$200m deal caps big week in Australian farm sales

Each week, we take the pulse of rural property - from sales data to who’s making headlines. Check out this week's report from Kylie Dulhunty.

Primrose Gap hits the market for first time in 96 years

Size: 738.55ha

Location: Licola, VIC

Sale method: EOI closing February 20 at 4pm

Price guide: $10 million to $12 million

A tightly held High Country grazing and timber property near Licola has hit the market for the first time in nearly a century, with ‘Primrose Gap’ offered for sale with a price guide between $10 million and $12 million.

The 738.55ha (about 1,800 acres) holding at 914 Target Creek Rd is being sold by expression of interest closing on February 20 at 4pm, with the property remaining in the one family for 96 years.

Gippsland Real Estate sales agent Leo O’Brien said versatility was the property’s biggest strength.

“There's nearly 500 acres of cope logging forest as part of the property,” he said.

“It runs down onto the Macalister River… It's really stable open grazing land, which would suit it to a variety of purposes.”

The property currently supports about 240 Angus breeding cows plus followers and is well set up with excellent cattle handling infrastructure, including secure yards, drafting facilities, a loading race and holding paddocks.

Water security is a key feature, with dams, natural springs and Macalister River frontage.

The property, which is available as a whole or across five titles, has extensive fencing with about 17 paddocks, large machinery/workshop shed and a modest three-bedroom homestead.

Mr O’Brien said the views from some parts of the property were incredible.

“If you go up to the top of the hills, where the cattle yards are, you look directly at Mount Buller and you can pretty much see the whole of the Great Dividing Range from there,” he said.

“It’s pretty special.”

Interest has been broad, ranging from carbon and forestry groups to lifestyle buyers.

“There’s been quite a bit of interest in the whole carbon sequestration business… but also some agro-forestry interests have shown some interest in the cope logging and graziers,” Mr O’Brien said.

“There has also been a lot of lifestyle people contact us about the various blocks that are fronting onto the river.”

Available as a whole or individual titles, Primrose Gap is being marketed as a rare high country opportunity with significant long-term potential.

$200 million northern NSW farm deal reshapes Cleveland Agriculture portfolio

Size: 45,362ha

Location: Coonamble, NSW

Sale price: About $200 million

An Australian  family farming enterprise has secured more than 45,000ha of prime grazing and cropping country in northern NSW in a major deal understood to be worth about $200 million.

The buyer, according to The Weekly Times, is believed to be Mungindi-based farmer and grazier Malcolm Harris, through Cleveland Agriculture.

The acquisition covers the 45,362ha Coonamble hub, comprising the Castlereagh River properties Wingadee and Netherway.

Netherway is fully developed for broadacre dryland cropping, while Wingadee supports a mix of grazing and cropping operations.

The assets previously formed part of the Australian Food and Agriculture portfolio.

The properties were included in a wider 225,000ha holding that was set to change hands last year in a $780 million transaction with a NASDAQ-listed special purpose acquisition company.

That deal later fell through after approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board, with volatile equity market conditions cited as the reason.

Following the collapse, advisers continued efforts to sell down the remaining holdings.

The latest purchase further expands Cleveland Agriculture’s already vast footprint, taking its national landholding to more than 2.5 million hectares.

Freeman family sells key Meeleebee Downs holding after nearly 50 years

Size: 10,285ha

Location: Wallumbilla

Sale price: More than $60 million

A major chapter has closed for one of Queensland’s long-established grazing families, with the Freeman Pastoral Company selling a significant portion of its Meeleebee Downs holdings near Roma after nearly 50 years of ownership.

The 10,285ha Meeleebee Downs property, located about 65km north-east of Roma, has been sold to the West family for a reported price exceeding $60 million on a bare basis.

The deal follows the listing of the broader 24,168ha Meeleebee Downs aggregation in January 2025, which was widely expected to attract offers north of $140 million.

Of the three remaining components, the 7,959ha Clifford is understood to be under offer, while the 5,924ha Slate Hill property has been retained by the Freeman family.

The aggregation was built up between 1975 and 1977 and has been run alongside the family’s other Queensland holdings.

At the time of listing, Meeleebee Downs was carrying about 3000 breeders with an estimated capacity of 9500 adult equivalents.

“When bought in 1975, Meeleebee Downs was an undeveloped brigalow, bottle tree and belah block and the Freemans set about establishing, on average, four watering points in each paddock, to best utilise available feed,” Kell Freeman said when the property was listed in January 2025.

“The four solar and electric powered Precipice bores are deep and extremely reliable as they tap into the Great Artesian Basin and are capable of watering the entire holding.”

The property also features 67 dams, an average annual rainfall of 561mm and supplementary income from 22 Origin Energy gas wells, a communications tower and a Powerlink easement.

LAWD senior director Danny Thomas and director Elizabeth Doyle handled the transaction.

Mirrabooka offers rare small holding near Holbrook

Size: 22.92ha

Location: Little Billabong, NSW

Sale method: AuctionsPlus auction at 1pm on December 18

Price guide: N/A

A lifestyle and small grazing property near Holbrook is set to go under the hammer via an online auction with AuctionsPlus on December 18, with local agents reporting steady early inquiry.

‘Mirrabooka’, at 610 Mirrabooka Road, Little Billabong, is a 22.92ha (56.6-acre) holding located about 20km north-east of Holbrook and is being marketed as an ideal small rural lifestyle or starter grazing block.

Nutrien Harcourts Holbrook director Matthew Pitzen said smaller blocks were tightly held.

“There's a very limited amount of those hobby farms or little blocks around the Holbrook area,” Mr Pitzen said.

He said the property’s appeal lay in both its quiet setting and flexibility.

“It would be an ideal lifestyle or smaller grazing block,” he said.

“It would suit either a retired farmer or someone looking to get a start to get out of town.”

Set on one title and fenced into five paddocks with sturdy steel fencing, the property includes a large dam for stock water and a small set of cattle yards at the front of the block.

Improvements include a modern three-bedroom residence built in 2013 by Austwide Homes, along with a shed and carport.

An original uninhabitable homestead remains on the site, offering storage or restoration potential.

Mr Pitzen said buyer inquiry had been consistent and largely local.

Kylie Dulhunty is a journalist with more than 20 years experience covering everything from court to health. Today, Kylie loves nothing more than turning market trends, industry insights and epic property sales - residential, rural and commercial into captivating stories.