'The Oaks' stands out as one of the region’s most significant rural listings this year. Pic: Supplied
In this week's property roundup: a large-scale mixed farming property in Western Australia’s south has been listed for sale with a price guide of $50 million or more, marking one of the region’s most significant rural listings this year. Meanwhile, a farm in Victoria’s Western District has returned to local ownership, following its sale by a UK institutional investor as part of a broader exit from Australian agriculture.
Size: 5295ha
Location: Esperance
Sale method: Private sale
Price guide: $50 million-plus
A large-scale mixed farming property in Western Australia’s south has been listed for sale with a price guide of $50 million or more, marking one of the region’s most significant rural listings this year.
Located 45km west of Esperance, The Oaks spans 5295ha and has a long-standing history as an award-winning sheep and cropping enterprise.
Owned by JA Russell (Australia), the property is connected to the Russell family, descendants of British tea entrepreneur John Archibald Russell, who established Malaysia’s Boh Tea company in the 1920s.
The operation, once predominantly pasture-based, has shifted to a 70/30 cropping-to-pasture model.
The change comes as Western Australian sheep producers prepare for the federal government’s planned phase-out of live animal exports by 2028. Over the past five years, The Oaks has seen significant investment in infrastructure, machinery, and soil health.
The property is supported by three river systems and enjoys a coastal climate ideal for high-yield cropping. It is also well-positioned for export, with proximity to the Esperance port.
The sale is being handled by Colliers agents Rawdon Briggs, Duncan McCulloch, and Gabi Mewburn, alongside AWN Rural’s Rowan Spittle.
Size: 485ha
Location: Macarthur, VIC
Price: N/A
The 485ha Elwood farm in Victoria’s Western District has returned to local ownership, following its sale by a UK institutional investor as part of a broader exit from Australian agriculture.
Located near Macarthur, Elwood was one of three grazing properties in the South-West Aggregation—totalling 2078ha—offered to market in late 2024 as the 10-year investment fund neared its conclusion.
The portfolio included the 799ha Cascaes at Kariah, the 794ha Warrong at Warrong, and Elwood, all located within 150km of each other.
Elwood has been purchased by a private NSW-based farmer who is understood to be relocating to southwest Victoria.
The sale price has not been disclosed, though the property was expected to attract offers in excess of $7.7 million when it was listed.
Sold with a four-bedroom brick veneer homestead, Elwood had been operated as a mixed-farming enterprise running approximately 60 per cent sheep and 40 per cent cattle.
Under Growth Farms’ management, the property carried around 200 calving cows and 2300 lambing ewes.
When he listed the properties, Elders Real Estate’s Rob Rickard described the aggregation as an outstanding opportunity to acquire some of the state’s most versatile agricultural land in high rainfall regions.
“The properties are suitable for beef, sheep, dairy, cropping and even agroforestry,” he said at the time.
Cascaes and Warrong, the two remaining properties in the aggregation, are still for sale.
The Elwood transaction follows the recent $32.4 million sale of the Carnarvon Aggregation in NSW by the same UK investor.
Size: 35,450ha
Location: Charters Towers, QLD
Lease method: Two-stage EOI, first closing May 9.
Price guide: N/A
A significant northern Queensland grazing opportunity has come to market, with 35,540ha of Mt Oweenee Station offered for lease alongside the potential purchase of a high-quality breeding herd.
Situated 115km north of Charters Towers and 160km west of Townsville, Mt Oweenee is a 39,340ha freehold cattle property, with a portion retained by the owners.
About 3,800ha, including the main homestead, will be excluded from the lease.
The remaining land (about 35,540ha), cattle yards, infrastructure, one house, and staff quarters will be made available to the successful lessee.
The station features 55 permanent dams, extensive laneways and fencing, steel cattle yards, and a well-executed paddock rotation and pasture improvement program.
“A conservative ‘year-round’ stocking rate (owners estimate) for the combined lease country is 2,700 LSU (400kg equivalent). Stocking numbers will vary with seasonal conditions,” according to the Slaney & Co listing.
The three-year lease includes an option to renew and requires payment six months in advance. An Expressions of Interest process will run in two stages, with the first closing on May 9.
Alongside the lease, the owners are offering a Droughtmaster/Charolais cross herd for purchase.
The successful lessee will have the option to purchase the entire herd, including approximately 2,000 breeders, 500 No. 4 heifers, and bulls as required.
"The herd is quiet, and a pleasure to muster and handle in the paddock and yards," the listing notes.
Size: 345ha
Location: Rosedale, VIC
Price: N/A
A large-scale poultry enterprise in Victoria’s Gippsland region has officially changed hands following a public expressions of interest campaign.
Located just five kilometres east of Rosedale, the 345ha property—marketed as Rosedale Poultry—was offered by LAWD and features two fully operational eight-shed broiler farms with a combined capacity of 800,000 birds. A development application is in progress for a third farm, further increasing its appeal as a high-yield agribusiness investment.
Spread across seven Certificates of Title, the property includes two recently built brick veneer homes, one with four bedrooms and the other with three, plus two bathrooms each. Water security is a key feature, with access to 100 megalitres of groundwater from the Rosedale Groundwater Management Area, as well as four large water tanks.
The listing also noted ample surplus land, with future potential for developments such as a solar farm (subject to council approval).
While the sale price has not been disclosed, the result underscores continued demand for high-spec farming infrastructure in Victoria’s key agricultural zones. The campaign was handled by LAWD’s Elizabeth Doyle and Danny Thomas.
Australian farmers helping to deliver the country’s clean energy future are calling for urgent tax reform, after revelations they’re being slugged with hefty capital gains tax bills when selling land to transmission companies.
Electricity network operators including Transgrid, AusNet and Powerlink say the tax is stalling vital infrastructure projects and unfairly penalising rural landowners whose properties are needed for poles and wires.
The payments, they argue, are compensation for loss of land value and business impacts—not profit.
According to The Australian Financial Review, six transmission companies have written to federal ministers urging a review of the current tax treatment, highlighting that landholders in higher tax brackets are losing up to half their compensation.
One Victorian potato farmer paid $635,910 in tax on a $1.35 million sale.
The Victorian Farmers Federation and the National Farmers’ Federation have backed calls for reform.
“It really fails the pub test,” VFF President Brett Hosking said.
“It doesn’t even pass the common decency test.”
With nearly 10,000km of new and upgraded transmission required by 2050, networks warn the tax issue is threatening to delay progress—and increase costs for energy users.
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
