Property Location and Services
Located 3km SE of Biloela on the banks of Kroombit Creek with full Burnett Hwy frontage. Biloela, the major centre of Banana Shire, has a population of 6,000 with a full range of commercial, eductaional and Government services available. Rockhampton is 150km to the north with Gladstone 125km to the east. Daily air services through Qantas Link are available to Brisbane.

RPD Details
Lot 96 on RN1467 and Lot 97 on RN398, County Raglan, Parish Prairie, Freehold
Total Area 447 ac and 2 roods

Irrigation
Having full frontage to Kroombit Creek; downstream from Kroombit Dam which provides groundwater recharge, allows for direct irrigation pumping. Quality groundwater can be found in gravel beds between 15-20m below the surface which supports a wide range of crops.
Accessed by two electric driven turbine pumps, groundwater is delivered through underground mains to the whole property. Annual groundwater nominal allocations for the combined Lots 96 and 97 are 300 ML.

Soil Types
The soils are classed as sandy clay loam originating from the creek flats, supporting blue gum and Morton Bay ash, soils which are very rich in phosphate. Deep rooted crops able to penetrate roots to max depth, e.g. crops with roots to 2.5m can access 15 inches of stored water.

Cropping and Pasture
The sandy clay loams have broad agricultural potential, with a wide range of cereals, pulses, herbs, vegetables, pastures, forages and hay crops.
The extended Central Qld growing season allows three distinct growing seasons each year. Araluen’ grows distinct Spring and Autumn crops and a Winter crop each year and as a result maintains an increased crop frequency over the shorter warm season in Southern Qld. Each paddock produces three harvests every two years, based on planting times that avoid frost damage the very high moisture demands in summer.
Due to reliability and frequency of its cropping, Araluen’ has attracted regular contracts for seed production, varied from green beans to a variety of pulses, cereals and grass seed.
The current Autumn harvests provide and example of the performance of Araluen’s strategy for best use of water for Winter cropping. The extent of the Spring planting to mung beans shows the ability of the property to respond to cropping opportunities.

Improvements
Structural improvements on Araluen’ include the brick managers residence, cottage, machinery shed and workshop, grain drying complex, milling complex and storage sheds.