The station was initially formed by E.T. Hooley, who was given the pastoral lease in 1867 by the colonial Government of Western Australia as a reward for creating a stock route from Perth to Roeburne. By 1869, the local Aboriginal population began to use force to try to break the British occupation of their land. One of Hooley's shepherds, a man named Hill, was found dead and it was presumed he was killed by Aboriginals. The death was reported to authorities at Roebourne and two subsequent punitive missions were organised. The first was led by Hooley, who assembled the men working on the station and went out with them to attack a nearby native campsite. The resulting "skirmish was brief and effective". An armed Government force from Roebourne arrived a couple days later under the leadership of Farquhar MacRae. This group, together with Hooley and his men, implemented an early dawn attack on another Aboriginal settlement. The resulting episode of frontier conflict was dubbed the Battle of Minderoo. A poem was written about the battle, which described it as "fierce, with casualties and woes", but the result was a massacre of Indigenous people with little wounding of the British combatants. Despite their victory in the conflict, Hooley had to abandon the property not long after, due to continued Aboriginal resistance.