History of Cumberland

One of Australia’s pioneer Santa Gertrudis Studs, Cumberland was established in 1953 and produced the first graded up, pure-bred Santa Gertrudis bull classified in Australia in 1959.  Annual on property bull sales began in 1958 and sales over almost half a century have seen many records set and broken.

Cumberland’s First Sale

(Taken from Big Cattle, Big Country…Jack Hanley)

In June, 1958, Sir James Walker’s Cumberland staged its first sale: the first time that Santa-cross bulls were offered in the Central West of Queensland, an historic start of what was to become a celebrated annual sale. He called the sale the “Faith in the Future” sale. Cumberland’s professional approach which included building a sale ring and mounting an extensive publicity campaign, succeeded in attracting a good crowd of about 170 people, this despite the considerable distances to be travelled to get to Longreach.