Ellerston is a rural locality of the Upper Hunter Shire Local Government Area, about 68 kilometres (42 mi) north-east of Scone

Scone, New South Wales

Scone is a town in the Upper Hunter Shire in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales, Australia. At the 2006 census, Scone had a population of 4,624 people. It is located on the New England Highway north of Muswellbrook about 270 kilometres north of Sydney, and is part of the Hunter and Upper...

 in the Upper Upper Hunter Region of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It is about 322 km (200 mi) from Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, the state capital.

Ellerston Pastoral

Ellerston Pastoral station

Station (Australian agriculture)

Station is the term for a large Australian landholding used for livestock production. It corresponds to the North American term ranch or South American estancia...

 is a large property that was owned by media mogul, Kerry Packer

Kerry Packer

Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer, AC was an Australian media tycoon. The son of Sir Frank Packer and Gretel Bullmore, the Packer family company owned controlling interest in both the Nine television network and leading Australian publishing company Australian Consolidated Press, which were later...

 and since his death is run by other members of the Packer family. The property's primary purpose is as a cattle and sheep station, running 11,000 Hereford

Hereford (cattle)

Hereford cattle are a beef cattle breed, widely used both in intemperate areas and temperate areas, mainly for meat production.Originally from Herefordshire, England, United Kingdom, more than five million pedigree Hereford Cattle now exist in over 50 countries...

 cattle and 6,500 Merino

Merino

The Merino is an economically influential breed of sheep prized for its wool. Merinos are regarded as having some of the finest and softest wool of any sheep...

 .

The property also boasts some of Australia's best polo fields. In 2004 its golf course was rated as the number 4 golf course in Australia. The course, which was designed by Greg Norman

Greg Norman

Gregory John Norman AO is an Australian professional golfer and entrepreneur who spent 331 weeks as the world's Number 1 ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s...

and Bob Harrison, is exclusive and only open to members and guests, so, on some weeks, only six people play golf there.