Arabic version: عائلة شاهين تشتري ثلاث محطات لتربية الأغنام في جنوب أستراليا
According to ABC News, billionaire Adelaide businessman Khalil (Charlie) Shahin and his family have bought three South Australian outback sheep stations from Jumbuck Pastoral for an undisclosed sum. The properties — Commonwealth Hill, Mobella and Bulgunnia — have a combined area of nearly 1.3 million hectares and form Australia’s largest contiguous sheep station.
The stations in South Australia’s far north-west were listed for about two months before the sale. Elders Real Estate chief executive Tom Russo, who oversaw the transaction, said the 1.29 million hectares represented some of the largest sheep production country offered to the market. The traditional merino country is capable of running more than 83,300 sheep.
Russo said domestic and international corporate investors, as well as local pastoral families, examined the assets. He said the Shahin family intended to continue operating the combined properties as sheep stations, with the possibility of adding dorpers to the production mix. Jumbuck North West Pastoral Aggregation, comprising the three stations, has 23 staff, according to Jumbuck Pastoral’s website.
The acquisition was made under ATAYF, the Shahin family business group comprising Shahin, his wife and daughters. In a statement supplied by Elders on Shahin’s behalf, the ATAYF chairman described the purchase as a long-term family investment and said the family planned to support existing operations while investing in the enterprise’s productivity and resilience. The family also bought the 408,000-hectare Aileron cattle station in the Northern Territory in 2024.
Jumbuck Pastoral sold the stations as part of succession planning by the MacLachlan family. Executive director Callum MacLachlan said the company believed the Shahin family would be excellent custodians of the aggregation. A neighbouring fourth station, Mulgathing, was not included in the deal. Jumbuck was established in South Australia in 1888 and has been selling agricultural assets; last year it sold Rawlinna in Western Australia to UK-based Consolidated Pastoral Company.
