Huge Queensland cattle station sold for $47.5m at auction

A 233,000ha station has been snapped up by a major Queensland farming family, amid notable transactions worth more than $120m combined. See all the details.

A huge Queensland cattle station in the state’s southern Gulf Country has been sold under the hammer after commanding a stellar price of $47.5m, amid a series of other notable transactions in the sunshine state.

Offered for sale via auction at the Ibis Hotel, Mount Isa, Lord Cattle sold its 233,000ha May Downs station, held by vendors James and Marjorie Lord for 38 years.

Queensland and interstate property owners, bankers and valuers packed out the auction room, on Thursday, with inquiries across Queensland, NT and NSW along with international interest.

Bidding for May Downs started at $40m, before it was sold under the hammer for $47.5m to Cloncurry-based McMillian Pastoral.

The McMillian family’s pastoral company is one of the largest in Australia with a two million-hectare portfolio that now includes eight stations in Queensland and one in the Northern Territory.

MAY DOWNS, MOUNT ISA, QLD
Size: 233,000 hectares
Vendor: Lord Cattle
Buyer: McMillian Pastoral
Price: $47.5m

Major assets include the 705,000ha Wollogorang and Wentworth stations plus the 423,494ha Roxborough Downs and Mudgerebar Station at Boulia.

May Downs, located just 28km west of Mount Isa, was stocked with 9500 head of cattle that grazed on the station’s open volcanic Mitchell grass downs.

Stock Place Marketing agent Luke Westaway and James Coates handled the sale with auctioneer Phillip Black.

Lord Cattle have sold their 233,000ha May Downs station for $47.5m.

“The continued strength in the rural land sector was evident through the strong quantity of inquiry, large number of registered buyers in attendance and spirited bidding,” Mr Westaway said.

“Today’s auction was one of the absolute highlights of my 45-year auctioneering career. The strength and energy in the room was dynamic.”

The Lord family’s cattle company has been operating for 40 years, running a herd of 12,000 Brahman-composite cattle across western Queensland.

The majority of the 9841ha Amby Hills property has been sold to a western QLD grazier.

AMBY HILLS, ROMA, QLD
Size: 9841 hectares
Vendor: Colin Maunder
Buyer: Western QLD producer
Price: Undisclosed, sold prior to auction

Elsewhere in the state, a western Queensland grazier is understood to have bought a major slice of the 9841ha Amby Hills aggregation, located 75km southwest of Roma.

Offered for sale by Colin Maunder, 6401ha of Amby Hills has been sold while negotiations are ongoing for the remaining 3440ha.

No sale price has been disclosed for the property, which was scheduled to be auctioned on May 22.

The property was expected to make about $20,000 per breeder area. In recent years the property had comfortably carried 1200 breeders.

Nutrien Harcourts GDL agent Rick Benham handled the sale of Amby Hills.

Cashmere West and Oinmurra have been sold by the Grimwade & Gordon partnership prior to their scheduled auctions.

OINMURRA, DIRRANBANDI, QLD
Size: 12,053 hectares
Vendor: Grimwade & Gordon Land Pty Ltd
Buyer: NSW-based grazier
Price: Undisclosed, sold prior to auction

CASHMERE WEST, ST GEORGE, QLD
Size: 11,906 hectares
Vendor: Grimwade & Gordon Land Pty Ltd
Buyer: Interstate-based grazier
Price: Undisclosed, sold prior to auction

Two southern Queensland grazing properties, owned by the Grimwade & Gordon partnership have both been sold prior to their scheduled auctions.

The partnership between sheep breeder George Grimwade and former rich lister Michael Gordon listed both the 12,053ha Oinmurra and the 11,906ha Cashmere West properties, citing a change in production focus and geographic footprint for the group.

In early May, Oinmurra, near Dirranbandi, went under contract with a NSW-based grazier understood to have secured the property for an undisclosed sum.

Then a deal was struck for Cashmere West, with an interstate-based grazier purchasing the property for an undisclosed sum.

Recent district land values for quality grazing country in the Balonne region have ranged from $1359 a hectare up to more than $1507 a hectare.

Elders Real Estate Queensland Rural agent Phillip Kelly and Leah Freney handled the sale of the Oinmurra and Cashmere West properties.

Glen Elgin, in the Teelba Valley has been sold by Jeremy and Brenda MacMillan.

GLEN ELGIN, TEELBA, QLD
Size: 2880 hectares
Vendor: Jeremy and Brenda MacMillan
Buyer: Warby family
Price: $12.4m

The neighbouring Warby family of Wagganba at Glenmorgan, has paid $12.4m for the 2880ha Glen Elgin, near Teelba, 84km from Meandarra in Queensland’s Western Downs.

Glen Elgin was auctioned on May 26, offered for sale by Jeremy and Brenda MacMillan after 23 years of ownership.

Russell Jorgensen and Andrew McCallum from Nutrien Harcourts GDL handled the sale of Glen Elgin.

Originally published as Huge Queensland cattle station sold for $47.5m at auction