Voice of Real Australia is a regular newsletter from Australian Community Media, which has journalists in every state and territory. Today's is written by ACM national agriculture writer Chris McLennan.
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![A mustering scene at Helen Springs Station in the Northern Territory which is remaining in Kidman and Co. ownership. Picture from Kidman and Co. A mustering scene at Helen Springs Station in the Northern Territory which is remaining in Kidman and Co. ownership. Picture from Kidman and Co.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/39XqhrgY6riNnQBs6VEtc8R/bb072f11-ee01-4c95-bce6-dcbe3ed32e52.jpg/r0_109_1200_784_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Billionaire Gina Rinehart is selling off another big chunk of Australia.
Another 2.4 million hectares is up for sale with four stations in the Northern Territory and Queensland.
She has hinted she might already have a buyer for them.
Together with the two million hectares she sold last year, the combined land mass is the size of Denmark. Breath-taking stuff.
Big cattle stations are bought and sold with regularity.
Ms Rinehart has shown herself to be not only adept at extracting iron ore but also at running vast beef herds.
Her companies employ a lot of people in remote areas.
But it is Australia's pastoral history which is gathering the most attention with these sales.
The mining magnate teamed up with a Chinese partner back in 2016 in a hard fought tussle to buy one of Australia's iconic companies, S. Kidman and Co.
Ms Rinehart's Hancock group joined minority Chinese partner Shanghai CRED to conclude the $365 million purchase of the S. Kidman and Company estate and its 170,000 cattle.
After this latest sale, there will be little left of the original Kidman empire.
Already the Kidman headquarters has been moved from South Australia to Queensland.
One of the stations in the sale, Glengyle in Queensland, is home to the heritage listed Kidman's Tree of Knowledge.
It was reputedly under this large Coolibah tree Sir Sidney Kidman camped and came up with an audacious plan to buy a chain of stations running top to bottom across the continent.
It was his vision to drought-proof a cattle empire and there a legend was born.
S. Kidman & Co Pty Ltd was founded in 1899 and the great man returned to Glengyle to buy it in 1913.
When Ms Rinehart bought Kidman's legacy no-one said she couldn't break it up, she has proven to be gifted at making things work.
The cattle industry has seen a lot of rich landholders over the years who are not so skilled.
What Hancock does today with Kidman stations does nothing to diminish the legend.
"We remain committed to retaining and continuing to support the iconic history of S. Kidman & Co and its legacy," Hancock Agriculture and Kidman Cattle Company acting chief executive Adam Giles said in a statement announcing the station sales.
![Sir Sidney Kidman pictured in 1930. Picture from South Australian Library. Sir Sidney Kidman pictured in 1930. Picture from South Australian Library.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/39XqhrgY6riNnQBs6VEtc8R/2b7d337b-f3fd-4799-8620-25195fab2454.jpeg/r100_137_698_528_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
My first introduction to the Kidman legend was through a biography "The Cattle King", we had a copy on our farm.
It is a remarkable story well worth telling.
Kidman was born in Adelaide in 1857, the son of a farmer.
He left home for a life of droving when aged just 13 years old and quickly learned the various skills of outback survival.
He married Isabel Wright in 1885 and they had four children.
To make a buck, he dabbled in all manner of things as a stockman, landowner, bullock driver, goods trader, shop owner.
At one point while still young, he famously traded 10 bullocks for a big share in BHP, the Broken Hill mine, and ran mail contracts before buying Owen Springs Station west of Alice Springs in 1886.
Within two decades of that purchase he owned stations across the country to see his dream realised.
He was knighted in 1921, retired in 1927 and died in 1935 aged 78.
At the time of his death he either owned or had a share in almost 70 stations with large cattle herds and sheep flocks.
![Outback legend R.M. Williams was born near Jamestown in South Australia. Outback legend R.M. Williams was born near Jamestown in South Australia.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/R7sDaMurkWxVpij7Babdbr/3ccf3e51-49a5-4e10-86b2-81127f6b7eca.png/r67_0_1134_600_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
South Australia has thrown up several outback legends in its short history.
Reginald Murray Williams is another.
He famously founded a leather goods company in 1932 which is still churning out much prized boots long after his death in 2003.
Ownership of the company bearing his name has passed through several hands - even (gasp) once owned by an overseas company LVMH Group, which owns French luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton.
Another iron ore billionaire, Twiggy Forrest, bought R.M. Williams back into Aussie hands in 2020.
His legend is also secure.
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