- Location: Narrabri
- Agent: Rob Southwell, 0419 269 328. Southwell Land and Water, Narrabri.
With their retirement home in town already bought, and a clearing sale planned for September, the owners of the Narrabri property Ivanhoe are clearly expecting to make a sale this month.
That's the expectation also of Rob Southwell, of Southwell Land and Water, who has listed the property for sale. It will go to auction in Narrabri on August 27, unless sold before.
Ivanhoe is owned by Hugh and Helen Faris, who purchased it in the mid-1980s and developed it into the breeding base of their Ivanhoe Droughtmaster stud. They ran the property in conjunction with the nearby Wiluna South, which the same agent sold earlier this year, and now following the dispersal of the stud late last year, they are retiring into Narrabri.
Situated near Yarrie Lake, 28 kilometres west of Narrabri and 15km east of Wee Waa, Ivanhoe is a compact property of 466 hectares (1152ac) well suited to mixed farming or more specialised pursuits.
Until about 20 years ago the property was the base of Farco Aviation, comprising at its peak five aerial crop spraying aircraft and a twin-engined passenger plane, plus a licensed aviation workshop.
Up to four aircraft at one time were housed in the cavernous concrete-floored 24m x 20m steel hangar, now serving as a king-sized machinery shed.
This, plus the property's handy location, makes it an ideal base for a contractor or someone with other income seeking a home base that offers a range of agricultural enterprise options. Described as 80 per cent arable, with cracking grey brigalow/belah and red loam soils, the property has been managed by the present owners primarily for the breeding and growing-out of their stud cattle.
Typically about 80 cows were run on the property, with bull progeny being grown to maturity, supplemented by seasonal fattening. About 120ha is now sown to wheat, barley and oats, the balance being a mix of native and introduced pastures including bambatsi, Rhodes and buffel grass, legumes, clovers and medics.
The property has been unstocked since the cattle left last year and with 479mm of rain recorded so far this year, pastures have jumped away and are seeding prolifically.
Average rainfall is 623mm and the property is watered by two bores reticulating to tanks and paddock troughs, plus five dams.
Timbered originally by brigalow, belah, bimble box and cypress pine, the property retains a scattering of shade and shelter trees.
Most of the internal fencing is new and complemented by electrically-fenced grazing cells of regular size, which are linked by laneways.
The four-bedroom brick veneer homestead is fully carpeted and has a spacious kitchen with island bench and Miele gas cooktop, ducted evaporative air conditioning and a wood heater. Verandas on two sides overlook the extensive lawns and easy-care gardens shaded by native trees.
Working improvements include steel cattle yards with crush, four cone-bottom silos and older storage sheds. A 630m airstrip of compacted red earth next to the sealed Yarrie Lake Road bears testimony to the property's earlier role as an aviation centre.
By PETER AUSTIN