Harvest Road to buy Springvale Station in East Kimberley

Harvest Road, the agribusiness of Andrew and Nicola Forrest, has entered an agreement to purchase Springvale Station in the East Kimberley region.

The Springvale Aggregation covers about 604,430 ha, with four pastoral leases including Springvale, Mable Downs, Alice Downs and Texas Downs.

The aggregation had been in the hands of one of the State’s biggest cattle operations Yeeda Pastoral Company for the past 20 years.

Springvale Aggregation was put together by E.G. Green and Sons, which is now Harvey Beef, a brand under the Forrests' Harvest Road group.

The property, which is about 70 km north of Halls Creek and 320km south of Kununurra, was the former homestead of pastoralist and bush poet Tom Quilty.

Licences, permits and basic infrastructure to operate a "glamping" style tourism business on the way to Bungle Bungle National Park will be included in the purchase.

Harvest Road chief operating officer of pastoral, backgrounding and feeding facility Ben Dwyer said the purchase would be another long-term investment in the future of WA’s beef industry.

“The acquisition of Springvale will continue our commitment to developing a vertically integrated beef supply chain across the State,” he said.

“We will focus on the sustainability of the property by destocking appropriately to leave a well-selected breeding herd and to build a strong genetic base for our supply chain, as well as allow the country a well-deserved rest.”

Tattarang chief investment officer John Hartman said Springvale Aggregation would form an important part of Harvest Road’s integrated supply chain.

“Harvest Road is looking forward to becoming a member of the East Kimberley community and contributing further to the future of the Australian pastoral industry, and we’re also excited about the opportunity to support tourism in this iconic region,” he said.

Yeeda Pastoral Company chairman Mervyn Key said the company was happy to hand the reins to Harvest Road to bring the station back to its former position as an "iconic breeding property".

The planned transaction is subject to approval by the Western Australian Minister for Lands, among other approvals.