Madura Plains incorporates hundreds of kilometres of dog fences and hundred of kilometres of water pipelines. (Photo: CC Cooper and Co.)The Land | 26 January 2026Australian cattle giant looks to sheep, snaps up second huge WA property
By Chris McLennan
One of this nation's biggest cattle companies has within a year also become a major player in sheep and wool after scooping up 17,580 square kilometres of Nullarbor Plains pastoral country in two big deals.
Consolidated Pastoral Company, an Australian-based cattle company ,secured more than 1.7 million hectares (4.3 million acres) of marginal country with the buy of Rawlinna and neighbour Madura Plains near the border of Western Australia and South Australia.
CPC is majority owned by UK investor Guy Hands.
CPC has already unveiled plans to boost Rawlinna's sheep flock to 60,000 head within the next two years.
Madura Plains is an aggregation of two pastoral leases (Madura and Moonera) which was sold walk-in walk-out with 60,000 sheep.
According to selling agents from Elders Real Estate, the purchase already has Foreign Investment Review Board approval but it is now awaiting the sign-off from the WA government which did delay the Rawlinna handover for many months last year.
"Government due diligence for significant areas of land that will alter the concentration of control of pastoral lease ownership in WA is undertaken to a rigorous standard," the WA government explained the Rawlinna delay.
No sale price for Rawlinna or Madura Plains has been made public.
Brisbane-headquartered CPC now adds a substantial sheep flock to the roughly 300,000 head of cattle carrying capacity it now has across more than nine properties, covering more than 3.2 million hectares of Australia.
It also operates two cattle feedlots in Indonesia.
CPC chief executive and director Troy Setter said the opportunity to combine Rawlinna and Madura Plains was "very compelling".
A jillaroo celebrates after shearing is done on one of Jumbuck Pastoral's stations. File picture.
"It will allow us to achieve significant operational efficiencies that are required today in rangelands sheep production," Mr Setter said.
"The Rawlinna acquisition allowed CPC to re-enter the Australian sheep production space at scale and the integration of Madura Plains will accelerate our ambition of building out the sheep platform of our diversified portfolio, which includes cattle, goat, sheep and wool production, natural capital and over 20,000ha of cropping capacity."
The joint sale encompasses the vision of SA-based Jumbuck Pastoral's Hugh MacLachlan who famously founded Rawlinna in the 1960s and later established Madura.
Both vast stations have required big investments in developing bore water stock supplies and the construction of hundreds of kilometres of vermin-proof fences on their vast boundaries.
CC Cooper & Co bought Madura Plains from Jumbuck in 2016 and has further developed the property with a "significant" capital works program.
The Cooper family's roots are in Jamestown, SA, but their mixed cropping and livestock operation, CC Cooper & Co, spans across 1600km from the western reaches of the Nullarbor to outback NSW.
Central to the success of Madura Plains has been a water infrastructure revitalisation program which has seen 1400km of interconnected pipelines installed, delivering reliable good-quality water across the vast property, unlocking its full production potential.
The water delivery system includes solar powered pumping systems at all critical points in the water system, and remote monitoring via smartphone and Starlink-enabled connectivity, enabling management and monitoring of pumps and tanks from anywhere.
More than 1000km of fencing has been installed, subdividing very large paddocks to create 118 paddocks and 376km of internal laneways.
Significant investments have also been made in animal handling infrastructure.
Jumbuck's Hugh MacLachlan. File picture.
A 10,000-head feedlot and holding yards have been established in a central location and there are modern yards located strategically.
The 60,000 sheep flock was included in the sale (Canowie Poll Merino genetics) together with 3500 Boer X goats, plus kids.
CC Cooper & Co managing director David "Seth" Cooper said: "We acquired Madura Plains with the clear strategic intent to build a best-in-class modern sheep station that fully capitalises on the production potential of the vast landholding and stock water supply, whilst being resilient through the cycles."
Mr Cooper said they "are delighted" with the outcome of the sale process and excited to see what the future holds for Madura Plains after a period of significant development and investment by our family.
"We are particularly pleased that the Madura Plains team will be retained and no doubt given great opportunities within CPC, given the scale and diversity of their operations nationally."
The Madura Plains sheep feedlot. File picture.
Elders real estate chief executive officer Tom Russo, who brokered the deal, said it demonstrated the confidence in Australia's sheep and wool industry.
"Ultimately, it's exciting to see CPC invest again after their recent acquisition of Rawlinna," he said.
"Whilst not quite contiguous, the two stations are in close proximity and will complement each other. We believe that the integrated operation is the largest sheep station in the world."
