SIR Graham McCamley’s showcase Marlborough, Central Queensland property Glenprairie surprised onlookers when it was sold prior to auction in Rockhampton this morning.

The highly improved coastal holding was due to be put to auction by agents Elders at 11am, but stakeholders were surprised when it was announced that a deal had been done earlier in the day.

Neither the buyer, nor the price were disclosed, but north Queensland cattleman Peter Camm is understood to be the new owner. More details are expected to be announced tomorrow.

Mr Camm is known to have conducted an inspection recently, and is believed to have submitted an offer for the entire aggregation in the past week.

He has bought and sold a considerable number of properties across northern Austalia over the past 15 years. From his original base at Natal Downs, south of Charters Towers, he bought large scale breeding property, Brooking Springs, near Halls Creek in WA. He then moved to Labelle/Welltree near Litchfield National Park in the NT's top end.

He sold Labelle/Welltree for around $70 million around 2008, before buying large-scale Chudleigh Park, in the basalt north of Hughenden soon afterwards. That price was around $28 million.

Since acquiring Chudleigh, Mr Camm has added more north Queensland country including Lolworth, north of Charters Towers; Victoria Downs and Mt Hope, south of Charters Towers and Glodsborough, between Hughenden and Charters Towers.

Remaining blocks unsold 

The remaining properties offered in the Glenprairie aggregation were put to auction this morning, but all were passed in on an auctioneer’s bid. Oakleigh was passed in for $4 million; Tanderra for $2 million; and Stoodleigh for $4 million. Five bid cards were exercised, including the auctioneer’s.

Sir Graham announced immediately after the auction that the remaining properties had now been taken off the market.

The successful deal for the 27,000ha mostly freehold Glenprairie portion follows last month’s  successful sale of Sir Graham’s home property, Tartrus and Royles, both near Marlborough, to Collinsville district beef producers Andrew and Gillian MacNicol. A price of around $19.5 million has been suggested, valuing the Tartrus aggregation at around $650/ha. The MacNicol family are understood to have sold out to coal-mining interests focussed on the Collinsville area, for a substantial sum well beyond grazing land value.

Sir Graham tried unsuccessfully to auction Glenprairie a year ago, when the entire aggregation was passed in for an auctioneer’s bid of $55 million. It was suggested at that time that Sir Graham was looking for offers closer to $80 million.

In partnership with another Central Queensland cattleman, Alan Nobbs, he purchased Glenprairie in 2005 as part of a large Central Queensland coastal aggregation that also included Fitzroy Vale and Lake Learmonth, for a combined figure of just over $106 million.

At the time, it was suggested that the Glenprairie component represented about 40 percent of the apportionment, with the remainder 50pc, plus an additional $5 million-plus paid afterwards for neighbouring property Tanderra.

Glenprairie is one of the oldest stations to be established in Central Queensland by renowned explorer and pastoralist William Landsborough. It has had only six owners in the past 155 years. Included were colourful Greek shipping magnate, Gregory Hadjieltheradis, who developed the property over ten years up to 2005 for certified organic production.

Glenprairie is located 120km north of Rockhampton and 27 kilometres north of Marlborough.