SOARING cattle prices and China's insatiable demand for red meat have sparked hope for Queensland's cattle industry, with graziers speculating over the forthcoming sale of the biggest chunk of private land on Earth. 
The Adelaide-based S Kidman & Co cattle empire sale, including a large tract in outback Queensland, has been under family ownership for five generations and is the largest private, non-monarchical, non-state landholding on the planet.
Founded in 1899 by the legendary "cattle king", Adelaide-born Sir Sidney Kidman, the 11 working cattle stations covering 10 million hectares - more than 1 per cent of the Australian continent - come with a $350 million price tag.
"Everyone has a theory on who is buying us," Adelaide-based Kidman & Co managing director Greg Campbell said.
"But it's a good sign for the future when we've got a lot of big players looking at trying to buy up a slice of the nation's beef market." Kidman, who left home at 13 as a penniless drover on a one-eyed horse in 1870, began building his "drought-proof" cattle empire from the Gulf of Carpentaria south along the inland river systems of the Channel Country in the late 1800s.
Kidman properties are about three-quarters the size of England and include the world's largest cattle station, Anna Creek in South Australia, which is 2.3 million hectares.
About six cashed-up foreign investors and two Queensland companies have been shortlisted in a bidding war, due to be finalised by   November."It is exciting," Mr Campbell said. "But corporate cattle ventures are only 10 per cent of the game. The heart of the Australian cattle industry is still the family-owned operation."