THIS week’s property review includes a wrap up of recently completed sales in South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales, and details on two New England properties for sale.

 Circa $25m+ for landmark northern NSW holding

 Miles family pays $15m for Goulburn Valley aggregation

 Flinders Ranges lease sells locally

 Golden Triangle property makes $10m

 Chinese-owned Qld aggregation splits two ways

Circa $25m+ for landmark northern NSW holding

A local farming business is believed to have paid around $25 million for a landmark holding in the Willow Tree district in northern New South Wales.

Millers Creek Station is a highly productive and well-balanced grazing and mixed farming enterprise located at the foothills of the Liverpool Range, 27km from Willow Tree and halfway between Murrurundi and Quirindi.

The property is one of the largest in the district, spaning 4743ha, and has been held by members of the Evans family for 58 years.

It was purchased in 1966 by the late Harry Evans, and was listed by his wife Josie Walton and daughters Zara Holmes a Court and Alice Strang.

Millers Creek Station was operated as a mixed farming enterprise and is suited to cattle and sheep breeding, fattening, wool production and dryland cropping, with a current program of 278ha.

The property is estimated to carry 1200 cows and followers or around 25,000 DSE. Under the current management, it supports 1050 joined cows, 184 joined heifers along with 240 weaner heifers.

Previous management ran cattle and sheep, including 500 cows and 6000 Merino ewes, in addition to cash cropping.

More than 200ha have been cropped or sown to lucerne via a winter cereal and oilseed (canola) crop rotation. An additional 200ha are considered arable and suitable for annual cropping.

Millers Creek Station is situated at the head of the Millers Creek and Little Jacks Creek valleys, with the country rising to arable slopes and scenic timbered ridges featuring heavy volcanic black and red basalt soils.

The property is located in a reliable 800mm plus annual rainfall region and benefits from multiple creeks and tributaries, dams and 10 bores (five equipped), with water reticulated to a network of tanks and troughs.

Infrastructure includes eight residences, including a fully renovated six-bedroom home, a 10-stand shearing shed, sheep and cattle yards and numerous sheds.

Inglis Rural Property agent Sam Triggs handled the sale and was unable to disclose the buyer or the price paid.

Miles family pays $15m for Goulburn Valley aggregation

The Miles family of Kotupna has paid around $15 million for productive grazing and farming country in northern Victoria’s Goulburn Valley.

The 1950ha Summit Aggregation is located 10km from Nathalia, halfway between Echuca/Moama and Shepparton, and comprises the 440ha Rothwell Park, 872ha Willunga, 476ha Summit and 162ha Mulberry Tree.

During the marketing campaign, Inglis Rural Property agent Sam Triggs and Elders Real Estate Deniliquin agent Matt Horne described the offering as exceptional.

“The Summit Aggregation represents an opportunity for investors, family operators and locals seeking scale, expansion, high quality and consistently performing farming land. The irrigation land and water provide an excellent opportunity for future development and improvement.”

The property has extensive frontage to the Goulburn River, two water licences totalling 869ML, underpinning the 215ha of irrigation, that was offered separately.

While the flat landscape has minimal paddock timber making it ideal for large-scale cropping, under the current ownership, the Summit Aggregation has been managed with a focus on sheep and wool production together with a dryland winter cropping and fodder production program.

Historically, 1000ha were cropped alongside 2000 to 2500 Merino ewes and followers.

Around 89 percent of the red-brown earth soils are arable and underpinned by a long history of soil amelioration including lime, gypsum and fertiliser.

Mulberry Tree has 95ha of established irrigation country, providing immediate water access. A further 120ha of older irrigation on Summit offers scope for future development.

Across the aggregation, water is sourced from dams, bores and two licenced pump stations on the Goulburn River.

Infrastructure includes two homes (Summit and Mulberry), numerous sheds and livestock handling facilities, as well as grain storage.

Flinders Ranges lease sells locally

An historic Flinders Ranges pastoral lease has sold to a South Australian family looking to expand with ‘outside’ grazing country to complement their ‘inside’ land.

The scenic 31,000ha Puttapa Station is located on the Outback Highway, 4km south of Leigh Creek and 20km east of Beltana.

Originally part of Beltana Station, Puttapa was purchased by Len Ragless in 1936 and offered for sale earlier this year by grandson, Graham.

Ray White Rural agent Sam Krieg was unable to disclose the sale price; however, Puttapa Station is understood to have sold in line with recent nearby sales including the 44,696ha Wilkatana Station that sold in November for $7.4 million and the 43,300ha Lake Torrens Station that sold in August for $5.4m.

Earlier this year, Puttapa had a good amount of dry feed to carry through to winter and was running between 2500 to 3000 Dorper ewes and followers.

However, it is understood the family will transition the property back to sheep and cattle.

The station also offers further tourism potential, together with a variety of 4WD tracks.

Puttapa has an abundance of underground water. Across the holding, there are 10 bores.

Infrastructure includes a recently renovated, four-bedroom stone homestead (circa 1939), a nine-bedroom shearers quarters, a four-stand shearing shed and eight stock yards.

Golden Triangle property makes $10m

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Part of a versatile Golden Triangle property with the ability to pivot in line with season and commodity prices has sold to a Croppa Creek family for expansion.

The 1304ha Brentwood was carved off the 3497ha Postmans Aggregation that was offered for sale by Alistair Michel in June last year.

The aggregation is located 39km north of Warialda and 94km north-east of Moree, on the edge of the renowned Golden Triangle region of north-west New South Wales, and was anticipated to raise around $30 million.

The Postmans Aggregation is suited to cattle and sheep breeding and trading, with an estimated carrying capacity of 21,000 Dry Sheep Equivalents, combined with dual-purpose crops and fodder production.

When it failed to sell following an expressions of interest process, Brentwood was carved off and sold to the Smith family from Croppa Creek. While LAWD agent George Barton was unable to disclose the price paid, the property was offered with a $10 million price guide.

The remaining Postmans, Yarran and Yarran West, spanning 2193ha, have been withdrawn from the market.

The aggregation is watered by three bores, 24 dams and a 200ML storage dam, supported by a 685mm annual average rainfall.

Infrastructure includes a four-bedroom home (Brentwood), a circa 1880 stone home (Postmans), two staff dwellings (Postmans and Yarran), numerous machinery sheds, four steel cattle yards, two (unequipped) shearing sheds and 16 grain silos with 760 tonnes of capacity.

Chinese-owned Qld aggregation splits two ways

Two adjoining grazing and cropping assets in southern Queensland have sold separately to two Queensland producers.

The 61,007ha Hollymount and Mt Driven are located 51km south-east of St George and 164km north-west of Goondiwindi.

The properties were offloaded by Sydney-based, Chinese-owned Hailiang Australian Land Investment Company after a 10-year investment term.

Hollymount

The 34,046ha Hollymount comprises four adjoining properties – Hollymount, Iandra, Beltana and West Harran – ideal for cropping and grazing.

There are 3500ha of dryland cultivation currently sown to oats and wheat, 3500ha of previous cultivation converted to buffel, 11,960ha of improved pastures and 11,895ha of grazing country, with the remainder older regrowth timber and remnant vegetation.

Hollymount is watered by two bores and 30 dams. The infrastructure includes two homes, a donga, two steel cattle yards, numerous sheds, five silos, a shearing shed and quarters.

Mt Driven

The neighbouring 26,960ha Mt Driven (comprising Westernbrook and Mt Driven) is 36km east of St George.

It consists of 18,760ha of established improved pastures, 1800ha of cleared cultivation and 700ha of cultivation land, with 5700ha of remnant vegetation.

It is watered by the Moonie River, two bores (one is shared between three neighbouring properties), supported by 24 dams.

Infrastructure includes two homes, two steel cattle yards and a shearing shed.

It is understood a package of three unsupplemented water allocations totalling 3980ML sold separately.

Ray White Rural agent Richard Brosnan who handled the expressions of interest process was unable to disclose the buyers or the prices paid, but confirmed a sale had taken place.

 Two New England grazing properties list separately

Two New England grazing properties have been listed for separate sale In New South Wales after failing to sell via an expressions of interest campaign.

The 1686ha Alora-Mia and the 1319ha Naloo are located north-east of Armidale and 3.5km apart in the high rainfall region of northern New South Wales.

Alora-Mia is owned by a family trading as Rockvale Estates since 2013, and has been listed for $14.8 million ($8778/ha or $880/DSE bare).

Naloo has been given a $13.8 million ($10,462/ha or $985/DSE bare) price tag.

Alora -Mia

Alora-Mia is a beef, lamb and wool production platform with a carrying capacity of 17,281 Dry Sheep Equivalents.

Rising from creek flats to undulating arable open grazing land and hills, the property is lightly timbered with apple box, peppermint gum and stringy bark.

Around 74 percent of the New England trap and granite soils are arable and growing a mix of temperate and native perennial grasses.

Alora-Mia is watered by the Wollomombi River, the Boundary and Lambs Valley Creeks and 19 dams.

Improvements include an eight-stand shearing shed, steel sheep yards and timber and steel cattle yards. There are 17km of new or upgraded internal fences and 11km of new exclusion fencing.

Naloo

The nearby Naloo breeds and finishes both sheep and cattle.

Naloo offers a 14,020DSE carrying capacity, and its country also rises from creek flats to undulating and open land lightly timbered with yellow box, gum and stringy bark.

Around 95 percent of the New England trap and granite soils are arable and grow improved and native pastures.

Naloo sits at the headwaters of the Chandler River and is watered by two bores and 17 dams.

Infrastructure includes steel cattle yards, sheep yards and a three-stand shearing shed. There are 9km of new or upgraded internal fences and more than 6km of new exclusion fencing.

Alora-Mia and Naloo are being offered for separate sale by LAWD agents Daniel McCulloch, Michael Corcoran and Col Medway.