[1][2] To this day he still holds the record for the largest freehold land acreage in Australia's history; over 3 million acres (13,000 km²) for a single property.
After school, Quilty began his grazier career with his father and brothers Patrick (b.1888) and Reginald (b.1894) by buying large stations in the Kimberley region to run stock for the beef market, as well as breeding and training horses and cattle that could thrive in the harsh and unforgiving territory conditions.
Property investments in Sydney further increased the family's vast wealth and in 1917 Quilty and Sons bought Bedford Downs Station, near Halls Creek, Western Australia, for £34,000.
At All Saints Church, Roma, on 30 April 1919 he married fellow Irish native Charlotte Lillian Laura Isis Byrne; they were to have four children Roderick, Patrick, Irene, and Doreen.
To raise funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, he published a volume of poems, The Drover's Cook (Sydney, 1958).
The poems dealt with station life, drinking, personal relationships, and raising children of mixed blood at Springvale homestead.