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