A historic remnant of the original Yanco run, later the irrigation 'proving ground' of mega-pastoralist Sir Samuel McCaughey, has hit the market in the Northern Riverina.
Breed and Hutchinson of Leeton have listed for sale the Cuddle/Narrandera Park aggregation at Euroly, to wind up more than 50 years of ownership by the Morrice family.
The late James Morrice and his wife Jill - parents of present owner Barry and his wife Gabrielle - moved from Booligal seeking more secure water, to buy the 420 hectare (1037ac) Cuddle in 1968.
Narrandera Park, a 273ha (675ac) block adjacent to Cuddle, was added 10 years later, making an aggregation of 693ha (1712ac) for which offers are invited as a whole, or as separate portions.
Originally advertised with a September 6 closing date, the offer period has now been extended to September 20 to accommodate the high level of interest in the property.
The Cuddle block was created from a 1950 break-up of Cuddell Station, which at that time had been held since 1923 by William Lane followed by his son Alan.
At the time of William Lane's death in 1940, Cuddell was a property of 4200ha carrying some 9000 sheep and 500 head of cattle with about 160ha of cultivation.
The break-up saw Alan Lane retain the bulk of the property as Cuddell West (now owned by John and Emma Mahy, as Cuddell) while Les Davies took the homestead portion which a later owner, Pat Lang, renamed Cuddle in 1960.
In the mid-1960s Cuddle was bought by the late Stan Henwood of stock dealing fame, who subdivided the property in 1968.
Situated 20 kilometres north-west of Narrandera where it fronts the Murrumbidgee River for 2km, Cuddle is a gently undulating property of productive loamy soils with sandy rises.
Much of the property is suited to irrigation and was indeed irrigated in earlier times, although none since 1940, when the licence was sold.
Average rainfall is 450-475mm and water for livestock is sourced from the river and a bore reticulating to paddock troughs.
Currently unstocked, the property in past years has carried 200 cows and more recently a Merino flock and a White Suffolk stud (prefixed Snugglepot!).
Recent rains have given a spurt to the clover/ryegrass pastures and to a 280ha crop of oats which will be given in with the sale.
A feature of the property is its sprawling full-brick homestead, built for William Lane in 1926 with bricks made on the property and locally milled cypress pine.
Renovated in recent years, the five-bedroom home features high (3.3m) ceilings, open fireplaces and polished pine floors, plus ducted air conditioning, modern kitchen, formal lounge and billiard room.
Working structures include the four-stand original shearing shed and yards, a 90m x 60m steel machinery shed, workshop, steel and timber cattle yards and a 40-tonne silo.
The adjacent Narrandera Park block, which also has a 2km frontage to the river plus a bore, has no structures but comes with a building entitlement for a dwelling.
By PETER AUSTIN.
