Inside Australia’s Secret ‘Yellowstone’: Elites Profit While City Dwellers Struggle

When we think of high society in Australia, our minds go straight to Sydney’s harbourside mansions or Melbourne’s leafy boulevards.

But beyond the city limits, a new kind of elite is thriving.

From vast grazing properties to booming mines and luxe lifestyle ventures, the bush has become a playground for billionaires whose fortunes easily rival that of their city counterparts.

Some live on sprawling estates that double as working farms or boutique wineries. Others have turned quiet country towns into hubs of serious wealth and influence.

So, meet the rural power players giving the city slickers a run for their money.

From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail’s new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop.  

Leading the list are Queensland cotton moguls Danielle and David Statham.

They are the owners of Sundown Pastoral Company and the faces behind the climate-positive cotton program Good Earth Cotton, as well as FibreTrace.

Sundown Pastoral Company was named grower of the year at the cotton industry’s national conference in 2023.

Danielle and David’s son Wilson Statham is dating Grace Hayden, the daughter of cricketing legend Matthew Hayden.

The young couple, who were first linked last year, put on a loved-up display as they attended The Everest race day at Sydney’s Royal Randwick back in October.

Australia’s largest private landholder, Viv Oldfield, who has an estimated fortune of $784million, and his business partner Donny Costello also make the list.

They own about 9.4 million hectares of cattle country across the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia.

They also own a 30,000-head feedlot and export yard in Katherine, NT. 

Oldfield paid $70million back in 2023 to buy the Middle Creek cattle station in the Northern Territory.

They are also joined by Nigel Austin, the founder and majority owner of the Cotton On clothing and stationery group, who is worth $2.1billion.

His company now comprises eight brands and operates in 19 countries.

The Geelong businessman has featured on the list of Australia’s wealthiest people, ranking in 61st place.

Property investor and retail tycoon Theo Onisforou is also among the rural elite, after first making a name for himself as a city developer and financier.

Theo was the chief money man for Kerry Packer before transitioning into real estate development where he would make serious money acquiring and revitalising unique and neglected buildings.

He is credited with transforming Paddington’s famous shopping district The Intersection, but has has since diversified into large-scale cattle farming, purchasing his first grazing property in 1990.

Now the principal and owner of K.O. Angus Stud, a prominent cattle breeding operation based in Kangaloon, he has discovered being a country grazier can be just as lucrative as developing in Sydney’s elite inner suburbs.

His exact net worth is unknown, although a Greek newspaper estimated it as between $100-120million in 2015. His fortune has likely swelled significantly since then.

He and ex-wife Heidi are parents to twins Stephanie and Angus, the latter of whom is dating model and ‘It’ girl Megan Blake Irwin.

The winemaking Casella brothers John, Giuseppe and Marcello also make our country power list.

Casella Family Brands owns popular wines Yellow Tail, Peter Lehmann Wines, Brand’s Laira of Coonawarra, and Morris of Rutherglen.

Since 1969, the Griffith-based Casella winery has grown exponentially. The brothers now have a combined wealth of $1.82 billion.

He may have made his fortune in tech, but Mike Cannon-Brookes is now a country boy.

The Atlassian CEO owns prime farmland in the NSW Southern Highlands.

According to Domain, he bought three sprawling properties on the slopes of Mount Gibraltar at Mittagong for $12.25million.

He also owns the nearby Greyladyes Farm, which he snapped up for $13million, as well as a neighbouring property worth $9.1million.

Speaking of the Southern Highlands, it would be remiss not to mention former NRL WAG and influencer Phoebe Burgess, a Bowral girl whose mining executive father Mitchell Hooke owns a substantial estate there. 

In 2021, Phoebe bought the Mediterranean-style ‘Acre Hill’ home in Burradoo, just outside Bowral, for a reported $1.7million, using the proceeds of her divorce from ex-husband, rugby league great Sam Burgess.

However, it’s believed she and her children, Poppy and Billie, never lived there; instead, she leased it out for ‘about a year’ while they lived at her parents’ place.

She put the rural property up for sale in May through estate agents Ray White Bowral; it’s unclear if the home has found a buyer.

Phoebe’s sisters Harriet and Jemima also live nearby.