Netflix’s Territory has been able to make a special place in the audience’s hearts, thanks to its gripping storyline, stellar performances, and stunning visuals. The neo-Western drama takes the audience on a journey to the Australian Outback.
The show is set at Marianne Station, the world’s largest cattle station. When the Lawson family members, who have held possession of the ranch for generations, get into a succession battle, the station becomes the target of several gangsters, crime lords, mining mafia, and Australian Aboriginal elders.
Most of the narrative takes place at Marianne Station, which leaves the audience in awe of its wilderness and vast landscape. This has also given rise to the question of whether the station shown in Territory exists in the real world. Well, Marianne Station is not real and is a fictional creation.
Marianne Station from Territory is not a real station in Australia
There is no cattle station named Marianne in Australia. However, the station does take inspiration from a real-world place. While Marianne Station is fictional, the makers of Territory took inspiration from Anna Creek Station. Anna Creek is the world’s largest cattle station and ranch.
Located in South Australia, it covers an area of 23,677 square kilometers (9,142 square miles). The station's sheer size can be estimated by the fact that it is bigger than the US state of New Jersey and is more than seven times the size of the largest US ranch, King Ranch in Texas.
This station was set up in the late 1800s and once had as many as 16,500 cattle. Like Marianne Station in Territory, the Anna Creek Station has tough landscapes and limited vegetation. There is a main homestead on the ranch as well, akin to the Lawson family homestead in the show.
The real and the fictional stations also have another similarity as their ownership became a point of contention. In 2015, Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison blocked a sale of the land of Anna Creek, which was owned by S Kidman & Co.
In 2016, another Chinese bid was also blocked citing that that the land was situated within a military testing area. Anna Creek was ultimately acquired by the Williams Cattle Company.
The scenes based at Marianne Station in Territory were filmed at Tipperary Station
While Anna Creek Station served as an inspiration behind Marianne Station, the scenes of the show involving the station were actually filmed at Tipperary Station. Located in the Northern Territory of Australia, Tipperary spans 954,000 acres and comprises different landscapes, cattle yards, and 72 paddocks.
During production, over 200 cast and crew members lived on-site, using around 3,000 cattle to add authenticity to the show. The production team built the Lawson family homestead on the land to reflect the station's history dating back to the 1800s.
While interior scenes were filmed in studios in Adelaide, Tipperary’s open grazing land and scenery gave a glimpse of life on a working cattle station. To provide authenticity to the show, the production team spent weeks filming in scorching heat at the station and faced various hardships.
Actor Sam Corlett, who plays Marshall Lawson, revealed in an interview with The Nightly that people used to faint on the set due to the excessive temperatures. He said:
“When the wet season came in, the nurses on set were doubled, the Hydralyte was doubled and there were a couple of faintings here and there."
Corlett added:
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Because running around with guns and on horses can be quite energy-consuming. A lot of the days, we ended up zapped. There’s a harshness and hardness, but what was a beautiful surprise is the romance.”
All episodes of Territory are streaming on Netflix.
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