Biggest land barons: Meet the families and owners of SA’s largest farms
Who owns – and farms – South Australia’s largest landholdings? Meet the people on the land, and the families behind them. SEE THE LIST
A South Australian business man made the switch to farming almost a decade ago and now he has established himself as the country’s leading ram seller.
George Millington purchased the famous Collinsville Stud Merinos from Paddy Handbury in an off-market deal in 2014.
Before his tree change, Mr Millington owned and operated APD Parcel Delivery Service and Monjava Coffee.
Now the director and owner of Collinsville Stud Merinos runs 64,590ha of land across three properties and said it sold more than 2200 rams each year.
“We are the largest ram seller in Australia,” he said.
“We’d always had family farms, but after selling the coffee company and putting in management at the parcel delivery company, I’d made enough money that enabled me to go and actually sort of follow a dream of farm business.”
In his short time in the industry, Mr Millington has combined three farms at Mintaro and Hallett into one business.
“We have made our business droughtproof, so we will buy more land if we find something that fits into our vertically integrated model. There’s no doubt there’s more competition for land than what there was five or ten years ago.”
The 48-year-old said a shortage of skilled farm workers in rural South Australia was proving challenging.
“Skilled labour in rural farming is the biggest drama,” he said. “It’s really hard to both attract and keep the best people, there’s a lot of competition out there for the right workers.”
SA’s total agribusiness revenue surged almost $2bn to $17.3bn during financial year 2021/22.
Mr Millington is among SA’s biggest land owners named in The Weekly Times’ annual investigation into who owns Australia’s farms.
From the list, we have compiled all the major players owning properties in South Australia.
Some South Australian farms are owned by international investors, but the majority are still owned by farming families and locals.
The largest farming land holders in the state are the Crown Point Pastoral Company, originally from the Northern Territory.
Below, meet some of the families that own the state’s largest farms.
WILLIAMS CATTLE COMPANY
4.4 million hectares
They might not be the largest land holders in the country, but this family partnership holds the title for the largest land holding in South Australia.
Williams Cattle Company, which first took shape in 1967, own several pastoral properties in the far north of the state, as well as grazing and cropping land in the Flinders Ranges.
They are best known for breeding Poll Hereford beef cattle, as well as Angus and Angus cross cattle.
Anna Creek Station, Coober Pedy SA – 1,574,600 hectares
Arckaringa Station, Coober Pedy SA – 275,000 hectares
Coonibar and Carrieton, Carrieton SA – 11,400 hectares
Hamilton Station, Oodnadatta SA – 701,000 hectares
Mount Barry Station, Coober Pedy SA – 492,000 hectares
Mount Sarah Station, Oodnadatta SA – 224,800 hectares
Nilpinna Station, William Creek SA – 565,800 hectares
The Peake Station, William Creek SA – 813,000 hectares
VIV OLDFIELD & DONNY COSTELLO
Crown Point Pastoral Company
3.6 million hectares
The title of Australia’s biggest landholder is held by two outback businessmen who teamed up 16 years ago to create a cattle operation that would swiftly grow to mind-blowing scale.
Former horse trainers and owners, Viv Oldfield and Donny Costello, have built a vast portfolio of more than 9.2 million hectares across the country – larger than Tasmania and more than twice the size of Switzerland.
Oldfield and Costello have bought 13 grazing properties over the past decade and a half, with three of those making up their Crown Point Pastoral South Australian branch.
Clifton Hills Station, Birdsville Track SA – 1,650,000 hectares
Innamincka Station, Leigh Creek SA – 1,360,000 hectares
Pandie Pandie Station, Birdsville Track SA – 662,500 hectares
MACLACHLAN FAMILY
Jumbuck Pastoral
Two million hectares
The MacLachlan family’s livestock empire started in 1888 at Paratoo Station near Yunta in South Australia.
Since then, the family-run business has amassed 5.2 million hectares across 12 properties in South Australia, Western Australia, New South Wales and the Northern Territory.
Their extensive pastoral operations run both sheep and cattle.
Bulgunnia Station, Glendambo SA – 309,600 hectares
Commonwealth Hill, Glendambo SA – 513,000 hectares
McCoys Well, Yunta SA – 58,680 hectares
Mobella Station, Glendambo SA – 413,200 hectares
Mount Victor Station, Yunta SA – 199,914 hectares
Mulgathing, Glendambo SA – 530,700 hectares
MCBRIDE FAMILY
AJ & PA McBride Pty Ltd
1.4 million hectares
The son of an Irish settler, Albert James McBride founded AJ & PA McBride with his son, Phillip, in 1920.
The father-and-son duo started with four properties and steadily amassed tracts of land from Pooraka to Port Augusta, buying Wilgena station in 1924 – once the largest fenced sheep property in the world.
Expansion has continued ever since, with the McBrides today owning 1.4 million hectares across 12 properties in South Australia, and one in Victoria – the recent 2018 acquisition of 47,000-hectare Telopea Downs.
A long-term commitment to wool growing is the hallmark of the McBride family.
Each year, more than 300,000 sheep and lambs are sheared, creating a combined wool cut of 1442 tonnes.
Ashmore, Kingston SE SA – 7354 hectares
Bleasdale Winery, Langhorne Creek SA 6500 hectares
Braemar, Burra SA – 131,210 hectares
Brooklyn Station, Lucindale SA – 3839 hectares
Konetta, Greenways SA – 7380 hectares
Nepowie, Woolumbool SA – 5848 hectares
North Well, Kingoonya SA – 381,400 hectares
Teetulpa, Yunta SA – 84,414 hectares
Wilgena Station, Tarcoola SA – 507,300 hectares
Yudnapinna, Port Augusta SA – 224,000 hectares
MORGAN AND WELLS FAMILY
Mutooroo Pastoral Company
748,000 hectares
Established by historic South Australian pastoralist Peter Waite, in partnership with Sir Thomas Elder, in the 1880s, the Mutooroo Pastoral is now a wool-growing giant.
Run by Waite’s direct descendants, the Morgan and Wells families, managing director James Morgan is a wool producer himself.
He lives and works on Outalpa Station, which he runs separately to the five stations totalling 2.1 million hectares along the South Australia-NSW border.
Together, Mutooroo, Mulyungarie, Quinyambie, Lilydale and Manunda run about 55,000 sheep.
Morgan is also a director on the board of Australian Wool Innovation.
Lilydale and Manunda Stations, Yunta SA – 161,100 hectares
Mulyungarie Station, Cockburn SA – 336,600 hectares
Mutooroo Station, via Broken Hill SA – 250,300 hectares
COOPER FAMILY
CC Cooper and Co
800,000 hectares
Fifth-generation family farming operation CC Cooper and Co, based at Jamestown in South Australia’s Mid North, has expanded across six properties in its home state, NSW and Western Australia over the past two decades.
Leith Cooper is the grandson of a shearer, who started the enterprise from the ground up, leaving just shy of 500 hectares to his three sons.
The Coopers have expanded more than 10-fold to now own more than 800,000 hectares, with the company run by Leith’s sons, Seth and Tom.
Since 2005, the family has spread its wings from its Jamestown base to buy Wonga Station at Broken Hill, Narrung on the Coorong, Madura Plains and Coorabie on the Nullarbor, and Broughton Vale Station at Little Topar NSW.
They run about 50,000 sheep alongside cropping and haymaking.
Madura Plains, Nullarbor, SA – 688,000 hectares
Jamestown Aggregation, Jamestown SA
Narrung Aggregation, Narrung SA
BROOK FAMILY
Brook Pastoral Company
780,000 hectares
From humble beginnings, the Brook family of Birdsville has built a mammoth organic beef enterprise.
Owning more than three million hectares of certified organic grazing land in Central Australia’s Channel Country, David and Nell Brook’s portfolio includes Adria Downs, Alton Downs, Kamaran Downs, Cordillo Downs and Murnpeowie Station.
Cordillo Downs, found 155 kilometres south east of Birdsville, is where David Brook’s father, Bill, worked as a station hand before buying a small part of Adria Downs in 1939.
Today, the 780,000-hectare property at Innamincka in South Australia is managed by David and Nell’s son Anthony, one of six siblings.
Their daughter Dalene Wray is managing director of OBE Organic, the natural beef brand that Brook Pastoral supplies.
Cordillo Downs, Innamincka SA 780,000 hectares
KERRY STOKES
Australian Capital Equity
773,660 hectares
The billionaire media mogul and former chairman of Seven West Media has significant farming interests, particularly in South Australia and Western Australia.
Stokes sold his Cygnet Park Farms aggregation on Kangaroo Island to Growth Farms in 2019 (see separate listing) for about $25 million but still owns smaller stretches of land in SA.
Balquhidder Station, Parawa SA – 3000 hectares
Mt House Station, Halls Creek WA – 370000 hectares
Mt Scrub, Fleurieu Peninsula SA- 660 hectares
Napier Downs Station, Derby WA – 400,000 hectares
HANDBURY ASSET MANAGEMENT (SALTBUSH AG)
343,866 hectares
The Saltbush AG portfolio recently changed hands in January 2023. The previous owners where the Handbury family, headed by Paddy Handbury and his son Jack.
The six-property portfolio includes four in SA and has been used for cereals, oilseeds, legumes, hay, prime lamb and wool production.
The new owners of the portfolio are currently unknown.
Arcoona Station, Woomera SA – 343,000 hectares
Chessington, Spence SA – 668 hectares
Lucindale Aggregation, Lucindale SA – 180 hectares
Swinging Shovel, Lucindale SA
JOHN KNIGHT AND CAROLINE THOMAS
Evelyn Downs Pastoral Company
234,500 hectares
John Knight and Caroline Thomas traded in their lives as a heart surgeon and clinical researcher respectively to run Evelyn Downs Station full time in 2014.
The pair had purchased the land, situated midway between Coober Pedy and Marla, in 2006 for $2 million but had previously hired managers for its running.
The couple, married for over 20 years, had previously admitted to learning much about running a pastoral station on YouTube.
Evelyn Downs, Coober Pedy SA – 234,500 hectares
MACQUARIE AGRICULTURE FUND
Viridis Ag
9,750 hectares
Viridis Ag operates 12 properties across 113,500 hectares of South Australia, Western Australia and New South Wales.
The group aim to generate a sustainable financial performance by investing in diverse cropping systems, people and farms.
Jamalka, Eyre Peninsula SA – 5350 hectares
Wiltoo, Cummins SA – 4400 hectares
ROBERTSON CHOWILLA PTY LTD
123,000 hectares
This station was originally spilt between two sons, known as the Chowilla and Calperum stations, but that all changed in 1919 when the Robertson family took over.
Today, the next generation of the family are still at the helm and running a sustainable property while conserving the site’s natural, historic and cultural values.
The station is older than the settlement that began Renmark, and was the first irrigation colony in Australia.
But is now better known for primarily running sheep, and have also been known to run cattle on occasion too.
Chowilla Station, Renmark SA – 123,000 hectares
PAROO PASTORAL COMPANY
101,172 hectares
A family-owned business consisting of seven main properties in South Australia’s South East and Eyre Peninsula, including western New South Wales.
In fact, across the country their properties cover about 500,000 hectares.
Paroo are known to produce wool and livestock for international and domestic markets.
Buckleboo Station, Eyre Peninsula SA – 101,172 hectares
Gundooee, Coonalpyn SA
GEORGE & SOPHIE MILLINGTON
64,590 hectares
Owners of APD Parcel Delivery Service in Adelaide and well known for their successful Monjava Coffee in Kent Town, George and Sophie Millington purchased the famous Collinsville station and Merino stud in 2014.
Mr Millington told The Advertiser during the purchase his goal was to help cement the position of Collinsville as one of Australia’s most important herds. The pair purchased another aggregation in 2019 and said they have plans to run cattle in the future.
Collinsville Station, Hallett SA – 56,093
hectares
Collinsville Stud, Hallett SA – 5665
Kadlunga Aggregation, Mintaro SA – 2832
WILLOWAY FARMING
36,300 hectares
The Willoway group was founded in 1998 by Ben and Anthea Brinkworth after they purchased their first property in Willalooka, just south of Keith.
The family still own and operate the aggregations that have now spread to more than 32 properties across South Australia’s South East and northern pastoral regions, far western New South Wales and the Riverina.
They are well known for being one of Australia’s biggest wool growers.
South East Aggregation (32 farms), South East SA – 36,300 hectares
SWISS AUSTRALIA FARM HOLDING
14,500 hectares
A foreign holding from Switzerland, SAFH are recipients of the Most Outstanding MSA Beef Producer in 2017 and 2019 for South Australia.
The company owns fiver properties, with two in South Australia that are known for running pure bred Angus cattle and Merino Sheep.
Glenstrae, Willalooka SA – 7000 hectares
Naweena, Padthaway SA – 7500 hectares
AURORA DAIRIES
3350 hectares
One of Australia’s largest milk producers, Aurora Dairies, owns and operates a diversified portfolio of 54 dairy farms and 10 support properties.
They own properties across South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and New Zealand. Their SA properties alone produce more than 56 million litres of milk annually.
Ashwood, Mt Gambier SA
Bonney View, Mt Gambier SA
Canunda Park, Mt Gambier SA
Kingsley Estate, Mt Gambier SA
Kurleah, Mt Gambier SA
Landour, Mt Gambier SA
Mirembeek, Mt Gambier SA
Port Mac Bottom Dairy, Mt Gambier SA
Port Mac Top Dairy, Mt Gambier SA
LI KA-SHING
CK Life Sciences – Hong Kong
1548 hectares
Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing owns a large stake in parent company CK Hutchinson Holdings. His son, Victor Li, is chairman of the CK Life Sciences board. Their current operations are spread across South Australia, Victoria, NSW, Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Bussorah Vineyard, Padthaway SA – 165 hectares
Dalmeny Vineyard, Padthaway SA – 213 hectares
Jubilee Vineyard, Riverland SA – 234 hectares
Katnook Vineyard, Coonawarra SA – 165 hectares
Miamba Vineyard, Barossa Valley SA – 131 hectares
Qualco East Vineyard, Riverland SA – 171 hectares
Qualco West Vineyard, Riverland SA – 213 hectares
Station and Kirkgate Vineyards, Coonawarra SA – 256 hectares
RURAL FUNDS GROUP – ASX-LISTED
545 hectares
Rural Funds Group owns a diversified portfolio of agricultural assets in cattle, almonds, macadamias, cropping and vineyards.
Their properties in SA comprise exclusively of vineyards across the Barossa Valley and the Adelaide Hills.
They primarily grow Shiraz grapes in their vineyards, which alone are worth approximately $56.9 million.
Geier Vineyard, Barossa Valley SA – 243 hectares
Hahn Vineyard, Barossa Valley SA – 50 hectares
Kleinig Vineyard, Barossa Valley SA – 206 hectares
Mundy and Murphy Vineyard, Adelaide Hills SA – 55 hectares
326 CENTURIA CAPITAL – ASX – LISTED
326 hectares
The specialist investment company have accrued a whopping $21 billion worth of assets under management, including several agricultural investments.
Clarendon, McLaren Vale SA 14.5
Evans Vineyard, Coonawarra SA 15.31
Hanlin Hill, Clare Valley SA 21.66
Petaluma Gores Road, Adelaide Hills SA 5.67
Rolf Binder Winery and Vineyards, Barossa Valley SA
Resurrection Vineyard, Barossa Valley SA 17.5
Stobie, Clare Valley SA 5.63
Sundrop Farms, Port Augusta SA – 246 hectares
MANULIFE – CANADA
131 hectares
Formerly Hancock Agricultural Investment Group, this Toronto-based group owns about $1.2 billion in farming assets in NSW, South Australia and Queensland.
Attis Farm, New Residence SA – 131 hectares
More Coverage
Originally published as Biggest land barons: Meet the families and owners of SA’s largest farms
Premier Victorian sheep farm snapped up
A renowned 1200ha central Victorian property has changed hands after it was offered for sale in 2022, where it was expected to fetch $30 million offers.
Aussie buyer snaps up historic outback SA station at auction
A tightly held 44,696ha pastoral property in the Far North will stay in South Australian hands after it was bought by a neighbour for millions.