Mungerannie Hotel

Old Mulka Ruins

The site consists of the ruins of two stone buildings near a collapsed well and water tank.

Much building stone has been removed and the site has been heavily disturbed.

There are three places called Mulka: this one, which is the oldest; the later store at the New Well about 5km to the south (SHP:007); and the modern homestead near the government bore of 1906, between the two older sites. The property was taken up by Alexander Scobie in the early 1880s, and this house built.

Alexander's three sons remained in the area for years, as Eric Bonython recorded: 'The three Scobies were all in a row on the Birdsville Track, Alec at Ooroowilannie, Jim at Mulka and Dave at New Well.' (Bonython 1985, p. 64)

In 1924 the Scobies sold Mulka to the Aistons, who shifted the Mulka homestead south to the New Well, where they set up a popular roadside store and eating house. The Old Well site remained in use as an outstation, but was abandoned in the drought of the late 1920s..

Old Mulka Ruins

The ruins of Mulka Store are west of the Birdsville Track and south of Mulka Bore. Built of limestone rubble, the ruins reveal a complex arrangement of small rooms and two outbuildings situated on an arid plain with little vegetation. A grave with marble headstone and iron railing is located on a low hill near the ruins. The ruins are a notable and isolated landmark within the surrounding desert.

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Mulka Store Ruins

Mulka Store was literally an oasis for travellers in a predominantly drought stricken landscape plagued by sand storms.

The ruins were originally associated with early pastoralist Alexander Scobie, who came to the Channel country in 1879 and was joined by his wife Mary and four children in 1883. Two years later, after sinking wells about 20 miles apart and living in camps, the family settled at New Well, fifty miles south of Cowarie pastoral station.

In 1915, Alexander and Mary retired, leaving their three sons in charge of Mulka station. In 1923 the Scobie’s interests in Mulka were sold to Mr and Mrs Aiston. The Aistons established a second store there in 1924 to supply travellers along the Birdsville Track.

George ‘Poddy’ Aiston is an important figure in the region’s history. In 1901, he joined the South Australian Police Force after returning from the Boer War and served at various remote locations before being posted to Mungerannie in 1912.

He combined police duties with those of Aboriginal Welfare Officer and took a keen interest in the two local tribes, the Dieri and Wonkongura. When he resigned from the force in 1924 before buying Mulka Station, he had accumulated a valuable collection of artefacts which he housed in a large room in the store.

After he died in 1943, his widow remained at Mulka Store until 1953 when she donated the collection to the South Australian Museum and moved south.