Natalie Hatton launches civil claim, igniting cattle family warfare
A family feud between the estranged daughter of a Queensland beef baron and her relatives over her mother’s death has expanded into a courtroom drama.
A family feud between the estranged daughter of a Queensland beef baron and her relatives over her mother’s death has expanded into a courtroom drama with explosive claims and counter claims of assault, harassment and financial abuse, new court documents reveal.
Natalie Hatton’s dogged pursuit of answers to what she believes was the suspicious death of her mother led to her being charged with serious offences including stalking, but she has now taken court action of her own in a major escalation of the dispute.
Launching a civil claim over her share of the family cattle empire, Ms Hatton alleges in court documents she wasn’t paid for her labour for years and that she was physically assaulted by her father and stepmother, Paul and Ingrid Hatton. She also alleges her late grandfather, Edwin Hatton, could be her biological father.
The allegations have been strenuously denied by family members, who have filed in court a joint defence outlining financial and emotional support Ms Hatton received. Defence documents state alleged assaults never happened or were minor, and Ms Hatton’s relationship with her family broke down when she “attacked, harassed and defamed” her father and stepmother through social and mainstream media.
The Australian revealed in March that Ms Hatton had been charged with stalking over her Facebook campaign challenging the story she grew up with about her mother, Julie Hatton, dying by suicide at the age of 22.
Her online posts aggravated family members including her father and stepmother.
Those criminal charges are ongoing as she separately pursues legal action in Queensland’s Supreme Court against Paul and Ingrid Hatton, her half-brothers Adam and Brett Hatton, and their wives, Emma and Brodie Hatton.
In 2019 it was reported the Hatton family ran about 20,000 head of mostly Santa Gertrudis cattle across 10 properties.
Comprising around 100,000 acres (40,470ha) of prime Queensland cattle country, family properties include Darreen Station near beef capital Eidsvold, where Paul and Ingrid Hatton have spent decades restoring a century-old homestead.
Ms Hatton, who turned 46 on Sunday, is seeking as part of the civil claim a declaration she is entitled to possession with her father and stepmother of one of the properties, Delubra. It is currently occupied by Adam Hatton.
She alleges she has been wrongly excluded from Delubra and is entitled to payment for her family’s use and enjoyment of the property. Her claim states she “did not receive any remuneration” for her work on family properties between the ages of about 11 and her late 20s.
Delubra was purchased for $1.3m in 1997 when Ms Hatton was working full-time on the family’s properties, her claim states.
Ms Hatton was originally registered as one of Delubra’s five owners, and says she was told by her family it would be hers if her parents and grandparents died.
Her legal claim states that her father spoke about her stake in the property in 2003.
“I have left you a million dollars in the will, and don’t forget you still have Delubra too, will you be happy with this amount?” he said, according to the court claim. “If you decided you would like to contest the will, you will highly likely win and … bankrupt Adam and Brett. So, it’s up to you, if you want to see four generations of the family’s work go down the drain.”
Ms Hatton says she replied: “Yes, thank you, Dad, and no I won’t contest the boys.” She further alleges she provided guarantees on millions of dollars in loans for the family to expand its property holdings after her father exercised “undue influence” over her.
As a result, she is seeking an order that her father transfer to her some or all of his interests in properties known as Appletree, Bottletree, The Ponds, Dawesdene, Old Rawbelle and Rawbelle, or provide equivalent compensation, to the extent she contributed to their acquisition.
Paul’s father, Edwin, leased Darreen Station in about 1963, with ownership later shared with Paul and Ingrid, the claim states.
The Hatton family had since acquired and upgraded a series of other properties.
Edwin died in 2008 and could be her biological father, Ms Hatton states, without elaborating. Her family insists in its defence that Paul is her father.
Paul was married to Ms Hatton’s mother, Julie, from April 1976 until her death on October 1, 1978, from a single gunshot wound to her forehead from a rifle on Darreen Station. He married Ingrid on August 1, 1981, and they had sons Adam and Brett, now 41 and 39.
Ms Hatton, a baby when her mother died, last year successfully lobbied former Queensland Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman to order a coronial investigation into the death. It remains ongoing.
She alleges in her civil claim that stepmother Ingrid assaulted her by striking her with a jockey whip. The family replied in defence documents that a small whip was kept on the fridge and Ms Hatton only ever received a “light smack on the bottom”, as did her brothers from Paul Hatton.
Ms Hatton further alleges that on one occasion, Paul Hatton rammed her head repeatedly into the kitchen wall at Darreen. On another occasion, she alleges she argued with Ingrid over rent.
“Ingrid said to Natalie words to the effect of, ‘Anita (Ingrid’s sister) said you should be paying rent’,” Ms Hatton’s court claim states.
“Natalie responded with words to the effect of, ‘How can I when I don’t get paid and I brand your cattle for free?’. In response, Ingrid struck Natalie on and about the head.”
Family members say in their defence neither assault happened.
Another time in 2000, when Ms Hatton was 21, her father allegedly struck her repeatedly with a length of poly pipe in the presence of others at Bullock Paddock at Darreen. Mr Hatton admits he did strike her on the back of her legs with a piece of poly pipe, but says it was after she swore at and belittled him. He said he apologised and did not observe any bruising.
It has been further alleged that in December 2019, “Ingrid assaulted Natalie, by attempting to hit Natalie with a mop at Darreen”.
However, the family says there was an argument over the rings of Natalie’s late mother while Ingrid was mopping the floor.
“Ingrid said words to the effect, `You will have to talk to your father about the rings because he thinks it is best that they stay here for now’,” defence documents state.
“Natalie began to scream at Ingrid that Paul was a ‘controlling (expletive)’ and threatened to smash the door.” Ingrid felt threatened by Natalie and held the mop upright, but did not attempt to strike her stepdaughter, the defence states.
The family disputes the amount of work Ms Hatton performed, and says its financial support included paying for her board at St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School in Brisbane.
When residing at Darreen, Ms Hatton was not required to pay rent and did not contribute to daily living expenses, her family says.
Cars worth $50,000 were given to her or paid for by her family, who also covered her fuel, servicing, registration and insurance, the defence documents state.
Excluding labour, the family spent about $3m improving Delubra, doubling its livestock capacity, the defence states. Ms Hatton had not contributed to the capital improvements or operating expenses, her family says.
Family members also say they paid more than $220,000 for a Gayndah property that she rented out and later sold, and that they put in more than $23,000 for her wedding reception.
Home insurance premiums, boarding school fees for Ms Hatton’s daughter and an interest-free loan were among other benefits she received from family members, defence documents state. Ms Hatton had made “no allowance” in her claim for the benefits.
Ms Hatton was 10 and doing her family tree for school when she realised her three sets of grandparents didn’t fit. It was only then that her father reluctantly told her the woman she thought was her mum – Ingrid – was her stepmother, and that her birth mother died by suicide. Police have since told her a long rifle was used.
A post-mortem examination report from the day after the death records that Julie Hatton suffered a gunshot wound with entry in the “middle of forehead”. Two weeks later, police advised the coroner there were no suspicious circumstances, coronial documents state.
The Justice Department’s under secretary certified on October 31 that an inquest wasn’t necessary, finalising the case within a month of the death.
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