Although now in the grip of drought, like the rest of north-west NSW, the Coonamble district has long been favoured territory for large-scale landholders.
At various times the Australian Agricultural Company, the New Zealand and Australian Land Company, the Scottish Australian Company and more recently Clyde Agriculture and Paraway Pastoral Company have all owned substantial holdings in the area.
And now a rare opportunity has arisen for another investor to snap up more than 20,000 hectares (50,000ac) of prime Coonamble mixed farming country.
This opportunity is due to the simultaneous offering of three contiguous land parcels.
Colliers International is marketing the three land parcels of Trewilga, Nedgera and Fermoy Aggregation by separate expressions of interest, but with a common closing date of November 7.
This is to enable bids to be lodged for all three at once.
The three land parcels are themselves an aggregation of nine original farms, and bring together a combined cultivation area of 11,521ha or just over half the total area of 20,496ha, with potential to expand the farming area at low cost.
Situated in the prized Gungalman district 60 to 70 kilometres north-west of Coonamble, the properties comprise level to slightly undulating country of mostly self-mulching grey floodplain soils with areas of red loam.
Fermoy Aggregation, the largest of the three offerings at 8874ha, is owned by Mick and Anna Altus who have put six properties together since starting out in 1992.
The aggregation has a 12km frontage to Mowlma Creek and 4.5km frontage to Nedgera Creek (including the home of the Gungalman waterski club), and like the other properties, receives periodic beneficial flooding.
Typically growing about 4000ha of winter crop plus opportunity summer crops and cattle trading or agistment, the property is watered by three bores and comes with main homestead, three other dwellings and working improvements.
Trewilga/Punches Plain is a 7967ha aggregation owned by Bill and Lenore Green, whose (Green) family has held Trewilga since 1909.
The two properties together have about 2100ha of developed cultivation.
However, they are managed mainly for sheep breeding, with up to 7000 bought-in Merino ewes lambing to Border Leicesters.
Plus there is also opportunity cattle agistment.
Improvements include a five-bedroom homestead with pool, manager's residence, three machinery sheds, four-stand shearing shed, and steel sheep and cattle yards.
Nedgera, owned since 2011 by John and Sally Stratton, comprises 3686ha of which about 2600ha is sown to wheat, barley and chickpeas.
Cattle breeding and fattening make up the normal enterprise mix.
The property has 4.5km of frontage to Nedgera Creek, where the four-bedroom homestead is set on the bank, opposite the above mentioned waterski club.
All three properties come with reticulated bore water, comfortable homesteads, additional homes and extensive working improvements.
Monwonga correction
Our story in Domain last week featuring the Monwonga aggregation at Forbes contained a typographical error.
The error was relating to the original size of Big Burrawang, the former station of which Monwonga/Gloming/Woolwash was once a part.
Far from being originally '200-plus hectares', as stated in the story, it was 200,000-plus hectares (which is what we meant to say!).