Extract date: 10/06/2026
| Name | Farrar |
|---|---|
| Type Designation | Suburb |
| Place Id | 2036 |
| Place Type | Administrative Area |
| Status | Registered |
| Date Registered | 5 December 2001 |
| Location (Datum GDA94) | |
| Latitude: -12° 28' S (Decimal degrees -12.4804) | |
| Longitude: 130° 59' E (Decimal degrees 130.9974) | |
| Locality / Suburb | |
| (None Found) | |
| Local Government Area | |
| Palmerston City Council | |
| History/Origin | This suburban area was originally part of the Gunn when Palmerston was divided into suburbs in 1984. However the development of Palmerston's eastern suburbs did not proceed in the 1990s as designed in 1984 and therefore the suburb of Gunn of 1998/9 was larger than that originally proposed. In 1999, it was decided a new suburb name would be allocated to the area of Gunn between the old and new Stuart Highway alignments. The suburb is named after John Samuel Farrar and family, pastoral pioneers of the Northern Territory. John Samuel Farrar was born in Yorkshire (perhaps Bradford), England in 1838 and came to Victoria, Australia, with his father (an ex-cavalry officer) circa 1856. Little is known of the earlier years, but they both gravitated to New South Wales. John Farrar eventually moved to Queensland where he worked as a stockman and drover on stations, such as "Kyabra", owned by John Costello who was one of the first settlers on the Bullo River. Farrar was associated with the Burke and Wills Expedition, not as an explorer but guided the party through the Diamentina country to Cooper's Creek. After his father's death in 1874, Farrar is believed to have returned to Yorkshire to deal with his father's estate there. He returned to "Farrars Creek" on the Diamentina River (named after him by Costello) and by 1880 had moved into the Northern Territory, managing Lake Nash for Costello for a number of years. When Costello wound up his affairs in the NT in the bleak 1890s, Farrar moved to Hodgson Downs. Farrar with two of his sons, Robert and William Ernest, held pastoral leases at Nutwood Downs and Mainoru. John Farrar spent some 14 years at Nutwood Downs (of some 1800 sq miles) after the turn of the century and at one time held Elsey Station. Although speared twice, he was well liked by Aboriginal people. In 1916/17, John and his wife Mary Ann left the Territory to retire at Ferney, nine miles from Maryborough, Queensland. They were later joined by two of their sons, Robert and John Samuel Jnr. Mary Ann Farrar died on 24 December 1917, aged 70, while John Samuel Farrar died on 18 November 1918, aged 80. |
| Date | Gazettal | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| 05/12/2001 | NTG48 |