Massive Queensland cattle station tipped to fetch $200m-plus

A historic 342,000ha station in North Queensland, plus 50,000 cattle, has hit the market where it could command a staggering sum.

The Acton Cattle Company have listed their 342,000ha Millungera Station, north of Julia Creek.

A massive North Queensland cattle station with more than 160 years of pastoral history is set to test the market, after it was listed for sale by a renowned farming family.

The Acton family is selling the mighty 342,000ha Millungera Station, regarded as a showcase breeding and backgrounding property 130km north of Julia Creek.

Industry sources have estimated the Millungera Station could field offers worth $200m-$250m, walk-in, walk-out, including about 50,000 branded cattle.

The station was established in 1864 by pioneer James Gibson. Some 120 years later the then owner of Millungera Station, CSR Limited, auctioned off the property, to the current owners, the Acton family.

Operating as Acton Cattle Company, Evan Acton and his late brother, Graeme, purchased the property in 1985 for $7m, including about 25,000 cattle.

In 2015 the Lee family’s Australian Country Choice purchased a 51 per cent share in the Acton family’s 100 year-old company, with the Lee-Acton joint venture, Australian Cattle and Beef Holdings, taking control of a number of Acton family properties.

The late Queensland beef cattle producer Graeme Acton. Picture: McEvoy Stuart

However, Millungera remained under the management of the Acton family.

Bentleys Queensland agents Ben Cameron, Rohan Dunsdon or Brendan Goulding are handling the sale of Millungera Station with first round offers closing July 25.

“This is an opportunity offered by Acton Cattle Company Pty Ltd to acquire Millungera Station, that offers a large scale, high quality cattle herd and has abundant water and fencing infrastructure on a going concern basis (walk-in walk-out),” Mr Cameron said.

Currently operating as an integrated cattle breeding and growing production system, Millungera Station comprises a mix of country types from good river frontages, open Mitchell grass downs, soft forest, and small areas of Gidgee.

About 138,000ha (38 per cent) is considered Shaded Downs country while 168,000ha (49 per cent) is Sandy Forest with Bauhinia and Beefwood timbers plus black and white spear, kerosene and wire grasses.

About 50,000 branded cattle are to be included in the sale of the Millungera Station.

Timbered Gidgee country comprises about 18,000ha (5 per cent) plus 26,000ha as river frontages and channels to Flinders and Saxby rivers.

The station is bound by the Flinders River on the southwestern boundary, severed by the Saxby River in the southern part and drained to the north by a number of creeks in the northern part of the property.

A number of corporate scale beef producers have significant landholders in the broader Julia Creek region, including the Argyle Pastoral Company, ASX-listed Australian Agricultural Company (AACo), large-scale Queensland Wagyu producers, the Curr Cattle Company and the Northern Australian Pastoral Company (NAPCo).

Originally published as Massive Queensland cattle station tipped to fetch $200m-plus