Ray promised that he would inherit the sprawling Holowiliena station. He returned to Holowiliena in 1968 where he was treated like a son and adored by his childless uncle. The inheritance was never in doubt. The property was promised in a letter and in person. Close family friends were told about the agreement. Old family friends advised the matter be taken to court, promising backing. Richard did not take that course. 

In charge of the station and deeply in debt, Richard and Janne began the long battle to retain the property. They have struggled, making many sacrifices to stay on the land they love. They lived frugally, worked long hours, drove second-hand cars and holidays were non-existent. The Warwicks have not drawn a full wage since taking over Holowiliena in 1981. One huge expense was their daughters’ boarding school education, because the nearest secondary school was a 90 minute drive away. By an agreement with the boarding school the fees were eventually paid.

The problem with paying off the big loan and school fees is that they could not put away enough money for their retirement. One issue is that the couple cannot get the pension until they have been retired for five years because of ownership issues peculiar to Holowiliena.

Richard and Janne started thinking about retiring and even selling Holowiliena when Richard had a nasty spill from a motorcycle in 2007. He was riding down a bush track to help a neighbour when the accident happened. After spending three weeks in an Adelaide hospital, at the age of sixty five, he needed help to run Holowiliena.

The station was only able to support one family. Nevertheless, daughter Frances and her husband Luke Frahn moved to the property to help out. They now have two young children, the sixth generation on the property. 
For seven years the two families have lived and worked together. Frances and Luke don’t get paid except for work such as shearing and mustering. 
Luke is a champion shearer: Frances is a professional wool classer and has worked on the board of the Outback Communities Authority, responsible for managing the outback, an area comprising 63% of the state. Mustering feral goats has also provided a good sideline for the family.

The arrival of the young couple at Holowiliena has given the older couple a new lease on life, with the younger gaining a great sense of belonging. It is a feeling they never had while working in shearing teams and mining camps around Australia and in many other countries.

Retirement now looms large. Janne says it will be sooner rather than later, but it won’t be retire and spend the kids’ inheritance. “The other two daughters understand that Luke and Francis are here and will be taking over,” Richard says. “We’re working through the succession plan with the accountant. At the end of it, I have to be able to sleep soundly at night knowing I’ve been fair to everyone.”

Several years ago Frances and Luke saw an advertisement for an ABC Restoration Australia documentary series. They answered and volunteered for restoration some of the historic buildings on Holowiliena. An old cellar built in the bed of a creek near the homestead in the 1850s has been restored and is in full use with produce made by Frances. 

An old building known as Scalp Hut dating back to the 1860s is also restored. The pug and pine hut with hessian ceiling served a purpose when dingoes were hunted for bounty. Despite its small size it was used to sleep up to fourteen men. 
The ceiling was made from bags made by the Adelaide Milling Company in Hawker, a company that hasn’t been in existence since 1901. 

Luke and Frances say the restoration work is the biggest thing that has happened to them, and Frances describes it as like winning the lottery. Experts and friends helped to get all the work finished in time to be shown on the ABC programme in 2015.

During the restoration a master blacksmith helped Luke revive the blacksmiths shop. He and the master blacksmith made the gate at the front of the Scalp Hut. He is continuing to use the shop, honing the ancient skills he has learned. He and Frances say the effort that Richard and Janne have put into keeping the place going for the past decades has saved the very things that make the future exciting and promising. The idea of pre-booked tourist tours will boost interest in sharing the history of Holowiliena. 

Old artefacts to be seen include a stretcher used as a bed by night and a writing desk by day by the South Australian Superintendent of Telegraphs, Charles Todd, during the building of the 3200km Australian Overland Telegraph Line.

Frances and Luke are planning to continue the merino sheep breeding business just the way it has been run for generations. Wool growing has been at the heart of the family business since 1852.
Holowiliena has used the same genetics from the famed Old Ashrose merino bloodline for 70 years and produced the same 21–22 micron wool. 

Ref: Article by Nigel Austin in SA Weekend 27-3-2015 and ABC Restoration Australia.

Taken on: April 27, 2019

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Sets appears in: • Holowiliena Station Flinders Ranges South Australia • Flinders Ranges Trip South Australia, Adelaide to Holowiliena & back April 2019

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