One of the largest and most acclaimed pastoral holdings in eastern Australia, Mt Margaret Station in the Quilpie district of South-West Queensland, is once again in play as its Gunnedah-based owner looks to further trim his sails.
“Mt Margaret” (which incorporates “Berellem”) was bought in 2009 by Tony Clift as a key component of his expanding Kilburnie Cattle Company operation, established the previous year following the sale of his family’s Breeza cropping property.
Mr Clift meanwhile aggregated about 2000 hectares of country near Gunnedah, and with leases held also over “Aberbaldie” at Walcha and “Giro” near Gloucester, Kilburnie grew to be an Angus breeding powerhouse of more than 15,000 cows.
But with the leases at Walcha and Gloucester now relinquished, Mr Clift is keen to consolidate his operations at Gunnedah and to that end “Mt Margaret” is itself now on the selling block, along with the adjacent “Kihee”.
“Mt Margaret” can carry 7000 cows or 60,000 sheep and 2000 cows
Whoever buys “Mt Margaret”,which has been listed for sale by Elders for November 17 auction in Brisbane, will have the option of taking over the same owner’s nearby Kihee Station on a five-year lease/buy contract.
That would give the purchaser a combined area of 635,015 hectares (1.56m acres), with a total estimated average dry cattle carrying capacity of 18,000 head.
Mr Clift bought the 470,504ha “Mt Margaret” for a reported $12 million from Bydand Holdings, the pastoral company of former ABC Learning founder, Mike Gordon, at the same time taking over Bydand’s lease of the 164,255ha “Kihee”.
He later bought “Kihee”, and under the latest selling arrangements, the buyer of “Mt Margaret” will be able to lease “Kihee” for five years before settling on its purchase for $6m (minus lease payments).
Situated about 14 kilometres south-west of “Mt Margaret”, “Kihee” is wedged between the illustrious Nockatunga and Durham Downs stations, owned respectively by Consolidated Pastoral and S. Kidman and Co.
“Mt Margaret” has an impressive ownership history. Before Mr Gordon bought the property in 2005, it was owned by the Reid family from Yass, and before that, in turn, by Dalgetys, the Killen family’s Elsinora Pastoral Company and the Australian Agricultural Company.
For most of that time, it was operated as a sheep station, shearing up to 70,000 head, although under Kilburnie’s ownership the emphasis has shifted to cattle breeding.
Carrying capacity of “Mt Margaret” is estimated at 7000 cows or 60,000 sheep and 2000 cows, and “Kihee” at 3000 cows, with progeny in both cases either sold as weaners or fattened if seasons allow.
At its advertised upset auction price of $15m, “Mt Margaret” would thus come in at less than $200 a DSE, or $2142/cow, making it an attractive investment on present-day livestock values.
Mr Clift said the beauty of “Mt Margaret” was its diversity of land types, from Mitchell grass floodplain to undulating mulga and gidyea country carrying a wide range of herbage, sought after by livestock in dry times.
“Mt Margaret” fronts the Wilson River for 80km.
