William Liddle


William Hurle Liddle was a pastoralist who established Angas Downs Station, in Central Australia, taking up the first pastoral lease in 1929.

Early life

Liddle, of Scottish descent, was born in Angaston, South Australia to Thomas and Matilda Ann Liddle.

Life in the Northern Territory

Liddle came to Alice Springs as a young man, to work at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station, in 1907. This is where he met, and married, Mary Earwaker the daughter of the blacksmith and a local Arrernte woman, in 1912.
Following their marriage Liddle worked as a contractor for Gerhardt Johannsen, and constructed many of the stone buildings at Arltunga, including the Arltunga Police Station.
He then started working at a number of local cattle stations including Maryvale Station, Mount Burrell, Bowson's Hole, Hamilton Downs and finally King's Creek Station before establishing his own station Angas Downs: named for his home town.
Angas Downs, 300 kms southwest of Alice Springs, was first visited by Liddle in 1922 when, in dire circumstances, he found water at "Liddle Hills" and built a homestead there. He visited again in 1927 when over-landing 2000 sheep to South Australia. A formal lease was not officially granted until 1929. The Anangu name for this place is Walara.
Bill Liddle had a good relationship with the Anangu and respected them and came to rely on their intimate knowledge of the land and their labour. In 1932 H.H. Finlayson stayed with Liddle at Angas Downs and, although it was his primary purpose of his expedition to study mammals he took many photographs and recordings of Aboriginal people here.
In 1948 Liddle sold Angas Downs to two of his sons, Arthur and Milton Liddle. The brothers, and their Aboriginal descendants, ran sheep and then cattle until the 1990s when, following financial struggles, they sold to the Imanpa Development Association Inc. and it became the Angas Downs Indigenous Protected Area.