THIS week’s property review includes this wrap-up of recently completed sales and two separate articles on properties for sale, north and south.

• Victorian western grazing properties make $20m
• Part of Dunedoo’s historic Digilah Station sells

the 818ha  and the 278ha Strathayre are located near Macarthur and Broadwater

Victorian western grazing properties make $20m

A European family has raised close to $20 million after selling two Victorian Western District grazing properties spanning 1096ha.

Managed by Growth Farms Australia, the 818ha  and the 278ha Strathayre are located near Macarthur and Broadwater, close to saleyards, processing plants and export facilities at Hamilton, Warrnambool and Portland.

The properties are about 13km apart and were sold after ten years of family ownership, driven by succession.

Warrabkook, regarded as a first-class holding in a scenic setting beneath Mount Napier, was purchased by a family farming operation re-entering western Victoria for just north of $14 million ($17,115/ha).

Featuring gently undulating, riverine-style country with tree-lined paddocks and views to Mount Napier, the property has a history of pasture development. Water is sourced from bores and dual creek frontage. Infrastructure includes several homes, a four-stand shearing shed, sheep and cattle yards and numerous sheds.

Strathayre, a compact but efficient grazing platform, sold to a local natural capital group looking at carbon and forestry initiatives for $4.65m or ($16,726/ha).

Suited to rotational grazing, about 97 percent is arable and improved with ongoing pasture and fertiliser programs. Water is provided by bores and creeks. Improvements include a renovated home, a three-stand shearing shed, new sheep yards and a shed.

Benefitting from an average annual rainfall of 744mm, the two properties support prime lamb and beef production, but are also suited to mixed farming, dairy and forestry.

JLL Agribusiness agent Jock Grimshaw described Warrabkook and Strathayre as representing the best of the Western District with fertile soils, high rainfall and consistent development.

Part of Dunedoo’s historic Digilah Station sells

After more than five decades of family ownership, Dunedoo’s historic Digilah Station has been split up, with the homestead portion selling to Michael McLennan and Meg Becker of Beef Lamington Speckle Park near Mudgee for $4.53 million ($8033/ha).

The improved grazing and dryland cropping property is in the Central West of New South Wales, 18km from Dunedoo and 107km from Dubbo.

Owned by the Callow family for the past 50 years, the 1210ha Digilah Station was offered for sale in June 2020 by retiring owners Bob and Fay Callow.

When it failed to sell, they leased it and then reoffered it to the market in September last year for offers above $9.5m.

Following the transaction, the remaining 646ha Spring Valley is now offered by private treaty for $4.6m ($7115/ha).

While it currently produces dryland winter crops in combination with cattle breeding and finishing, LAWD agent Mark Mudford said Spring Valley is equally suited to sheep breeding and lamb production.

“It provides the incoming buyer the flexibility to produce grains, beef, wool and lamb and is ideally suited to purchasers seeking an additional property in a productive region, or as a standalone asset being above the minimum lot size for a building entitlement.”

The pasture base on Spring Valley has been highly improved with 58 percent (374ha) sown to sub-tropical and temperate perennial pastures.

Established perennial native grass and clover pasture is prominent across 240ha, with the remainder of the property comprising 2ha of remnant vegetation.

The topography ranges from creek flats suitable for dryland cropping, to undulating improved pastures and elevated partly timbered grazing portions.

Water is supplied by equipped bores and 13 dams, underpinned by a spring to autumn dominant rainfall pattern of 620mm per annum. The Merrygoen Creek traverses 3km of the property and provides several permanent waterholes.

Infrastructure includes steel cattle yards.

Dunedoo’s historic Digilah Station has been split up, with the homestead portion selling to Michael McLennan and Meg Becker of Beef Lamington Speckle Park near Mudgee for $4.53 million ($8033/ha).

History

Digilah Station was originally taken up by Robert Moore Richardson in 1854 for sheep grazing. Ten years later it became the home station for the Patrick empire that stretched from Merrygoen, Leadville and beyond Dunedoo.

In 1914, the crown acquired most of the leased lands for closer settlement, reducing Digilah to its present size.

Today, Digilah is home to several remarkable examples of early colonial architecture, including the 1860 timber slab shearing shed built from local huge ironbark posts and cypress pine crossbeams and the historic stables and hay barn – all of which have been meticulously maintained.

During the marketing campaign, son, Chris Callow said the family had been lucky enough to have some help with maintaining the historical buildings, and the shearing shed is as good as the day it was built.