La Belle Station, also known as Labelle Downs, is a

pastoral lease A pastoral lease, sometimes called a pastoral run, is an arrangement used in both Australia and New Zealand where government-owned Crown land is leased out to graziers for the purpose of livestock grazing on rangelands. Australia Pastoral lease ...

that operates as a

cattle station In Australia and New Zealand, a cattle station is a large farm ( station is equivalent to the American ranch), the main activity of which is the rearing of cattle. The owner of a cattle station is called a '' grazier''. The largest cattle stati ...

in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The property is situated approximately west of Batchelor and south of Darwin. La Belle shares its eastern boundary with

Litchfield National Park Litchfield National Park, covering approximately 1500 km2, is near the township of Batchelor, 100 km south-west of Darwin, in the Northern Territory of Australia. Each year the park attracts over 260,000 visitors. Proclaimed a nati ...

, Litchfield Station is to the south, the Delissaville-Wagait-Larrakia Aboriginal Land Trust is to the north, and the

Timor Sea The Timor Sea ( id, Laut Timor, pt, Mar de Timor, tet, Tasi Mane or ) is a relatively shallow sea bounded to the north by the island of Timor, to the east by the Arafura Sea, and to the south by Australia. The sea contains a number of reefs, ...

is to the west. The property is composed of many land types. About one third is red dirt and sandy forest, of which about half has been cleared with some being converted to humidicola pasture. The remainder is highly productive marine floodplain covered in native wetland grasses such as

hymenachne ''Hymenachne'' is a genus of widespread wetlands plants that is in the grass family. They may be known commonly as marsh grasses. They are distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, the Americas, and the Pacific Islands.Clarkson, J. ...

, rice grass, marine couch and cane grass, along with introduced grasses. Divided into 34 paddocks, it has an estimated carrying capacity of 14,000 head of cattle. Originally a part of neighbouring Stapleton Station, La Belle was taken up by the Townsend family in 1962. In 2001, the property was placed on the market by the Townsend family partnership. It was stocked with 10,500 head of

Brahman In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' ( sa, ब्रह्मन्) connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality in the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part X ...

cattle. La Belle, along with

Welltree Welltree Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in Northern Territory. Location The property is situated in the locality of Rakula, Northern Territory, Rakula approximately west of Batchelor, Northern Territory, Batch ...

Station, was sold by Peter Camm in 2008 for 72 million, during a land boom.

R. M. Williams Reginald Murray "R.M." Williams AO CMG (24 May 19084 November 2003) was an Australian bushman and entrepreneur who rose from a swagman to a millionaire. He was born at Belalie North near Jamestown in the Mid North of South Australia, north ...

Agricultural Holdings acquired the property, which it held until 2013 when the company went into

receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver—a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights"—especially in ca ...

. Both La Belle and Welltree were then sold to the

Australian Agricultural Company The Australian Agricultural Company (AACo) () is a public-listed Australian company that, as at 2018, owned and operated feedlots and farms covering around of land in Queensland and the Northern Territory, roughly one percent of Australia's la ...

for 27.1 million.

References

{{Reflist Pastoral leases in the Northern Territory Stations (Australian agriculture)

See also

References