Pieces of Australia: Oscar nominees ‘gifted land’ near site of Qld police shooting

An Oscars gift bag set to be handed out to some of Hollywood’s hottest names will include a ‘souvenir plot’ of land, situated just kilometres from the site where two Queensland police officers and a neighbour were shot dead.

It’s a remote part of western Queensland still reeling from tragedy and surrounded by coal seam gas wells.

Now a group of the most high-profile celebrities in Hollywood is just days away from owning a piece of real estate in the Western Downs.

Symbolically, at least.

A gift bag that will be handed to nominees at this year’s Oscars will include a package that confirms their “ownership” of a tiny parcel of land outside Tara.

These nominees include Cate Blanchett, Brendan Fraser, Austin Butler and Steven Spielberg.

The parcels are provided by Pieces of Australia, a small company that says it buys up private land to protect it from human development and deforestation, and sells it to people around the world.

Cate Blanchett could be one of the recipients of a Pieces of Australia souvenir plot, if she accepts the gift bag. Kevin Winter/Getty Images/AFP

The land is sold in sizes ranging from one to 10sq m, and the organisation says it plants two trees per square metre sold.

But the recipients don’t get actual possession of the land, nor are they allowed to visit without prior approval from Pieces of Australia.

The company’s website says that it diverts some of the revenue from these sales to organisations that are “in line with our vision of creating a positive impact”.

This includes, according to the website, a partnership with not-for-profit ReForest Now.

ReForest Now CEO and founder Maximo Bottaro confirmed Pieces of Australia had donated $400 to the organisation.

A one square metre parcel of land can be purchased for $79.95, which includes a digital certificate and handbook.

The souvenir land that will be given to the Oscars nominees is situated just kilometres south from coal seam gas fields, which have in the past been operated by QGC.

The distance between the Pieces of Australia site and the police shooting.

It is also just 8km from the site of the shocking incident in which two police officers and a neighbour were shot dead by people who have since been deemed “religious terrorists”.

On December 12, 2022 four constables went to the address of Gareth and Stacey Train, looking for Nathaniel Train who had been reported missing 10 months earlier.

The Trains opened fire on the officers, killing constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow, and neighbour Alan Dare.

Nathaniel, Gareth and Stacey Train were later shot dead by specialist officers.

In the weeks and months that followed the area has been subject to deliberately-lit fires, burning thousands of hectares of bushland.

The organisation Pascha Pty Ltd purchased a 13 hectare property at 253 Happiness Rd Tara in October 2021 for $35,000.

The company Pieces of Australia is registered to Envirocean Pty Ltd.

ASIC documents show Neils Chaneliere is listed as the sole director of Envirocean.

He is also one of the directors of Pascha Pty Ltd, a superannuation trustee company, along with several family members.

A Coogee unit is listed as the principal place of business for both companies.

Gift bags have remained a strange and elaborate part of Oscars tradition.

Private company Distinctive Assets started handing out the bags to Oscar nominees more than 20 years ago, and is unaffiliated with the Academy.

In some years, the contents of the bag have topped more than $200,000.

Jimmy Kimmel, the host of this year’s Oscars, will also be in line for a parcel of land. Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images.

The value of the gift bag provided to Oscar nominees this year is worth nearly $130,000.

Some of the other products and services offered in this year’s gift bag include anti-ageing treatments, plastic surgery and a year’s supply of foundation and concealer worth $12,000US.

But not all the nominees may end up with their piece of the Western Downs.

It is also possible one or more of the nominees will decline to accept the bag, which has happened in the past.

Souvenir plots have boomed in popularity in recent years.

One of the biggest names in the sector is Established Titles, which allows you to purchase an unusable plot in the highlands of Scotland.

A Scottish souvenir plot was given to nominees at the 2022 Oscars.

The Australian Conservation Foundation has expressed its concern over the arrangement and urged the public to do its research before buying one of the souvenir plots.

“Pieces of Australia is not a charity,” ACF lead investigator Annica Schoo said.

“As the government continues to create markets in carbon and biodiversity, we are likely to see more and more companies making grand claims about purported gains for nature and the climate.

“But this idea of buying cheap land nestled between gas wells and selling it at a mark-up does nothing to address the issue.

“Australia needs a serious regulator of these markets so it is not left to individuals to investigate.”

Pieces of Australia was contacted for comment.