THIS week’s property review includes this wrap-up of recently completed sales, and separate articles on interesting new listings in Queensland, Western Australia and New South Wales.
- SA’s Bayview expands with Kingurra
- Joseland family sells half of CW Qld’s Eltham Aggregation
- Tasmania’s historic Logan makes $35m+
- Crosbys expand with SW Qld’s Shepparton Park
The 688ha Kingurra and the nearby 1699ha Maranoa Downs were offered for sale in October by the Western District Pastoral Co after 65 years of ownership.
SA’s Bayview Stud expands with Kingurra
South Australian cattle producer Chris Thompson is expanding his Limestone Coast footprint with the purchase of nearby grazing property Kingurra.
The 688ha Kingurra and the nearby 1699ha Maranoa Downs were offered for sale in October by the Western District Pastoral Co after 65 years of ownership.
The two blue-ribbon holdings are located near Stewart Range, 17km west of Naracoorte and 118km north of Mount Gambier.
Mr Thompson confirmed he was the successful purchaser of Kingurra following an expressions of interest campaign, although the sale price was not disclosed.
“I believe we bought at the right time. With another good season in the south-east, the property market should strengthen.”
Mr Thompson operates Bayview Shorthorns & Angus on the Yorke Peninsula, north‑west of Adelaide, where he crops about 2400ha and runs 200 registered breeding cows, along with bulls, steers and weaners on a further 600ha.
According to the Bayview website, cattle operations are run alongside a Merino sheep, fat lamb and extensive cropping program.
Mr Thompson told Beef Central he had been actively searching for suitable country to expand Bayview’s livestock enterprise and better service its client base.
“We were fortunate to find Kingurra because it is reasonably close (about 10km) to our existing operation.”
In 2021, he purchased the Stoney Point Complex near Naracoorte and established Bayview, breeding bulls for both stud and commercial producers.
Mr Thompson said Kingurra will be used predominantly for cattle production, with some ewes lambing down to first‑cross lambs.
While stud numbers will remain the same, breeder numbers will be lifted to 450 as part of an operation supplying Angus and Shorthorn genetics to both stud and commercial producers.
The country across Kingurra and Maranoa Downs is described as level to gently undulating, featuring productive soil profiles including grey sandy loams over clay and limestone foundations. Both properties feature extensive native timber coverage, providing shade and shelter for livestock.
Located in a 485mm average annual rainfall area, the holdings have benefited from significant investment in pasture improvement, soil amelioration and fencing.
Kingurra
Established pastures consist of phalaris, clover, cocksfoot, chicory and prairie grass. The property is divided into 32 main paddocks with 7km of new fencing.
Water is supplied by two equipped bores. Infrastructure includes a four-bedroom home, a three-stand shearing shed, steel sheep yards and numerous sheds.
Maranoa Downs
Meantime, the 1699ha Maranoa Downs is now offered to the market with a $20m to $24m price guide.
The property has undergone extensive pasture improvement with established stands of phalaris, lucerne, ryegrass, clover, cocksfoot and chicory. In recent years 159ha has been deep ripped to a depth of 800mm, in addition to 40ha benefitting from a clay application.
Maranoa Downs is subdivided into 52 main paddocks, with 2km of new fencing, and is watered by several dams and two equipped bores.
Infrastructure includes a renovated four-bedroom home, a four-stand shearing shed, steel sheep and cattle yards and numerous sheds.
Elders agents Nick Myer and Grant Schubert are handling the sale.
Joseland family sells half of CW Qld’s Eltham Aggregation
The Joseland family has sold more than half of its Eltham Aggregation in central west Queensland and placed the remaining country back on the market.
Twelve months ago, Tim and Kerry Joseland listed the 15,779ha Eltham Aggregation as they planned a move closer to their children in south-east Queensland.
Located 40km north of Yaraka, the holding comprised the 8404ha Eltham and the adjoining 7375ha Nobdale on the western side of the Barcoo River.
Both properties had benefited from significant capital investment, including land and pasture development, infrastructure upgrades and fencing, with most of the aggregation exclusion fenced.
The 8404ha Eltham, which the family purchased in 1999, sold to a local family from Richmond for more than $741/ha or $6.23m.
The property was offered with an estimated carrying capacity of 945 adult equivalents but had been conservatively grazed for several years.
The open downs country grows Mitchell and Flinders grasses, as well as quick responding summer and winter herbages. It also has alluvial plains with a high-water holding capacity ensuring deep moisture and growth for long periods, as well as areas of hard gidgee and boree wooded downs.
Eltham has 15km of Barcoo River frontage and is watered by three dams and numerous permanent and seasonal waterholes, supported by 446mm of annual average rainfall.
Infrastructure includes a three-bedroom home, guest quarters, a three-bedroom cottage, steel cattle yards, a shearing shed and numerous sheds.
Lily Lagoon
The remaining 7375ha has been rebranded as Lily Lagoon and is suitable for cattle, sheep meat and wool production.
Purchased by the Joseland family in 2016, the breeding and finishing enterprise is located 40km from Yaraka and 52km from Isisford and currently runs 630 adult equivalents.
The country is a mix of alluvial plains, hard gidgee melon hole country, boree wooded downs and open Mitchell grass downs. Pastures include buffel, Mitchell, button, Flinders grasses, as well as a variety of herbages.
During their ten-year ownership, the vendors have undertaken ongoing vegetation management to improve pasture quality and lift overall production.
Lily Lagoon is watered by five dams and enjoys 15km of dual frontage to the Barcoo River. Flooding during major rain events creates extensive flood-out channels, as well as permanent and semi-permanent lagoons and associated tributaries.
Infrastructure includes a set of steel cattle yards.
JLL Agribusiness agents Geoff Warriner, Chris Holgar and Fergus Russell have been appointed to manage the sale via private treaty.
The remaining 7375ha has been rebranded as Lily Lagoon and is suitable for cattle, sheep meat and wool production.
Tasmania’s historic Logan makes $35m+
A dairy farming joint venture has paid more than $35 million for Logan, an historic blue‑ribbon grazing, irrigated and dryland cropping property in Tasmania’s tightly held Northern Midlands.
The 2683ha holding near Evandale, 20 minutes from Launceston, was offered to the market in August 2024 by the Peltzer family after 70 years of ownership.
Expectations of a sale price exceeding $50m were not met, with the family accepting around $35m.
The purchaser was 40 South Dairies, a partnership between Queensland‑based agricultural investment firm Laguna Bay and Tasmanian dairy farmers Ashley and Cherrylyn Ker.
In 2018, Laguna Bay spent more than $50 million acquiring eight dairy farms spanning more than 4000ha near Smithton in Tasmania’s far northwest. The properties, located within a 15km radius, were later consolidated under the 40 South Dairies joint venture with the Kers employed to run them.
During the marketing campaign, LAWD senior director Danny Thomas said properties of this scale rarely came to market in the tightly held Evandale district.
“Since it was first settled in the early 1800s, Logan has had three owners and the Peltzer family, who have been custodians since the 1950s, have developed it into a successful and progressive prime lamb operation.”
Vendor Clare Peltzer said the sale marked a natural transition point for the family.
“Our family is proud of what it has achieved however, there remains scope for further development.”
With highly secure water, fertile soils and favourable climatic conditions, Logan is suited to a wide range of agricultural uses, including intensive cropping, horticulture, grazing and dairying.
Logan features first‑class irrigation infrastructure with 602ha developed under centre pivots and additional land earmarked for future irrigation expansion.
A key feature is the gravity‑fed irrigation system which uses a network of strategically positioned dams to maximise efficiency by eliminating the need for pumping.
Around 1290ha can be used for grazing or dryland cropping, with a further 689ha of undulating grazing. The balance comprises remnant vegetation and pine plantations.
The property boasts extensive frontage to the Rose Rivulet and Jeffries Creek, with water secured via a 600ML licence from the Rose Rivulet and three dams providing a combined storage capacity of 2200ML.
Infrastructure includes an historic, circa-1880, five-bedroom homestead, four additional dwellings, shearers’ quarters, a hunting lodge, a modern five-stand shearing shed, sheepyards, 240-tonnes of silo storage, a 70-tonne fertiliser bunker and numerous sheds.
Logan, is a 2683ha historic blue‑ribbon grazing, irrigated and dryland cropping property in Tasmania’s tightly held Northern Midlands.
Crosbys expand with SW Qld’s Shepparton Park
Near neighbours Lionel and Linda Crosby are expanding their operation with south-west Queensland’s Shepparton Park, ending more than 70 years of ownership by the Gray family.
The couple paid $4.3 million at auction for the 907ha property, following a marketing campaign that generated more than 30 inquiries and 15 inspections.
Shepparton Park is located 10km north of Condamine and 26km south of Miles – close to feedlots and all major western downs’ cattle selling centres.
It features a balance of brigalow, belah, box and wilga country growing a mix of native grasses and improved pastures (including buffel), as well as herbages in season.
Well fenced, it is subdivided into 15 paddocks set up for cell grazing operation, with 40ha planted to leucaena.
It is watered by a permanent waterhole in the Dogwood Creek and three dams, supported by 635mm of average annual rainfall.
Infrastructure includes a four-bedroom home, cattle yards and a shed.
The sale of Shepparton Park was handled by Nutrien Harcourts GDL agents Petrice Loader and Owen Brockhurst.
Shepparton Park is located 10km north of Condamine and 26km south of Miles – close to feedlots and all major western downs’ cattle selling centres.