science

North Australian Pastoral Company

North Australian Pastoral Company is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand North Australian Pastoral Company rather than just read about it. In short: The North Australian Pastoral Company (NAPCO) is a large, privately owned, Australian cattle company which operates 14 cattle stations (as well as the Wainui farm and feedlot) covering over 60,000 km2, managing around 200,000 cattle, throughout Queensland and the Northern Territory. It produces beef cattle which are pasture raised and grain finished before sale to Australian meat processors, who onsell beef to domes…

Key takeaways

North Australian Pastoral Company belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect North Australian Pastoral Company to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of North Australian Pastoral Company from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The North Australian Pastoral Company (NAPCO) is a large, privately owned, Australian cattle company which operates 14 cattle stations (as well as the Wainui farm and feedlot) covering over 60,000 km2, managing around 200,000 cattle, throughout Queensland and the Northern Territory. It produces beef cattle which are pasture raised and grain finished before sale to Australian meat processors, who onsell beef to domestic and international customers.

Introduction The North Australian Pastoral Company (NAPCO) is an Australian cattle company, founded in 1877. It was originally established in the Barkly Tableland in the Northern Territory before expanding to Queensland as the company developed. It is one of Australia's oldest cattle companies and is today, a leading national beef producer in the Australian cattle industry. The company has a variety of stations throughout the Northern Territory and Queensland. Northern Territory stations include those such as Alexandria and Mittiebah, whilst Queensland stations encompass those such as Boomarra, Kynuna and Portland Downs. The company is most well known for its development of the Alexandria and Kynuna cattle composites which are species of cattle that are distinct to NAPCO and separate it from others in the pastoral industry.

Overview of the North Australian Pastoral Company Founded in 1877 the North Australian Pastoral Company is one of Australia's leading agricultural enterprises as well as being one of its oldest and largest. NAPCO’S rangelands span 6.1 million hectares across both Queensland and the Northern Territory where a variety of stations have been established. The company is currently in possession of cattle heads amounting to some 190,000 cows spread throughout each station from Queensland to the Northern Territory. There are currently twelve stations located in Queensland, and only two located in the Northern Territory. However, whilst Queensland contains more stations in comparison to the Northern Territory, its capacity of cattle is far less. For example, the Goldsborough station in Queensland only holds a capacity of 4,000 cattle, whereas the Northern Territory station of Mittiebah holds an approximate capacity of 80,000 cows. The company's standing in the Australian agricultural industry is attributed to its advanced composite breeding programs, from which it has developed two of its own registered cattle species known as the Alexandria composite and Kynuna composite. The company has also engaged in an Environmental Management System (EMS) which is a policy implementation that aims to reduce carbon emissions by engaging in environmentally sound beef production. By introducing an Environmental Management Strategy, the company is in step with the work of fellow pastoralists operating in the Northern Rangeland industry who have also implemented a particular model of EMS to specifically target the impact they have on the environment.

History The NAPCO partnership was formed in 1877 by Queenslanders William Collins, William Forrest and Sir Thomas McIlwraith, with Englishmen John Warner and Sir William Ingram. The first station acquired was Alexandria Downs in the Northern Territory. Francis Foster invested in NAPCO in 1937 taking an 18% interest, which grew through his lifetime to 43%. His descendants eventually acquired a majority 51% stake in the company. Monkira and Coorabulka were acquired in 1939 as part of their plan to breed cattle at Alexandria and then fatten and sell from the Channel Country. In 1968 the company acquired Glenormiston along with the adjoining property, Marion Downs, at about the same time. In 1990, the Australian Financial Review reported that the company controlled over 45,000 square kilometres (17,000 mi2) of pastoral leases in the Northern Territory and Queensland, as well as four grazing properties in Tasmania. In May 2016, Queensland Investment Corporation acquired a 79% interest in NAPCO with the Foster family owning the remaining 21%. In 2016 NAPCO was inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame. In January 2020 NAPCO announced it was purchasing Mantuan Downs, a large-scale cattle breeding and finishing property in Central Queensland. The 134,000-hectare (330,000-acre) property consists of two pastoral leases, known as Mantuan Downs and Castlevale as well as the freehold Semper Idem.

Properties As at 2017, the company operated the following stations:

Alexandria Station, Northern Territory Boomarra Station, Queensland Coolullah Station, Queensland Coorabulka Station, Queensland Cungelella Station, Queensland Glenormiston Station, Queensland Goldsborough Station, Queensland Kynuna Station (includes Dagworth Station), Queensland Landsborough Station, Queensland Marion Downs Station, Queensland Mittiebah Station, Northern Territory Monkira Station, Queensland Portland Downs Station, Queensland Wainui Feedlot and Farm, Queensland

Other properties that the company has owned include:

Gordon Downs, Queensland

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with North Australian Pastoral Company

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what North Australian Pastoral Company claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to North Australian Pastoral Company before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about North Australian Pastoral Company ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of North Australian Pastoral Company

In research: North Australian Pastoral Company appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses North Australian Pastoral Company in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: North Australian Pastoral Company is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Agriculture companies of Australia, Australian companies established in 1877, Environmental certification, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for North Australian Pastoral Company outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study North Australian Pastoral Company in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what North Australian Pastoral Company means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain North Australian Pastoral Company out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is North Australian Pastoral Company in simple terms?

Why does North Australian Pastoral Company matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study North Australian Pastoral Company?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on North Australian Pastoral Company.