A small but landmark riverfront property just listed for sale between Forbes and Condobolin has links to two of the former pastoral giants of the Lachlan Valley.
“Packwood” is the 339 hectare (840ac) property owned for more than 70 years by three generations of the Nash family, and being sold now to wind up the estate of the late Elizabeth Nash, who died in April.
Her late husband, Don, was one of three sons of Austin Nash, whose father, Martin, held the original “Packwood” property (to the east of this one) since the early 1900s.
Austin inherited that property upon his father’s death in 1926, and then in 1940 he added on the property that is now for sale, when it was offloaded by the legendary stock and land dealer, J.J. Leahy.
Leahy had earlier that year bought at auction a 6573 acre (2661ha) aggregation of adjoining Lachlan River stations “Fairholme” and “Moonbi”, as additions to his “Manna Park” holding.
“Fairholme” and “Moonbi” in turn had been previously owned by C.S. (Charles) MacPhillamy of nearby “Warroo”, who prior to his death in 1935 had presided over annual shearings of up to 50,000 sheep.
Although the former MacPhillamy property was marketed heavily on the strength of its long frontage to Island Creek (an anabranch of the Lachlan), Leahy had little interest in riverfront country.
It was the “back” country he had his eye on, and he had no sooner bought the “Fairholme”/“Moonbi” aggregation that he hived off 800 acres with the Island Creek frontage and sold it to Nash, whose original “Packwood” adjoined it.
And it’s that country, purchased from Leahy in 1940, that forms the bulk of the “Packwood” that has been listed for December 8 auction in Forbes by Ray White Rural Central West.
Austin Nash later divided his “Packwood” holdings between his three sons – Don, Reg and Bill – and it was Don and his wife Elizabeth who got the block now for sale.
The other two blocks have since been sold.
Situated on the sealed Lachlan Valley Way 30 kilometres east of Condobolin and 65km from Forbes, “Packwood” is a choice block of river country ideally suited to a fattening, prime lamb or fodder-growing enterprise.
Fronting the Island Creek for 9.7km, the property is nearly all arable consisting of rich alluvial creek flats and self-mulching loams, well suited to lucerne or row-crop irrigation.
Under present management the property supports a herd of 150 Angus-cross cows, from which calves are sold as weaners, and has about 70ha of established lucerne and 80ha of oats, the latter about to be baled.
Although no longer irrigated, the property has been developed in the past for border-check irrigation and has channels and a pump, along with a 243 megalitre general security water licence. Average rainfall is 450mm.
Structural improvements are modest and include a five-bedroom brick veneer home built in the 1960s as well as a two-bedroom cottage, a two-stand shearing shed, machinery and hay sheds and sheep and cattle yards.