Station is the term for a large Australian landholding used for livestock production. It corresponds to the North American term 'ranch'. The owner of a station is called a Grazier (which corresponds to the North American term 'rancher'). Stations in Australia are, in some cases, on pastoral lease, and are known colloquially as 'Sheep Stations' or 'Cattle Stations' as most are stock specific, dependent upon the country and rainfall. Sheep and Cattle Stations can be thousands of square kilometres in area, with the nearest neighbour being hundreds of kilometres away. Because of the vast distances, there is a School of the Air so that children can attend classes from their homes. Medical assistance is given by the Royal Flying Doctor Service, where medical staff such as doctors and nurses can treat patients at their homes, or airlift emergency and seriously ill patients to hospitals at the nearest towns. Veterinary surgeons also fly to some of the more distant cattle and sheep stations. It is also interesting to note that some large stations are actually comparable in size to an American state, however may only have a workforce of 100 people. They are in some remote areas that are not easy to acess too, limiting their population greatly.
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References
Collins * Hanks, Patrick; Urdang, Lawrence (Editorial Director) [1979] (1984). Collins Dictionary of the English Language, G. a. Wilkes (Aust. cnsltnt), 2nd ed., Wm. Collins. ISBN 0 00 433175-5. “An extensive coverage of contemporary international and Australian English”
