AAM Investment Group (AAM) is coordinating a consortium of private operators and major companies involved in the Queensland agricultural sector in an application that will seek to gain private control of the land and associated infrastructure assets of the former Longreach Pastoral College in an important bid to retain and return critical training services to the Australian agricultural industry and local community.

 Next Thursday, AAM Managing Director, Garry Edwards, and members of AAM’s management team, will travel to Longreach to hold a community consultation session with interested local community members and key stakeholders on proposed plans for the site, with a formal tender for the facility to be submitted to the Queensland Government by its deadline of February 23. On Friday 17 February, AAM representatives will be available in Longreach for further discussions with interested parties who wish to be actively and financially involved with this project.

Mr Edwards said he was committed to ensuring the former college was reinstated as a key source of knowledge sharing and skills development for the pastoral industries, as well as a hub for the local community and businesses to access and utilise. The consortium’s tender is expected to include the entire 17,511 hectares of land including Rosebank Station adjoining the College site, modern classroom and accommodation facilities and other practical agricultural infrastructure.

“When Longreach Pastoral College was closed in 2019 it highlighted a major problem in Queensland in the need for modernisation and relevance of agricultural training. Losing facilities like this leave a gaping hole in the state’s capacity to develop the skills of the workforce required by Australia’s thriving farm sector and took away what had, for more than half a century, been part of the lifeblood of the Longreach community,” Mr Edwards said 

“As part of our collective vision, the companies involved in the private consortium believe that the Longreach Pastoral College can be rejuvenated to become a trustworthy, viable and intergenerational learning centre, not unlike the renowned Marcus Oldham College in Victoria, offering a range of certified educational and training courses, whilst incorporating local tourism activities and educational activities for primary and high school students who don’t have the chance for exposure of regional Australia and our agricultural industries.

“We also see the site potentially being used for tertiary learning and veterinary studies, Research and Development and tourism activities, to become a source of employment, relevance and opportunity for all of Western Queensland.

“Australian agriculture is flourishing and rapidly evolving to be a sector that requires a vast diversity of skills and knowledge. We want to help be part of a solution that will meet this need and ensure a site, that has a legacy of education dating back generations, is used for its highest and best purpose.”

• The public consultation meeting is open to all interested stakeholders and will be held at the Longreach Council Chambers from 6:30pm, Thursday February 16.

• Email lpc@aamig.com.au In order to register your interest to participate in the public consultation event and note your interest in participating in the future of the Longreach Pastoral College.

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