A Northern Territory producer, who sold their pastoral enterprise to a Canadian pension fund for more than $50 million, has purchased an aggregation of properties in South Australia.
Hewitt Cattle Australia bought Ambalindum and Numery pastoral leases, east of Alice Springs, a smaller block near the town, and a fleet of road trains, settling in early March.
Tim and Emily Edmunds sold their Hale River Pastoral Company assets to relocate to the Clare Valley where they have bought five mixed farming properties, including Kadlunga, west of Mintaro.
Speaking to ABC Rural, Mr Edmunds said although it was difficult to leave Central Australia, the time was right to move on.
"It wasn't a forced sale by any stretch of the imagination, we had no reason to sell apart from an opportunity presented to us," he said.
"There'll never be another Ambalindum, and if Ambalindum is ever brought to its full potential, it'll be an amazing property.
"We did a lot of work there and there's still a lot to be done yet to develop it to open it up."
The sale of the NT properties, stretching over 7,500 square kilometres, also included more than 13,000 head of cattle.
Now the Edmunds family will turn their attention beyond cattle, spending close to $35 million to farm sheep, grain, and fodder crops in the southern climate.
Mr Edmunds said the new farms, with an area around 4,200 hectares, will be managed by his younger brother, Ben.
"Ten and a half thousand acres wouldn't make a horse paddock at home, but down here it's quite a substantial holding," he said.
"So you just diversify into another form of agriculture — I think the south is going to have its day in time with the demand for protein world-wide.
"We bought four or five farms in total, most of them are all joined so you'd think the economy of scale of what you do these days, with modern machinery and technology, we should get a bit more of a leading edge."
The Edmunds have not ruled out reinvesting back into the north in the future.