Preserving the past at 'Dunumbral'

The woolshed at Dunumbral Station, Collarenebri, no longer sees annual shearings of six-figure numbers of sheep as it did in the 1890s, but it still sees the wool peeled from 10,000 Merinos – and it could well be still fulfilling this role a century from now, following a unique restoration project initiated two years ago by its Ritter-family owners.

Peter Ritter, whose home base is “The Downs” at Gurley, near Moree, bought “Dunumbral” in 1989 from the late Ralph Hunt, long-serving federal Member for Gwydir and Cabinet minister.

The property is managed by his son Cameron and operated independently of the family’s Gurley cattle and cropping operation, involving his eldest son, Kent.

Peter Ritter is well known to Sydney Royal Show-goers as a long-serving Merino sheep steward and regular prize-winner in the fleece section, with big, bold entries from “Dunumbral”.

When he bought “Dunumbral”, the station woolshed was in poor condition and no longer used as Hunt shore his sheep in a smaller, more modern shed on “Wyndella”, a former station block that he had re-purchased.

But Peter and Cameron were reluctant to see the original shed crumble into ruins, as so many others have been allowed to do, either by neglect, property break-up, or land use changes.

They were keenly aware of the property’s rich history, of which the woolshed was an integral component, and keen to preserve it in tangible form – even if this meant largely rebuilding it.

The shed was on record as having been erected by 1872, at which time “Dunumbral” was part of the pastoral empire of colonial entrepreneur, Oswald Bloxsome.

Born in Gloucestershire, England, Bloxsome arrived in NSW in 1838 and the following year was part of a pioneering expedition to the Glen Innes district, where he took up Rangers Valley Station.

A respected artist and mover in colonial society, Bloxsome built a mansion he called “The Rangers” in Mosman, from where he directed his extensive northern NSW pastoral operation.

A prized possession at “Dunumbral” is the station bell, bearing the “OBX” letters of Bloxsome’s well-known cattle brand (still in use at “Rangers Valley”).

Bloxsome died in 1886 and in 1888 the executors of his estate tried unsuccessfully to sell “Dunumbral”, at which time it was a run of just over 400,000 acres (160,000 hectares), with 92,000 sheep.

From “Collymongle” on the Barwon River, it extended west to Coocoran Lake (near present-day Lightning Ridge) and from Angledool Station in the north to “Dungalear” in the south.

Sheep numbers must have built up rapidly in the two years after the property was advertised for sale, because in 1890 a flood is on record as having wiped out 93,000 head!

Nor were floods the only problems the property had to contend with.

In 1894 during industrial unrest it was reported a contingent of 30 police, “drawn up in military order”, was on hand to usher a party of “free” shearers past picketing unionists.

The station at that time had a permanent staff of about 20, ranging from the manager, James Armitage, down to musterers, boundary riders, a horse breaker, cook, carpenter, butcher, gardener, housemaid and laundress.

There was considerable daylight between the manager’s salary of 400 pounds ($800) and the rest.

The overseer, next in the pecking order, was paid just 100 pounds and the book-keeper, 80 pounds, while the laundress had to survive on 40 pounds.

As time went on, management of the property devolved increasingly on the estate’s financier and woolbroker, AML and F, which eventually, in the late 1890s, foreclosed.

During the 21 years the company managed it, either as creditor or owner, “Dunumbral” returned an average 9.5 per cent on capital – a result present-day graziers would die for.

But by 1913 AML and F needed to raise funds to finance its growing client base and “Dunumbral” was sold, thereby restoring the station’s earlier links with Glen Innes.

The property was bought by Sinclair Brothers of Waterloo Station – a Glen Innes property also now in the news as it is again up for sale for only the fifth time in its 177-year history.

From their base at “Waterloo”, the Sinclairs built up a powerful chain of stations across the North West. Besides “Dunumbral” they included “Collymongle”, “Gunnee” and “Ardersier”.

Colin (later Sir Colin) Sinclair, who lived at “Dunumbral” for a time, went on to enter State parliament and for 11 years was also a much-respected president of the Royal Agricultural Society.

The Sinclairs held “Dunumbral”, progressively whittled down in size by resumptions for closer settlement, until the late 1960s, after which it changed hands several times – owners during this period included Donald McDonald, Peter Mazoudier and Andrew Strachan – before being bought by Ralph Hunt in 1980.

Hunt held “Dunumbral” for 19 years, during which time it was his home base and a refuge to which he keenly returned whenever freed for a few days from his parliamentary duties.

When he retired from parliament in 1989 and settled in Sydney, Hunt sold “Dunumbral”, although it never hit the market.

Peter Ritter knew the property, and had told his agent (who was also Hunt’s brother-in-law), “if it ever comes up for sale, let me know”. The rest, as they say, is history.

The property, now about 15,000ha, is managed today by the Ritters as a Merino breeding and woolgrowing operation, joining 6000 ewes and shearing about 10,000 sheep.

At a time when many western properties are switching to meat breeds, Peter and Cameron remain wedded to Merinos, which thrive for little cost on the blacksoil plains of “Dunumbral”.

Peter says it’s at “Dunumbral” that the family makes money more easily than at Gurley, where costs now impinge heavily on returns from their cattle breeding and cropping operation.