Community & Business
28 May, 2021
“Hillview” sets new standard at auction
UPPER Barron freehold property “Hillview” established a new high of $28,730.30/hectare (11,625/acre) for grazing/ dry-farming country when it sold bare at auction on behalf of Les and Vera Toomey, at the Atherton International Club last Thursday.
BY SALLY TURLEY
UPPER Barron freehold property “Hillview” established a new high of $28,730.30/hectare (11,625/acre) for grazing/ dry-farming country when it sold bare at auction on behalf of Les and Vera Toomey, at the Atherton International Club last Thursday.
Purchasers Laura and Bruce Nicholls arrived from the Gulf for the sale and were very pleased to be the successful bidders in a room full of competition on the day.
They have been managing “Magowra” Station near Normanton for the last 4 years. Mrs Nicholls said they really had no idea of how the auction would go, but were reasonably happy with the final price of $1,860,000.
She said their two children, currently away at boarding school had not yet seen the place and would be very excited by the news.
After being introduced by Elders Rural Property Specialist, Chris Atkinson, the auction opened with a $1.5 million bid and quickly rose to $1.8 million before dropping to $10,000 bids and peaking at $1.86 million.
Once auctioneer and manager of the Elders Mareeba branch, Mark Peters established the property was on the market, the bidding stalled and though the gallery of buyers were given what must have seemed to Laura and Bruce Nicholls, like an age to reconsider, they failed to up the ante.
Originally from cattle country near Clermont, Central Queensland, Mr Nicholls said they would be capitalizing on Hillview's reputation for turning off good quality steers by grazing cattle on the block, and would be building a house there eventually.
Featuring Barron River and highway frontage and located less than 12 km from Atherton, the 64.74ha (160 acre) property, which is on 2 titles with a spring fed creek and a bore, has been held by the Toomey family for generations.
Boasting rich, arable, deep red soils improved with the classic mix of Brachiaria, Setaria and Glycine legumes, the property is ideally suited to fattening cattle or could be adapted to growing crops or plantations of trees.
It is fenced into 5 paddocks and has an existing set of yards. While it was a painful decision for the Toomeys to let the property go, they said they would look forward to a new era for the block under the care of its purchasers and wished them all the best with their future ventures.
