ONE of the longest-held blocks of prime farming country in northern NSW, with links to a renowned pioneering pastoral family, will go under the hammer in Narrabri next month.
The property, “Noelurma-Gruie”, is a remnant of the former Killarney Station, a property of some 90,000 acres (36,000 hectares) carrying 100,000 sheep when purchased in about 1880 from A.A. Doyle by William Frederick (W.F.) Buchanan.
W.F. Buchanan was a brother of Nat Buchanan, the famous overlander and explorer, and his vast holdings at various times included “Warrana” and “Breelong” on the Castlereagh and extensive Top End runs including “Wave Hill” on the Victoria River.
The property now known as “Noelurma-Gruie” started out as a subdivision called “Noelurma” owned by W.F. Buchanan’s daughter Noeline, and in 1952 her son, Peter Miller, and his wife Betty, moved from Sydney to work it and ultimately take it over.
It was during the Millers’ occupancy in the 1960s and ‘70s that “Noelurma” had a brush with astronomical fame, as the site of the so-called “Star Gazer”, a stellar interferometer (to measure the diameter of stars) installed on a dedicated 6ha site as a joint research project by the University of Sydney and Manchester University.
The Millers subsequently acquired part of the adjoining “Gruie” block owned by Noeline’s sister, to create the 1074ha (2644ac) aggregation now being marketed by Michael Guest of Ruralco Davidson Cameron Real Estate.
Although originally a grazing property, the production emphasis has been on broadacre cropping for the past 40 years, for much of that time under a lease agreement with the local Kirkby family.
The Millers retired some time ago and moved into town and now their three daughters – Helen Bell, Gail Miller and Jenny Martyn – are selling the property to wind up the family partnership, thus ending 136 years of one-family occupation.
Situated near Edgeroi, 18 kilometres north-west of Narrabri, “Noelurma-Gruie” is a property of rich volcanic plains country of chocolate and grey-black self-mulching soils.
The district boasts a generous average rainfall of 658mm influenced by the nearby Nandewar Range.
Nearly the entire area is arable, and under the ongoing lease arrangement (which expires in December 2016) the property has been cropped using rotation practices, growing a range of cereal and grain legume crops and dryland cotton.
Notable among the improvements is a two-storey homestead of double brick construction, built in the 1960s as the control centre for the astronomy project and later converted to residential use.
The main homestead is complemented by a four-bedroom weatherboard home built in the 1950s with gauzed verandahs and views to the mountains.
Working improvements include a steel machinery shed and assorted storage sheds, a 35-tonne grain silo and long-disused steel and timber cattle yards.
“Noelurma-Gruie” will go to auction in Narrabri on June 14.
The delivery of the property take place after harvest in December.
Comparable farmland in the district has been selling recently at rates on the high side of $5000/ha ($2000/ac).