It is a pretty normal autumn day, where heavy humidity turns the kitchen to a sauna and slows you to a snail's pace.

Bleating goats gather their young on the homestead's veranda, desperate for precious shade.

Sandflies stick to sweaty skin and the curried egg sandwiches that have been set out for lunch.

To Billie Lefroy, this is paradise.

Ningaloo Station, where 50,000 hectares of goat country meets the pristine Indian Ocean in Western Australia's Pilbara, has been her home for more than 65 years.

But Mrs Lefroy fears soon, much of that land will be taken from her control because the WA Government wants to excise a big section of the property when the state's pastoral leases come up for renewal at the end of June.

"To be quite rude, I think it stinks," Mrs Lefroy said.

Got a confidential news tip? Email ABC Investigations at investigations@abc.net.au For more sensitive information: Text message using the Signal phone app +61 436 369 072 No system is 100 per cent secure, but the Signal app uses end-to-end encryption and can protect your identity. Please read the terms and conditions.

Pastoralist stands fast in face of excise

In Western Australia, around one-third of the state is covered by pastoral leases, and after 80 years, those leases run out in July.

Pastoralists along the Ningaloo Marine Park derive income from running livestock, but also through tourists who come to the stations to camp.

Ningaloo station is paradise to leaseholder Billie Lefroy. ( ABC News: Robert Koenig-Luck )

The WA Government originally wanted to excise a big area of Ningaloo Station, which sits on the edge of the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Marine Park.

The land would be excluded from pastoral leases to create a public conservation and recreation reserve.

The changes mean the State Government would control the area and the tourism that goes with it.

But Mrs Lefroy, her daughter Jane and her partner Phil Kendrick, refused to agree to the plan and stand to lose their entire property in July.

"If you stand on the mountain over there and look out and say 'all this is ours' and then you suddenly realise that there's other people wanting to take it off you, it gives you a bit of shock," she said.

"It makes you feel sick in the stomach when you think about it because you don't know what's going to happen."

WA Lands Minister Terry Redman said the Government was entitled to make decisions about Crown land.

"It is leasehold land, the State Government has got a responsibility to ensure we protect the conservation values of those areas and also the tourism values of those areas," Mr Redman said.

The WA Government is pushing ahead with the plan to excise land on all six pastoral leases that sit on the Ningaloo coastline.

But the Government is being accused of breaking a promise not to take control of pastoral station land.

Mr Kendrick said Ningaloo Station, along with other properties on the coastline, invested in tourism ventures, mainly through beach camping, after a meeting before the 2005 election.

Phil Kendrick says they invested money on tourism development. ( ABC News: Robert Koenig-Luck )

He said a policy document, released by the National-Liberal Coalition, gave pastoralists confidence to spend money on developing tourism.

"That position document said there would be no excisions of the pastoral leases along the coast that the Labor Party had invoked along the coast, there would be no change of tourism activities," Mr Kendrick said.

"Once you give an undertaking, I'm of the age that that's your bond. That's it, end of story.

"They've given an undertaking and we expect them to comply with it."

Mr Redman said the Government would push ahead with the plan.

"I'm not aware of promises made around the exclusion areas but I know what this Government has done is it has made every effort to be able to improve the lines in the sand," he said.

The WA Government said it was negotiating a compromise and had offered to let the Lefroys keep living in the station's homestead.

But the family wants to remain in control of the entire property.

Conservation groups back Government

The State Government is supported by green groups like the Wilderness Society, who want the Ningaloo Coast back in public hands.

WA campaign manager Peter Robertson said the area needed protecting.

"The Ningaloo Coast is one of the jewels in the crown for Australia in terms of our natural environment," Mr Robertson said.

"The positive side about the Government regaining control, if you like, of that coastal strip is that not only can they start putting in place some proper management and developing proper ecotourism economies, they can also enter into joint management arrangements with the traditional owners of those areas who have been locked out of their traditional country for generations."

But Ningaloo Station is not the only property fighting back.

Neighbouring properties are also incensed about the issue which dates back to 2004 when, they say, they were forced to agree to excisions.

Pastoralists and Graziers Association of Western Australia president Tony Seabrook said many pastoralists were unhappy with the plan.

"They signed some documents in 2004, they were pressured into doing that," Mr Seabrook said.

"People up there who know that country and know it well.

"They are far better off to manage it than a government department working a five-day week with little understanding of how the rangeland works."

The WA Government said it was looking at negotiating "special arrangements" with the pastoralists to maintain the "status quo" for the management of the camping grounds.

But Mrs Lefroy, who turns 90 on Christmas Day, does not want the Government in charge of the land she has lived on for most of her life.

"It's very important, this is my home," she said.

"We'll just dig our toes in and say we're not moving and that's it."