A CHOICE, four-property aggregation in the Mudgee-Gulgong district will go under the hammer next month to wind up 30 years of agricultural involvement by the Larke automotive family.
Rob Larke and his wife Anne are reluctantly retiring from the properties they have painstakingly built up to a high level of productivity, and moving to Dubbo where they have bought a house.
The four properties, "Tarawong", "Cudgie", "Benwerrin" and "Wanta- look", have been listed for sale with Hugh Bateman of The Property Shop in Mudgee, and will go to auction on October 10.
Mr Larke is the son of the late Percy Larke, the one-time chairman and managing director of Larke Hoskins, the motor distributorship group that was a household name for many years in Eastern Australia.
The rural properties, however, are his own investment, the fulfilment of a Sydney boy's lifelong ambition to establish and expand a successful farming business.
Under the Larkes' careful management, the "Tarawong" aggregation has been built into one of the district's most respected cattle operations, producing feeder steers from a top-ranked Angus herd of 420 breeders.
The four properties are situated at Mebul, near Goolma which is roughly midway between Gulgong and Wellington, in gently rolling, well-watered country ideal for mixed farming involving sheep or cattle breeding.
"Tarawong", which has the main homestead and most of the built infrastructure, was bought first, in 1984, followed by "Wantalook" in 1986, "Benwerrin" in 1988 and "Cudgee" in 1996.
Together they amount to 1021 hectares (2523ac), but the four blocks will be offered separately, to accommodate local buyers seeking additional land, and "tree changers" wanting a lifestyle property with income.
Only two of the blocks, "Tarawong" (277ha) and "Cudgie" (243ha), are contiguous; the other two, "Benwerrin" (277ha) and "Wantalook" (224ha) are close by, but separated from the main. All are within 24 kilometres of Gulgong.
The "Tarawong"/"Cudgie" aggregation, source of more than half the present production, is mostly rich valley-floor country following the permanent Mebul Creek, to which "Tarawong" has a 4km frontage.
About 400ha of "Tarawong" is suited to cultivation and paddocks have been sown in most years to winter cereals for grazing and grain, or lucerne.
Clovers and phalaris are well established.
The country rises to low hills of which about 60ha remains timbered.
"Cudgie" is nearly all arable valley-floor country, of which 45ha is now under Drover grazing oats.
"Benwerrin" and "Wantalook" are both red-soil properties with substantial arable areas (and sown oats), sealed road frontage and estimated carrying capacity of 110 and 80 cows respectively.
All four properties are exceptionally well presented, reflecting in part the favourable season in the area but also the owners' long-held commitment to regular expenditure on "fencing, water and weeds".
Average rainfall is 600 to 625 millimetres and the properties are variously watered by permanent streams (including the Cudgegong River, in the case of "Wantalook"), dams and reticulation systems from bores.
A feature of "Tarawong" is the four-bedroom Federation brick homestead, built in about 1905 and sympathetically extended in 1992 to incorporate a paved courtyard and open-plan living area.
The house has gas central heating and split-system air conditioning, an in-ground pool and wide verandahs, and sits in established gardens.
Working improvements on "Tarawong" include a large set of steel cattle yards, three-stand shearing shed with steel yards, three machinery sheds, storage shed and two-stall stables.
Structural improvements elsewhere include a two-bedroom clad cottage, machinery shed, hayshed and steel cattle yards on "Benwerrin", steel cattle yards on "Cudgie" and a steel hayshed on "Wantalook".
Nearby property of similar description has sold recently for about $2750/ha ($1100/ac) on a land only basis, and the Larke properties are expected to attract bidding in advance of that figure.
Contact Hugh Bateman, 0418 413 413.
Peter Austin
Former editor and long time columnist and property writer for The Land.
Former editor and long time columnist and property writer for The Land.
