John Cooper says he has yet to explore all of Silkwood, which he bought from receivers. Photo:

Fred Hollows Foundation co-founder lists NT wilderness gem

Larry Schlesinger|Apr 21, 2024

Dr John Cooper, who helped the late humanitarian Fred Hollows set up his eponymous blindness treatment charity in 1989, has put his wilderness property Silkwood, south of Darwin, on the market with a price tag of about $18 million.

The 35,766-hectare Adelaide River holding, which offers spectacular outback scenery including gorges, waterfalls and hot springs, was formerly known as Mt Bundy Station and was one of the first pastoral leaseholds granted in the Northern Territory.

John Cooper says he has yet to explore all of Silkwood, which he bought from receivers.

It was a much bigger property – more than double its current size – when Dr Cooper acquired it from receivers for just $505,000 more than two decades ago.

A property developer as well as a medical doctor and international aid worker, Dr Cooper had just sold the historic Milton Park Country Hotel in Bowral to Aman Resorts with his business partner, Dr Ron White, when the opportunity to acquire Mt Bundy Station came along.

“I had time and money on my hands, so I flew up [from Sydney] and spoke to the guy selling Mt Bundy, and he gave me 24 hours [to put in an offer],” Dr Cooper said.

Having previously seen the property from a helicopter and admired its “unbelievable” beauty, Dr Cooper offered $5000 more than the $500,000 it had been passed in for at auction. Soon after, the property was his.

Over the decades of ownership, Dr Cooper has subdivided and sold off portions of Silkwood to families as lifestyle blocks, reducing his original 180,000-acre holding by about 60,000 acres. He also developed a resort (since sold) and extensively explored the property, finding new hot springs and rain forests on his numerous excursions.

“I’ve still not been over all of it, but it’s time to hand it over and for someone else to have a go,” he told The Australian Financial Review.

John Cooper says there are parts of Silkwood he has yet to explore, but it’s time to move on.

“When I bought the property, I was looking for adventure and a challenge, which is what I got in spades.”

Dr Cooper has appointed LAWD’s Olivia Thompson, Peter Sagar and Eline Wesselink to sell Silkwood via international expressions of interest.

It has been offered as three lots, the largest being Adelaide River Downs, a 28,897-hectare Crown lease which holds the potential for livestock grazing and horticulture. The two smaller freehold properties are 1299-hectare Spitfire Creek, which is suited to cattle grazing and subdivision, and 5570-hectare the Grand Plateau, which could be developed into an eco-resort and has previously been approved for a 30-lot subdivision.

The three properties, which can be purchased separately or as one holding, are expected to appeal to buyers from industries such as tourism, pastoral, agriculture, carbon farming, conservation and developments, according to the LAWD agents.

Mt Bundy station measured 216,000 hectares when it was established as a cattle station in 1911 by buffalo-hunting brothers Frank and Fred Hardy.

Situated 130 kilometres from Darwin, Mt Bundy was used as an airbase by American forces to repair bombers during the second world war. In the 1960s, it was acquired by American conglomerate W.R. Grace and Co and later by cattle baron and former Rich Lister Sir Graham McCamley, who owned it in partnership with Indonesian hotelier Adrian Zecha.

Dr Cooper’s ownership of Mt Bundy came about after many years working with refugees in Thailand, Cambodia, Bougainville and Nepal in the mid- and late-1980s.

He had also travelled to war-torn Eritrea and worked in clinics with the Eritrean Relief Association.

Soon after he met Dr Hollows, who had also worked in Eritrea setting up clinics to treat patients with curable blindness.

“I helped Fred set up the Hollows Foundation and for the first two years of the foundation, I was its CEO,” Dr Cooper said.

“During my time there, I travelled with Fred to Vietnam, Eritrea and Nepal to establish blindness prevention programs in all three countries.

“During that period, Fred was named Australian of the Year. He was a pretty amazing guy. It was a great honour to work with him.”

Despite his utmost belief in the work of the Hollows Foundation, Dr Cooper said he was not a natural administrator and there came a time when he had to tell Dr Hollows, who was very sick with terminal cancer (he died in February 1993), that he was moving on.

“I had bought Mt Bundy – almost on a whim – seduced by the natural beauty and vastness of the landscape. I felt I had ‘done my bit’ and would be leaving the foundation in good shape. Fred uttered a few well-chosen expletives – as per usual – but wished me luck in my new venture.”