Australia’s biggest sheep station, Rawlinna, has been listed for public sale for the first time since being developed in the 1960s by veteran grazier Hugh MacLachlan – after mining magnate Andrew Forrest abandoned plans to acquire it for a future renewable energy project.

Spanning 1,046,323 hectares – about the size of Greater Sydney – Rawlinna Station, about 400 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie, has a carrying capacity of almost 70,000 sheep and is considered a “wool powerhouse”. It shares its border with the Trans Australia train line running from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie and is a stop on the Indian Pacific luxury train route.