A local pastoral family has purchased a Central Australian cattle station for more than $10 million from a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family.

Key points: Idracowra Station has been sold for $10.1 million to Angus and Kimberley McKay, owners of a neighbouring station

Idracowra Station has been sold for $10.1 million to Angus and Kimberley McKay, owners of a neighbouring station It was sold by Shoujaa, a company owned by Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan

It was sold by Shoujaa, a company owned by Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan It was previously purchased for $7.5 million in 2007

The sale of Idracowra Station settled this week with Angus and Kimberley McKay, the owners of neighbouring Umbearra Station, buying the pastoral block.

Documents from the Northern Territory Land Titles Office show the 462,000-hectare station, located about 120 kilometres south of Alice Springs, was purchased for $10.1 million.

The property was sold by Shoujaa, a company owned by Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, who bought the property for $7.5 million in 2007.

The McKay family secured a contract on the property just over a week before it was due to be sold at auction, with a reserve price of $7 million.

Idracowra Station was sold on a walk-in, walk-out basis, with about 3,000 head of Shorthorn cattle included in the purchase price.

Mr McKay hoped having a second property would provide the family business with more flexibility.

"It will allow us to run an extra 2,000 to 3,000 breeders, which is effectively doubling our herd size, giving us more room to move in the future," he said.

"We will be able to adjust our stocking rates even more conservatively than what they are now, so it just gives us a bit more scope for the next 20 or 30 years.

"Hopefully we can keep our head above water for a few more generations yet."

Idracowra Station covers 462,080 hectares of undulating sandhills, open grass plains and areas of bluebush. ( supplied: JJL )

Neighbouring property

Mr McKay said the major appeal of Idracowra Station was that it was right next door to Umbearra.

"They're our northern neighbour so there's a lot of synergies involved in that," he said.

"It makes life a bit easier when we can share staff and machinery, move cattle back and forth with one PIC [Property Identification Code] number."

Mr McKay said he was also looking forward to learning more about the country north of Umbearra, and he believed there was land to be developed on the block.

"It's slightly different country to Umbearra — it's got the Finke River running thought it so that'll be a bit of a steep learning curve, learning how to manage that properly," he said.

"There's about 14 major waterholes along that section of river … there's a considerable amount of water in the river still, which is interesting considering it hasn't run for two and a half years.

"There's country down the southern end that we're hoping to open up now … there's feed that hasn't been utilised."

Our best stories in your inbox Subscribe to Rural RoundUp: Get our best stories from rural and regional Australia every Friday.

Mr McKay said the family would look to introduce Red Angus cattle, which they breed at Umbearra, on their new station.

"We'll use it as a breeder block to slowly dissolve that herd of Shorthorn in the next couple of years, and just replace it with Red Angus breeders from Umbearra," he said.

Sheikh Hamad bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, who has a love for large, modified cars, has sold Idracowra to a Central Australian pastoral family. ( Supplied: Wikipedia Commons )

Buying back property from foreign investors

Idracowra is the second farming property sold by the sheikh's company in recent years, following the sale of a Queensland property in 2015.

Mr McKay said it was good to see more pastoral property back in the hands of Australian farmers.

"There's a bit of a swing lately, Australians buying back some of this country that was owned by foreign investors," he said.

"We're happy about it."

In February a South Australian family bought Pine Hill Station, north of Alice Springs, from a Filipino property developer for more than $10 million.

ABC Rural understands other pastoral families in Central Australia also put in early bids to purchase Idracowra Station.