Hopetoun family snaps up a premium large-scale mixed farm in Dalyup in one of the biggest sales of 2025

A Hopetoun family has written their name in history books after acquiring one of WA’s most lucrative farms for a whopping total of more than $50 million — one of WA’s largest farm sales this year. The Oaks, a premium large-scale mixed farming enterprise in Dalyup, was snapped up after only 11 days on the market after receiving strong interest from both domestic and international buyers. The sale of the 5313 hectare property located 45 kilometres west of Esperance was among the most significant in the Esperance region in recent years. Selling agent Rowan Spittle was unable to disclose the sale price, but said it exceeded the guide offered during the marketing campaign. The AWN Rural property specialist said the property would settle post-harvest. While not a district record price — which the Countryman understood is held by the sale of a Warekila property formerly owned by Chris Reichstein — it is one of WA’s most significant rural listings this year and a substantial sum for a property of its size. The 703ha property sold for $11.65m in October 2023 — $19,846 per arable hectare. More than 10,000 more per hectare than The Oaks, which sold for more than $9411 per hectare on a significantly bigger property. In the neighbouring Great Southern region, one of the biggest farming deals over the past two years was WA property developer Julian Walter’s sale of his mixed-farming operation, Cherylton Farms, for a record $100 million. That 8554-hectare property was sold to in early 2023 to Excel Farms, a Victorian business led by Nick Paterson and backed by Canadian investor Fiera Comox Partners. Colliers’ Duncan McCulloch — who handled the sale of The Oaks with his colleagues Rawdon Briggs and Gabi Mewburn alongside Mr Spittle — said the strong interest in the property reflected the continued demand for high-quality, scalable farming assets in WA. The Oaks was previously an award-winning sheep farming enterprise controlled by JA Russell and run by the Malaysia-based Russell family. JA Russel has links to the family company of British entrepreneur John Archibald Russell, who founded the company now known as Boh Tea. Boh Tea Company and JA Russell own Nerada Tea, which is one of Australia’s biggest tea producers. In the last five years, the Russell family have increased crop production, and have shifted focus to a 70-30 split between cropping wheat, barley and canola, and pasture for fine wool and prime lamb production. Considerable investment was made during this time into the property’s soil, machinery and infrastructure. The new owners told selling agents they intend to transition to 100 per cent cropping. This comes at a time when sheep farmers across the state are preparing for the phasing out of live exports by sea by May 1, 2028. When the property was offered to the market in May, the agents said the extensive water facilities, including it’s proximity to the coast and the three-river systems that run through it, provided a favourable environment for high-yielding crops. They also said it benefited from its relative closeness to the Esperance port, “excellent” road access to paddocks and quick turnaround times from CBH. Infrastructure includes three homes, a six-stand shearing shed, sheep yards, and a shed, as well as extensive fence replacement.