Britz founder puts well-known Top End cattle station on the market
Scott Creek Station, one of the Northern Territory’s more iconic holdings and once held by the Sultan of Brunei, has been put on the market by its owners, the Gschwenter family.
Just 62 kilometres west of Katherine, the 101, 850-hectare holding was one of a group of cattle stations in the Top End previously held by the Sultan for more than 20 years.
Gunther Gschwenter, the founder of the Britz campervan business, took over the Scott Creek Station in 2008 from a different owner and a decade later has put it back on the market as the 73-year-old progressively winds down his Northern Territory holdings.
Mr Gschwenter sold the Britz motorhome business in a $50 million deal to New Zealand’s Tourism Holdings in 2000. At its peak the business was the second-largest recreational vehicle rental business in the world and attracted 80,000 Germans annually to Australia.
It was the campervan business which first brought Austrian-born Mr Gschwenter into land acquisitions in the Top End as an add-on attraction for tourists looking for exposure to the outback.
Hitting the market at $12 million, Scott Creek Station was once the core of a larger agglomeration and is surrounded by a number of well-known holdings including Willeroo Station, which was also once held by the Sultan of Brunei and was taken over by Gina Rinehart two years ago.
“Scott Creek has huge mixed farming potential. Its 1400 hectares of cleared land, positioning over three aquifers, and all-season road access makes it a very versatile investment,” said sales agent Olivia Thompson of Landmark Katherine.
The Gschwenter family is also selling Mary River West for $4.5 million and sold Ban Ban Springs Station, south of Adelaide River, in late 2016 for about $10 million.
Speaking from Scott Creek Station, Mr Gschwenter told The Australian Financial Review he hoped to lead a more relaxing life after selling up his remaining Top End assets.
“I’ll go travelling. I only got into to this station business by accident. I bought Ban Ban initially for tourism purposes. My customers from Germany, they had never seen anything like it, a cattle station.”
