Homestead (building)

This article is about a dwelling and outbuildings. For other uses, see Homestead (disambiguation).

A homestead is an isolated dwelling, especially a farmhouse, and adjacent outbuildings,^[1] typically on a large agricultural holding such as a ranch or station.^[2]

An abandoned homestead in Western Australia

In North America the word "homestead" historically referred to land claimed by a settler or squatter under the Homestead Acts (United States) or the Dominion Lands Act (Canada). In Old English, the term was used to mean a human settlement, and in Southern Africa the term is used for a cluster of several houses normally occupied by a single extended family.

In Australia it refers to the owner's house and the associated outbuildings of a pastoral property, known as a station.^[3][4]

See also

• Housing portal

• Homestead principle
• Homesteading
• List of homesteads in Western Australia
• List of historic homesteads in Australia
• Settlement hierarchy