NT freehold desert oasis has $15m hopes
Well-known Northern Territory pastoralists Roy and Janet Chisholm have put their desert oasis two hours north of Alice Springs up for sale with price expectations of around $15 million.
The offering of 1047-hectare Oolloo Farm and 2144-hectare Territory Grape Farm south of Ti Tree follows the Chisholms’ recent acquisition of the Little Minnows cattle farm in Bowral in the NSW Southern Highlands for $5 million from veteran fund manager John Murray and his wife, Catherine.
The Chisholms’ two fodder-growing properties at Anmatjere, about 185 kilometres north of Alice Springs, are being offered on a walk-in, walk-out basis and include 3000 megalitres of high-security ground water.
Access to water has transformed more than 330 hectares into a lush green oasis, which from the air looks like giant cricket ovals against a sea of red desert.
Also notable is that Oolloo and Territory Grape Farm are on freehold titles, a rarity in the Northern Territory, where most large-scale holdings are pastoral leases,
Mr Chisholm is a renowned Northern Territory cattleman and son of the late Tony Chisholm, who was the godson of King Edward VIII (who abdicated the throne to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson).
In 2017, after selling the family’s 5424-square-kilometre Napperby Station to pastoralist Tim Edmunds for $20 million, Mr Chisholm bought Oolloo Farm for $2.5 million in February 2017 and Territory Grape Farm for $4.5 million in July 2017.
“My plans were to build a feedlot on the properties, but due to the crippling drought it never happened – though the opportunity is still there,” Mr Chisholm told The Australian Financial Review.
“It’s probably not the ideal time to put them on the market [given COVID-19], but we’re sticking to our plans,” he said.
“I’m in my mid-60s, and not getting any younger.”
Oolloo Farm has 154 hectares under six irrigation pivots, while Territory Grape Farm has 60 hectares under two pivots and about 120 hectares installed with drip irrigation.
Both produce about 15,000 tonnes of fodder a year.
Oolloo was originally developed in the 1980s as a grape and melon farm, supplying fruit to the southern markets and benefiting from short growing seasons due to the warm climate.
However, mismanagement and disease led to the fruit orchards being mothballed in the mid-2000s.
Selling agent Olivia Thompson, from Landmark Harcourts Katherine, said the properties were highly versatile and offered the opportunity to diversify into other agricultural and horticultural pursuits.
“It’s an amazing fodder operation in the heart of the desert. It’s incredible to see an oasis of green among a barren, red desert landscape,” she said.
