11m hectares of Aussie land on sale for €223m

Considering anyone living in London is grateful to get a garden big enough to swing a cat – being able to comprehend the amount of open space available in Central Australia is not easy.

And now the Earth’s largest single property sale is taking place in the Outback.

For £159m (€223m), you could own 11m hectares of bush in the form of Anna Creek cattle station.

This property has been in the hands of S Kidman & Co for over a century – a family enterprise who still own 98% of the business.

The company was set up by Sidney Kidman in 1899 who arrived in Australia penniless, but died one of the country’s richest men and its largest private landowner.

Answering worries about foreign buyers, Don Mansfield of the selling agent, Ernst & Young was reported as saying: “There is some hysteria about foreign land ownership and I understand people’s concerns.

“But this is a well-managed business and the Federal government and (three state and one territory) governments and the Foreign Investment Review Board will all be involved because we are talking about long- term pastoral leases here.

“It is extraordinary that it has been in the one family until the fifth generation, is a debt free, consistently well run, prime cattle producer.”

It beats a two-bed flat with a communal garden.