This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
AUSTRALIA’S largest landholders, the Oldfield and Costello families, have added the 730,000-hectare Mount Doreen cattle station in the Northern Territory to their massive portfolio.
Records from the Northern Territory Land Titles Office show that Mount Doreen sold for $34.7 million, representing land fixed improvements only. The price could be taken to about $70 million if its 18,000 cattle were included in the deal.
The acquisition takes the Crown Point Pastoral portfolio of Viv Oldfield, together with Don and Colleen Costello, to nearly 9.5 million hectares of land across the Northern Territory, the Kimberley region in Western Australia, and the far north of South Australia. They became the country’s largest private landholders ahead of mining billionaire Gina Rinehart recently after purchasing her Innamincka, Macumba, Ruby Plains, and Sturt Creek stations.
Located about 400 kilometres north west of Alice Springs, Mount Doreen is one of Australia’s largest organic cattle stations.
It had been held by the Braitling family since its establishment in 1932. They made significant investments into the station’s water infrastructure in recent years, with a transition to solar bores and steel header tank largely complete. The property receives an average rainfall of about 300 millimetres.
Country is generally open and flat to gently undulating, with red earth mulga plains, alluvial plains and creek systems, sand plains, scattered alluvial basins and claypans.
Ranges provide run-off water feeding into creek systems and broader flood-outs.
Mount Doreen consistently carries up to 23,000 adult equivalents, but after heavy rain events its responsive herbage and diversified land and creek systems can support well over 30,000 head of cattle.
Colliers Agribusiness’ Jesse Manuel and Rawdon Briggs had the listing.
Among the Oldfield and Costello families’ portfolio is the 1.65 million hectare Clifton Hills station in the north-east corner of South Australia, which is the country’s second-largest cattle property.
Innamincka, Macumba, and Northern Territory holding Andado also top the one million hectare mark.
