This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE Pickersgill family’s Bunderra Cattle Company has snapped up the 460,900 hectare Northern Territory cattle station Neutral Junction in a deal believed to be worth around $30 million.
The sale of the large-scale, turn-key beef breeding and farming property comes with 7,000 head of cattle, including 4,158 breeders and 120 bulls. Its dedicated breeding program has successfully turned off quality weaners that have been sent to finishing facilities in Queensland close to large cattle selling centres and market opportunities.
It was put to the market earlier this year by the Frith family with expectations of between $28 million and $33 million, after 20 years of ownership. The Frith family own and operate Glen Arden Cattle Co, which has properties in Queensland’s Roma and Morven, and the Northern Territory’s Tennant Creek and Alice Springs.
Olivia Thompson of Nutrien Harcourts Katherine managed the sale.
For the Pickersgill family, the purchase follows last year’s $30 million-plus acquisition of Bandana Station, spanning 17,447 hectares in the foothills of the Carnarvon Ranges.
The Pickersgill family owns a portfolio of cattle properties in Rolleston, Bauhinia Downs and Alpha in Central Queensland spanning about 100,000 hectares, as well as in the Northern Territory. In March of 2020, they paid $23 million for the 447,500ha Murranji Station south-west of Daly Waters in the Northern Territory, including 12,500 cattle.
Established in 1907, Neutral Junction Station is located at Barrow Creek, in the Davenport region, about 300 kilometres north of Alice Springs and 150 kilometres south of Tennant Creek, and sits on the cusp of the northern Alice Springs district and southern point of the Barkly Tablelands.
About 100 kilometres of the Stuart Highway runs through the middle of the property.
Improvements include a main homestead complex with a substantial machinery shed suitable for trucks, five well-maintained homesteads plus additional singles quarters, cattle yards, stables and hay shed.
It is watered by 25 equipped stock bores, 20 water tanks, 10 turkey nests and five dams, and holds a 1,654ML underground water extraction licence, and recently applied for an additional 6,415ML.
There is also a hay farm at the property’s northern end currently growing 120 hectares of reclaimer Rhodes grass under two pivots, and the property has cropping potential.
A general store and the power and water contracts which service the local community.
