annandale ruins

In his book "Another Country" Nicolas Rothwell references the story in a chapter titled The Angels Of Annandale.

The book is well worth a read, focussing as it does on northern and central Australia.

Rothwell is the northern correspondent for The Australian and has brought out another book since this one.

As well as the tragic deaths of the two children, here’s what I’ve found out from various sources:

In 1845 charles sturt gave up his search for the inland sea near Annandale.
In 1848 Ludwig Leichart most probably passed near there on his “final” expedition.
In 1876 Patrick Drinan took up Annandale Station
Birdsville and Bedourie developed in the late 1870s/early 1880s to service
The development of the Kidman empire in Queensland stems from Kidman Brothers' acquisition of Annandale in 1896.
David Brooks’s grandfather managed Annandale Station for Kidman in the early 1900’s.
Annandale Station was abandoned because of drought in 1916.
Cecil Madigan passed annandale ruins on 3rd july 1939. You can read his account including his opinions of Kidman in his book “crossing the dead heart”

Hi mrt,
My Grandparents worked on Annandale for Syd Kidman in the 1800s.I think it was after the mother killed her 2 children because the waterhole went dry and the men were all away mustering and they had no water at the house. She killed her children to save them from perishing to death as far as I know.
The men returned soon after (sadly) & found the mother wandering senselessly through the sand dunes
My grandmother spoke of Annandale occasionally but she went senile before I became interested enough to find out more.
She spoke of the sanddunes blowing into the house and the never ending battle to keep the sand out and of course she spoke of the lonelyness.
We visited the Ruins when the waterhole there was full and we loved it except for the hawds of flies which I can remember Nanna speaking of.
There is also another book called " No roads go bye" by a female with the surname White I think. Not 100% sure it's about Annandale but I think it is.
Annandale is now included in the property owned by Brooks.