In November 1906, James Stacey of Port Augusta, South Australia, took up 470ha of virgin bush 8kms south east of Quairading, being the present homestead area of “Sunnyvale”.  He commenced clearing this land with the aid of three sons, adding a further 130ha of uncleared land in 1909 and purchasing some more land from a neighbour.

On the death of James Stacey in 1932, the management of the 1215ha property was taken over by Leslie Stacey and the size of the property was enlarged over the next 34 years to 7490ha. In 1966 Leslie Stacey retired and the farm was divided between his two sons Bryant and Peter.  They in turn have handed management to their sons who now farm a total area of 11,300ha as two individual farms.

Approximate annual production from the two farms is 6,000 tonnes of what, 1,000 tonnes of lupins, 300 tonnes of barley, 100 tonnes of oates, 350 bales of wool and 8,000 fat lambs.

The soil types on the farms range from the heavy through medium to sand and salt affected land carrying in this original state Salmon Gum, White Gum, Gimlet, Banksia and Mallee trees and various types of scrub.  The rainfall averages 350 – 375mm per annum.

When the management of the property was taken over by Leslie Stacey, he became interested in the production of fat lambs.  He was so successful with this venture that in 1942, he had sufficient numbers to hire a special train to transport 3, 136 lambs direct from Badjaling Siding to the Robbs Jetty Abattoirs in Fremantle, a distance of 232kms.  This operation was so successful that it became an annual event.

Each year the annual lamb crop was drafted from their mothers and loaded into a special train for dispatch to Abattoirs, the whole operation being completed in less than 12 hours.

This operation would not have been possible without the help of many residents in the Quairading district, with up to 80 people assisting with the project.

The record consignment of 10,028 lambs was forwarded in 1971, requiring a train of 2 diesels and 88 sheep trucks.  At that time this was the longest train to run in Western Australia and the number of lambs was generally recognised as the largest consignment of lambs from one grower anywhere in the world.  In most cases all the lambs were slaughtered, packed and in freezers within 36 hours of being taken off their mothers.  Changing economic conditions and market requirements saw the end of the operation in 1973 after 32 annual drafts totaling 183,635 lambs.  The fat lambs produced on the properties are now sent forward in batches of 300 – 500 in any one day.

Leslie Stacey, who was born in Guildford, Western Australia in 1905 and died in 1972 was awarded the MBE in 1963 for his services to the fat lamb industry.