This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE Great Barrier Reef’s Spadely Station, once owned by visionary cattle baron Sir Graham McCamley, is the latest Queensland island opportunity to hit the market.
The 1,500-hectare freehold property on North Curtis Island, is billed as a beach retreat opportunity during the COVID-inspired drive for privacy and security, with the financial advantages of a rural working enterprise.
Spadely Station spans seven freehold titles and has a grassed 850-metre airstrip – Emu Park, Gladstone and Rockhampton are all short flights away – safe anchorage and boat ramp, access to 17 kilometres of beaches, a residential block with building approval fronting the beach, an old Queenslander residence, good gravel roads and sheds.
Knight Frank and Ray White Rural are managing the offers to purchase campaign.
“This property will be heaven for anyone looking for a beach retreat with something extra, combining a productive rural enterprise with year-round crabbing, fishing and boating within the Southern Great Barrier Reef Marine Park,” said agent Richard Brosnan of Ray White Rural.
“It’s the ultimate status symbol for any investor – the only freehold island I know of in the Great Barrier Reef that is a rural enterprise.”
Sir Graham McCamley is known for establishing Brahman herds across his Central Queensland cattle empire. Spadely Station has been restored to its former glory by its current owners and features new, yards, internal fencing, dams, freshwater lagoons and marine couch, legumes and tropical grasses.
It offers panoramic views over Keppel Bay, a cocooned land bank and white sandy beaches surrounded by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and adjacent to the Curtis Island National Park.
“We have seen the attraction of private islands continuing beyond COVID with the sales or contracted islands of Dunk, Hook, Long Island Resorts, Lindeman and others confirming the desire for security and privacy for those with vision and means,” said Greg Roberts of Knight Frank Agribusiness Qld.
The 6.7-hectare, uber-sustainable Pumpkin Island – once traded in a poker game – has just been listed for sale for only the second time in 62 years with hopes of $20 million, while Lindeman Island has reportedly found a buyer, for around $10 million, albeit short of China-based White Horse Group’s initial hopes of $20 million.
Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes and his wife Annie bought Dunk Island for $24 million last year, Glenn Piper took on the leasehold at Whitsundays’ second-biggest island, Hook Island, while mining billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest’s private investment group Tattarang bought Lizard Island for $42 million late in 2021.
