The trendsetting station

That’s because the station in question, “Myall View”, was a district trendsetter at various stages of its existence, and home to a succession of larger-than-life, innovative owners.

Today the property “Myall View” is a mere 109 hectares in size, containing the eponymous homestead and a cluster of historic outbuildings, not least its landmark concrete woolshed.

It is owned by Norman Moeris, who bought the Castlereagh Highway-fronting property two years ago as a home for his son, Peter, and daughter-in-law, Belinda.

Norman farms an adjoining property, “Palm View”, which was one of six blocks created by the break-up of the former station for closer settlement in the early 1950s. It was drawn in a ballot by his great-uncle, Percy Holswich.

Another 560ha portion of the former station, across the highway from the homestead, is owned and farmed by Peter and Belinda.

“Myall View” was a sizeable property of about 8700 acres (3500ha) when it was bought for a princely two pounds and 16 shillings ($5.60) an acre in 1907 by Henry McClure from Natimuk in Victoria’s Wimmera.

It was Henry McClure who would make headlines on “Myall Vale” by importing early-model American oil tractors to power his ambitious farming program, at a time when horses were still the unquestioned kings of draft.

Not that McClure was the first to grow wheat on “Myall Vale”. Some 20 years earlier wheat was being grown in a 100ac (40ha) paddock there by Sidney Barden, the first “Myall View” owner to make his public mark.

Barden came onto “Myall View” in the 1870s, following in the footsteps of his father, Alfred, who had left Sydney for the Castlereagh country a decade earlier, buying “Polly Brewan” near Carinda in 1864 and later nearby “Wangrawalley”, and “Yalcogrin” at Gilgandra.

When he died in 1909 aged just 56, from infection arising from a hand injury, Sidney Barden JP was eulogised in the local Gilgandra newspaper as a leading community figure, the first president of the shire and the founding president of the local Farmers and Settlers Association branch.

Barden owned other properties at the time of his death, but “Myall View” had been sold in about 1900 to James Berryman and sons, who owned country at Curban.

It was they who most probably built the present homestead, constructed using the newly popular Wunderlich pressed-metal panels on walls (inside and out) and ceilings, before selling to McClures in 1907.

In their first year on “Myall View”, McClure and his sons sowed 250ac (100ha) to wheat, using a seven horsepower Burrell traction engine drawing a nine-furrow seeder.

By 1914, local farmers were flocking to watch as the McClures put their newfangled Big Four 30 oil tractor through its paces, ploughing and later harvesting up to 32 acres a day, thereby displacing 30 chaff-gobbling horses.

McClure by then was seriously ramping-up the property’s cropping program (in addition to a sheep flock of nearly 14,000 head), sowing more than 500ha a year and vowing – as one could in those days! – to “keep clearing until all the arable land is developed”.

In 1916 he inserted advertisements in the local papers announcing his appointment as the sole local representative for the Falkiner Electric Company (a sideline of Ralph Falkiner’s, of the Boonoke Falkiner family), agents for the Jelbart range of portable and traction engines from Ballarat, Victoria.

History doesn’t record how much of “Myall View” was under the plough by the time McClure retired and sold the property in 1926, but the evidence suggests the focus thereafter swung back to sheep.

The new owner was Joseph Vaughan, a self-made man who started his career in Birmingham, UK, as a fitter and turner before emigrating with his wife Elizabeth to NSW in 1877 to try his luck in the colonies.

His trade skills found him ready work in Lithgow, and later, Sydney and Melbourne, where he set up his own rolling mill before selling up to embark on a new venture as a grazier.

The price of five pounds, two shillings and sixpence ($10.25) per acre that he reportedly paid for “Myall View” was nearly double the price paid by McClure 19 years earlier, and that was just the start.

Within just weeks of his arrival Vaughan was making news in the district for the money and effort he was putting into rabbit control and fodder conservation, and for his grandiose building plans.

Operating in partnership with his son-in-law, Douglas Pinner (who had married his daughter Clarice in 1926), Vaughan launched a big-spending makeover of “Myall View”, erecting 30 kilometres of new netting fence, sinking 10 bores and erecting windmills, the latter largely made in-house.

But his piece de resistance – undertaken when he was approaching 80 – was the monolithic woolshed he designed and constructed in the early 1930s for the shearing of his 17,000 sheep.

Built of poured concrete made on-site using sand hauled by dray from the Castlereagh River, and Oregon beams recycled from ships, the bomb-shelter-like edifice was the talk of the district.

Fitted with eight stands of Cooper gear powered by a steam engine, the cavernous shed was “christened” in November 1934 with a dance party for 250 guests held to celebrate the Vaughans’ diamond wedding.

A newspaper report of the occasion relates that the guests “danced until midnight” to the music of The Lorna Lance Orchestra from Dubbo, and festivities continued until daybreak.

The completion of the woolshed was not the only memorable event of that year for Vaughan and Pinner. A few months earlier they had bought “Myall Park”, a property of some 2800ha near Armatree.

Elizabeth Vaughan died in 1939, her husband in 1942 and Douglas Pinner, aged just 44, in 1944. The Vaughan dynasty on “Myall View” was nearing its close, and the end came in 1950.

After negotiations with the three surviving Vaughan daughters, the State Government acquired “Myall View” and adjoining “Hillylands” – a combined area of nearly 4000ha – for soldier settlement.

Six blocks were made available for the keenly-contested ballot, which was contested by 86 ex-servicemen. All six successful applicants were from the local Gilgandra Shire.

The homestead block, originally of 1550 acres (627ha), was won in the ballot by Reg Knight from Tooraweenah, who held it until 1977 when it was bought by Gilgandra solicitor David Brown and his wife Jenny,

Under their stewardship the homestead was restored to something approaching its original Federation glory, repainted in heritage colours to highlight the ornate Wunderlich pressed-metal walls and ceilings.

When the Browns sold “Myall View”, Norman Moeris bought the 109ha portion containing the homestead and outbuildings (adjoining his existing block), and Peter and Belinda the balance.

The fact that Belinda ended up at “Myall View” has special resonance for her paternal grandmother, Shirley Mudford of Gilgandra, who took part in Girl Guide camps there as a schoolgirl during the war.

Living in a century-old homestead with the rich ownership history of “Myall View” at Gilgandra has a certain resonance for its young occupants, Peter and Belinda Moeris.

Both Peter and Belinda themselves come from long-established local farming families, and place a high value on the heritage aspects of a property, as well as its productive capabilities.

Peter is a third-generation farmer and Belinda a fifth-generation farmer, in the latter case a source of particular pride to her paternal grandmother, Shirley Mudford.

The daughter of Keith and Claire Mudford of nearby “Irimbia”, Belinda is one of 11 grandchildren of Shirley Mudford who are now carrying on the farming tradition of this well-known Gilgandra family.

Shirley’s late husband Arthur, who died in 1998, was a passionate campaigner for rural reform during the troubled years of the 1980s, but lived to see his family prevail over adversity and strike out successfully in different directions.

Peter and Belinda together work the 569 hectare portion of “Myall View” they bought two years ago (after Peter had previously leased it for a year) from David and Jenny Brown.

Now mostly sown to a mix of wheat, barley and grain legumes, the property is one of relatively few in the NSW wheat belt with a traceable history of having been worked by tractors for more than a century.

It’s a bit different these days, though. Peter now works 100ha a day with his Case STX450 tractor, whereas in 1914 Henry McClure was making headlines for ploughing just 10ha a day with his Big Four 30 oil tractor!

Peter and Belinda hope in time to be able to buy more land, helped by successful harvests like last season’s, when their wheat and barley yielded 2.5 tonnes/ha and three tonnes a hectare respectively.

But like many young farmers, they are daunted by the relatively high prices of land and wary of the risks of taking on too much debt, so “Myall View” is likely to remain their heritage-rich home for some time yet.