SWANS Lagoon Research Station has gone under the hammer for $7.2 million this morning at Jupiters Casino in Townsville.
Peter and Brenton Malpass, Home Hill, purchased Swans Lagoon, 80km southwest of Ayr, in a fast-paced auction.
Auctioneer Troy Trevor, Queensland Rural, sold the 83,569 acre property in less than half an hour to Mr Malpass and his son, Brenton, who were one of only two bidders.
Mr Malpass said while he currently owns a smaller block closer to Townsville, the purchase of Swans Lagoon would be a legacy for his two sons.
With an auctioneer’s opening bid of $5 million, bidders were quiet until a phone bidder placed in a bid of $5.1m. Mr Malpass took some time before making his first bid of $5.2m. Bids continued increasing steadily in increments of mostly $100,000 to $6.5m.
The vendors, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, were consulted and Mr Trevor returned with notice the property was in selling range. Bids again continued between Mr Malpass and the phone bidder until the hammer finally fell at $7.2m.
Comments circulating after the auction were that the price tag was a good one, and it was excellent to see the property sold to an Australian family.
Queensland Rural’s David Buckley prefaced the auction with the quality of the property, which has received some 300mm and been lightly stocked since October last year.