STEEPED in history and folklore, the Queensland Channel Country’s enormous Nappa Merrie Station backgrounding and finishing depot is being put to market.

One of the state’s largest grazing  holdings covering some 727,700ha across three freehold titles on the Cooper Creek at the border of Queensland and South Australia, Nappa Merrie has an estimated carry capacity of 14,000 adult equivalents.

Located about 300km west of Thargomindah, the property is being put to market by vendors the Coulton family, after ten years of ownership.

As outlined in this earlier article, the Coulton family’s Marella Agriculture paid about $16 million bare for Nappa Merrie in 2016, bought from gas miner Santos to supplement the family’s cotton farming interests. Prior to that Nappa Merrie* (Local Wongkumara language: “Sandhill waterhole”) was a major grass finishing depot for Stanbroke Pastoral Co for many years.

David Coulton said the decision to sell was a reluctant one but was made for the family to focus on upgrading assets at the family’s Goondiwindi operations.

“Nappa Merrie is a significant property with so much history and potential, and we would love to have spent more time at this amazing place,” Mr Coulton said in a statement.

“We have invested significantly in water security and infrastructure including accommodation for staff and have a fantastic labour force on-site.

“The historical significance of the property has also been very special to us, and there are agritourism opportunities for a new buyer to explore if they are interested.

“For us, it’s been the perfect place to grow or fatten large numbers of cattle and easily get them to feedlot weights or to the works.

The property is renowned for producing and finishing bullocks and would suit other beef businesses in the region looking for expansion.

The Coultons have made significant investment in infrastructure to support livestock production, including to water security. The property has 21 bores and 22 dams, and 25 permanent and semi-permanent waterholes located along the frontages to the Cooper Creek and Wilson River channel systems.

Across the holding, land types are diverse – from open downs and ranges, through to flood-out and alluvial systems. The expansive areas of natural floodplains and low-lying swamps provide a large body of grasses and herbages following flood events, and the sandy undulating lands include spear grass and several native species.

LAWD Senior Director, Danny Thomas, has sold some of Australia’s largest and well-known agricultural holdings during his career, however, he said selling a property of this scale, and of such historical significance, was a special privilege and a career highlight.

“Nappa Merrie is not only an outstanding beef cattle breeding, growing and backgrounding operation, it also represents a unique part of Australian history as the area where explorers Robert O’Hara Burke and William John Wills took their last steps before dying,” Mr Thomas said.

“While we would expect typical buyers such as institutional investors or established families seeking expansion opportunities, we believe Nappa Merrie will also appeal to high-net-worth individuals looking for a property that is both unique in location and rich in history.”

Accommodation on the station include the historic homestead, which has been renovated by the Coulton family and a range of dwellings and infrastructure to support the workforce including a head stockman’s dwelling, stockmen’s quarters, guest quarters, three workers’ quarters, a kitchen, recreation facilities and an ablution donga. A workshop, generator shed, machinery shed, vehicle shed, storage shed and eight main sets of livestock yards support Nappa Merrie’s operations.

Colourful history

Attracted to stories of the permanent water holes discovered during the Burke and Wills expedition, John Conrick saw the opportunity for pastoral grazing and walked 1,600 head of cattle from Koroit in Victoria to Cooper Creek in the early 1870s.

Under an initial ‘occupation licence’ of 65 square miles, which he named Nappa Merrie after the local Indigenous language, Ngappa meaning ‘water’ and Merri meaning ‘sandhill’, Conrick took up permanent residence, later partnering in business with George Ware.

Their empire grew in 1891, with the transfer of 1,209km2 St Ann’s and its sheep, starting a successful wool growing operation which ran for the next 40 years, and commanded the second highest price at Brisbane’s wool sales in 1898.

Nappa Merrie continued to expand despite setbacks with drought, with nearby Chastleton joined to the holding in 1908, and later the Lake Pure lease was added.

While John Conrick passed away in 1925, his four sons continued to develop Nappa Merrie until 1954, when it was sold to the Playford River Pastoral Co. It has since been owned by Stanbroke Pastoral, Santos, and sub-leased to Kidman & Co and then the Coulton family’s Morella Agriculture sub-leased for a number of years prior to their ownership in 2016.

It was on these lands that ill-fated explorers, Burke and Wills, died on their famous expedition in which they became the first Europeans to cross Australia from south to north, seeking new grazing lands, a route for an overland telegraph line and for scientific discovery.

The famous ‘Burke and Wills Dig Tree’, which marked instructions to the explorers’ buried provisions, is one of Australia’s national icons and is located on the banks of Cooper Creek at Nappa Merrie.

The Royal Historical Society of Queensland is the trustee for the Dig Tree Reserve, supported by Nappa Merrie Station.

Nappa Merrie is being offered for sale by Expressions of Interest, closing Noon, Thursday 18 December. For more information, contact LAWD Senior Director, Danny Thomas on +61 439 349 977 or LAWD Director, Elizabeth Doyle on +61 400 102 439.