Another of Australia's enormous outback cattle stations has been been bought by Crown Point Pastoral Company, a partnership of the Costello and Oldfield families.
Mount Doreen Station covering 733,700 hectares or 1,813,012 acres in central Australia has sold for between $50 million-$70 million.
It further cements Crown Point's title as Australia's largest private land owner which it achieved after buying several stations from the previous "biggest" holder, Gina Reinhart in the past year.
Hancock Agriculture and S. Kidman and Co entered into contracts for the sale of South Australia's Innamincka Station and Macumba Station to Crown Point Pastoral earlier this year.
Crown Point had already completed a deal to purchase Ruby Plains and Sturt Creek Stations as part of the Hancock divestment process.
It is now estimated this family partnership now owns more than nine million hectares in South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Mount Doreen, an organic cattle producer on the Tanami Road, about 400km north west of Alice Springs occupies 7337 square kilometres and the sale by Colliers is believed to have included the station's 18,000 cattle.
Many people thought the inhospitable Tanami Desert could not be tamed until this cattle station was established there by legendary drovers Bill and Doreen Braitling in 1932.
This vast and feared low rainfall country between Alice Springs and the WA border was said to be the last frontier and was not fully explored when the Braitlings tried their luck, and succeeded.
Crown Point's biggest single property remains Clifton Hills on the famous Birdsville Track in the far north of South Australia which includes 1.65 million ha (4.2 million ac).
To give some idea of scale, Anna Creek, the world's biggest cattle station now owned by Williams Cattle Company, takes in a breath-taking 2.36 million ha (5.9 million ac) in South Australia.
And to add further interest to the continued rise of Crown Pastoral, Ms Rinehart became one of this country's biggest beef producers in 2016 when Hancock Prospecting acquired the S Kidman and Company cattle properties for $386.5 million in a joint venture with Chinese partner Shanghai CRED.
Hancock outbid a consortium of Australian families known as BBHO to win the prize.
BBHO comprised graziers Tom Brinkworth, Sterling Buntine, Malcolm Harris plus also Viv Oldfield and their families.
The Oldfields, through their partnership with the Costello family in Crown Pastoral, has been steadily buying up stations ever since.
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Mount Doreen has been held by the Braitling family since Bill and Doreen did what many experts thought impossible and establish a working cattle station out there.
This country averages about 350-380mm of rain a year.
It is the vastness of the property which allows its carrying capacity and reputation as an organic cattle producer.
The descendants of Bill and Doreen Braitling family, particularly through the Passchendaele Cattle Company, continue to operate Mount Doreen and bought the adjacent 2700 square kilometre Pine Hill Station in 2014.
The family also owns and operates cattle properties in Queensland.
Agents said recent upgrades to the famous Tanami Road have improved access to the station.
The station features a recently renovated central homestead, formed roadways, airstrip, 16 equipped bores and yards, and a full complement suite of plant and equipment.
The country is flat to gently undulating, with generally open country, but also areas of spectacularly formed ranges.
It is these outback ranges which provide run-off to for the creek systems and broader floodouts which are well spread throughout the property.
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Chris McLennan
ACM national rural property writer based in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. Career journalist. Multi award winner.
ACM national rural property writer based in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. Career journalist. Multi award winner.
