NT property for sale comes with 130-year-old pet crocodile named Shah

About an hour south of Darwin is a one-of-a-kind rainforest estate that backs onto a national park. 

For Trevor Sullivan, this pocket of paradise has been home for the last fifteen years. 

Hundreds of mango trees sway in the breeze, native birds flit through the canopy, and the gurgle of the Finniss River is never far away.

But Sullivan doesn’t live here alone. He shares his home with a five-metre long saltwater crocodile named Shah. 

“He was caught on the river just south of the township of Townsville in 1933,” Sullivan recalls. 

“They kept him at Mount St John Zoo up until the late fifties, early sixties.”

Shah was over four metres long when he was first caught nearly a century ago. Today, Sullivan estimates Shah is 120 to 130 years old. 

Until recently, there were eight pet saltwater and three pet freshwater crocodiles at the property in Eva Valley. 

A recent clutch of eggs has upped that number to 36 crocs in total, if you count the new hatchlings. 

“They’re far more than just a pet – they’re more like an entity,” Sullivan says. 

“I don’t see myself as their owner, I see myself as their carer.”

His love-affair with reptiles began as a kid, travelling around with his military family. 

It was easier than keeping traditional pets.

“Back then when we shifted, whatever I had I could just let go,” he says. 

Many of the crocodiles who live on the property have led difficult lives. Many have been rescued from crocodile farms, where they would have been killed for their skin and meat. 

“We rescued [Shah] from Koorana about six years ago. We travelled 8000 kilometres and brought him home in a trailer, and he lives in his new place where he doesn’t have to do anything for anyone anymore,” he says. 

“We actually got his old girlfriend Wilmur up as well, but she died last wet season of old age.”

Sullivan has now listed the property for sale – and the pet crocodiles come with it. 

He is determined to find a buyer who will do right by the property and its many inhabitants. 

“I need to find a younger version of me, someone who can take these animals and look after them and not treat them badly,” he says.

Luckily, it looks like he may have found someone who fits the bill. 

A young couple recently contacted Sullivan. They are keen to look after the crocodiles – and the pet death adder Sullivan bought his partner for Valentine’s Day. 

“The strangest thing is the boy, his mum and I met way back in the early seventies in Sydney. We used to be members of the [Herpetology] Club at the Australian Museum,” Sullivan says. 

“She was a specialist in spiders and did work up in the museum and count the scales on preserved reptiles. It’s just strange, 45 years later her son is looking at the property.”

$650,000

685 Miles Road, Eva Valley NT 0822

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The property is listed for $650,000, but Sullivan is prepared to negotiate on the price for the right buyer. 

Others have been in touch with creative ideas for the property, including someone who works with veterans. 

“I guess they need a place to rest, and this place would be ideal,” Sullivan says. 

“It will give them purpose, and when you’ve got purpose – particularly with something like a crocodile – it changes you. It gives you a reason.”