[http://www.abc.net.au/rural/wa/content/2010/11/s3079657.htm]
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Sheep were brought into the region following a successful expedition by Alexander Forrest in 1879.
His glowing report to the colonial government of a land filled with wild rivers and endless plains, sparked the imagination of settlers.
By 1883, sheep were being landed in their thousands at the newly established port in Derby, and from there being driven inland along the Fitzroy and other West Kimberley Rivers.
In the final years of the 19th Century, sheep stations were battling against harsh conditions, poor markets, disease and major stock killings by Indigenous people.
Yet in the 20th Century, stations such as Liveringa and Noonkanbah grew their flocks to around 100,000 head of sheep, making them some of the biggest sheep stations in Australia's history.
The Kimberley's wool industry enjoyed some major highs during the 1950s, but was struggling again in the 60s before eventually collapsing in the mid 1970s.
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