Historic Kimberley cattle station hits the market
A vast 262,000-hectare Kimberley cattle station is set to attract significant attention from the national beef industry after being offered to market for the first time in more than 60 years.
Dampier Downs Station, located in Gingerah in Western Australia’s renowned Kimberley region, showcases the distinct natural beauty of Australia’s landscape, where layers of ancient sandstone have been sculpted by millions of years of wind and water, and red dirt punctuates the ground.
The station currently runs between 12,000 and 15,000 head of mixed-age Brahman and cross-breed cattle and will be sold on a walk-in, walk-out basis.
The property comprises fixed and portable accommodation for owners and staff, along with operational improvements including workshops, a helicopter hangar, and machinery and feed sheds.
The expansive property contains more than 60 paddocks, with holding paddocks, coolers and laneways designed to minimise mustering expenses and improve livestock management.
Modern infrastructure and water security anchor northern operations
The water infrastructure includes more than 40 solar-powered bores equipped with Farmbot monitoring technology and supported by pipelines, troughs and numerous seasonal satellite dams that help distribute grazing pressure, reduce distances to water and maximise pasture productivity through regular wet-season spelling.
Further amenities for optimising operational efficiency are 16 trucking yards strategically positioned across the property, together with a newly constructed wide-load double-decker loading ramp at the homestead yards, designed to facilitate low-stress loading and unloading of cattle.
Strategic supply chain alignment and export proximity
Another key attraction, according to selling agent Jesse Manuel, Colliers’ national director, agribusiness transactions, is the property’s access to major livestock infrastructure.
“Dampier Downs Station enjoys proximity to key infrastructure assets within the live-export supply chain, including Roebuck Export Depot and Broome’s newly completed floating wharf,” he says.
“In addition, the purchase and significant investment in upgrades into the Kimberley Meat Company abattoir by Yougawalla Pastoral Company, and its planned re-opening, will be a welcomed development in industry, expanding livestock marketing options.”
Agricultural diversification and rising pastoral asset demand
Beyond its existing cattle operations, Dampier Downs also offers opportunities for further diversification. The property holds a diversification permit for the planting of Stylo grass species, while historical cotton trials conducted during the 1990s demonstrated the productive potential of parts of the holding.
“Cotton was successfully grown during trials in the 1990s, and with areas of soft country with natural, shallow flood-out areas and abundant underground water resources, opportunities for greater diversification are well worth investigating,” says Colliers head of agribusiness Rawdon Briggs.
He adds that the property’s combination of scale, infrastructure and production potential position it strongly within the current market.
“Dampier Downs is enjoying a standout wet season and represents a rare offering,” Briggs says. “It is a well-established West Kimberley station offering good scale, proven performance and strong operational foundations to support commercial pastoral production.
“Whether buyers are seeking a standalone operation, or a northern calf factory to support a southern or eastern supply-chain enterprise, Dampier Downs presents an exceptional opportunity.”
The offering comes amid strong demand for northern Australian cattle stations, with multiple transactions completed across the region in recent months and a growing pool of underbidders actively seeking acquisition opportunities.
According to Colliers, improving livestock prices and renewed market evidence are expected to drive further station sales activity this year.
For sale by expressions of interest closing at 11am AWST on August 6. No price indication.
