FOR only the third time in nearly 120 years, the noted Condobolin district property "Bogandillon" has come on the market to end a long-standing extended family ownership.
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Comprising 3431 hectares (8478ac), "Bogandillon" is owned by Kate and Russell Symonds and Kate's mother, Goldie Ridley, whose late husband Jack's family - as C.W. Ridley and Sons - bought it in 1954.
The Ridleys bought "Bogandillon" to ease stocking pressure on their main property, "Pine Hill" at Corinella, then suffering inundation from one of the several big Lachlan River floods of the wet 1950s.
It was previously owned by the Stevenson family, who bought it in 1924 from Robert Rand, whose father William (a brother of the Robert Rand of "Mahonga", after whom the adjacent Riverina town of Rand is named) bought it in 1896 from Hope Brothers.
With Mr and Mrs Symonds now ready to downsize, the owners have listed "Bogandillon" for private sale with Ainslie Toole of Landmark Forbes, at an asking price of $3.95 million or $1151/ha ($465/ac).
The offering represents a rare opportunity to acquire a substantial property with a long history of sheep and cattle breeding and fattening, and cash cropping, in a renowned mixed farming area.
Moreover, the buyer will have the added opportunity of negotiating the purchase of adjoining country, if desired, to build an aggregation of close to 8000ha including river frontage and irrigation.
Situated 40 kilometres south-east of Condobolin and 80km from Forbes, "Bogandillon" is a property of open and mostly level to gently sloping country, about 85 per cent arable, with 31ha of timbered hill.
The property shares its name with a local landmark, Bogandillon Swamp, a low-lying wetland area of more than 3000ha which receives overflow water in occasional seasons of heavy run-off from Lake Cowal.
About 500ha of country at the north-eastern end of the swamp is within "Bogandillon".
It has filled only twice in the past 20 years, and the rest of the time its heavy grey soils grow some of the property's best crops.
Soils elsewhere are mostly red loam, with heavier types flanking the Bogandillon creek which intersects the property, and the pasture country is rich in natural clovers and trefoils.
About 930ha of country is under winter crop this season, of which 200ha is wheat and barley grown by the owners and the balance sharefarmed or as part of an annual lease arrangement.
Stock numbers have not yet recovered since the drought, but the property has a history of carrying about 6000 DSE made up of sheep and cattle, plus cropping.
Water is a feature of the property, which enjoys an average rainfall of 450 to 475 millimetres and connection to a piped stock water scheme which services more than half the property, plus a long creek frontage and 23 dams.
Already this year more than 300mm of rain has been received and the property is carrying a good body of feed, as well as a replenished stock of baled hay and grain from last season's crop program.
The main homestead is an attractive, Federation-style residence of concrete block construction, built in 1929 to replace an earlier homestead destroyed by fire.
Flanked on three sides by enclosed verandahs, the three-bedroom home has reverse-cycle air conditioning, wood heating and an in-ground pool, set in established gardens.
A four-bedroom manager's residence and a two-bedroom cottage provide additional accommodation.
Another feature of "Bogandillon" is its venerable shearing shed, built of locally milled pine in 1902 for 16 stands and still in use today with six electric stands and an attached large set of steel sheepyards.
Other working improvements include steel cattle yards, a 1000-tonne grain shed, hay and machinery sheds and silos.
Contact Ainslie Toole, (02) 6852 1466.
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.
