End of an era on Upper Lachlan

Well-known bachelor grazier Syd Kensit has decided it's finally time to complete his transition to retirement, and will offer for sale his remaining Sugarloaf property at Narrawa.

This sale follows on from his earlier offloading in 2012 of the 1036-hectare Little Narrawa.

Little Narrawa was Mr Kensit's home base since 1968 and the headquarters of his then substantial Merino and cattle breeding operation.

Having sold Little Narrawa, Mr Kensit scaled down to an all-cattle breeding operation on his nearby Sugarloaf holding.

This location is also where he built himself a stylish new residence.

That's the 615ha (1519ac) Lachlan River-fronting Sugarloaf house-and-land package which has now been listed for November 19 auction in Yass by conjunctional agents LAWD and Elders.

The sale marks a further shrinkage of the Kensit family's Narrawa landholdings which at their peak sprawled over some 7284 hectares (18,000 acres) midway between Crookwell and Boorowa.

It was Syd Kensit's British-born grandfather, Henry Kensit, who established the family dynasty in the area.

This dynasty began when he married Martha Eacret and took up Woodford in 1863.

Other purchases followed, including the 2832-hectare (7000-acre) Narrawa Station, as their five sons settled on the land, but since the 1980s, the family's holdings have been whittled down with the progressive disposals of Woodford, Llandillo, Aubyn Vale, Evermore and Little Narrawa.

The sale of Sugarloaf, which Syd took over from his father, George, in 1973, will leave the Narrawa Kensits with just the adjoining Reidsdale and nearby Moorabinda, both held now by Syd's nephews.

Situated fronting the Lachlan River 38 kilometres west of Crookwell and 48km from Boorowa, Sugarloaf is a property of undulating red basalt and sedimentary trap grazing country, lightly timbered by yellow and grey box and red gum.

Just over two-thirds of the total area is described as arable grazing, and supports a high-performance mix of introduced pastures complemented by native perennial grasses and topdressed annually.

Before drought intervened in 2018 the property ran a self-replacing Hereford breeding herd of 230 cows (since reduced to 200), with steers typically grown to turn-off weights of 500 kilograms.

Average rainfall is 738mm and the property is watered by a seven kilometre frontage (including 1.5km double frontage) to the Lachlan River, 14 dams and an equipped bore reticulating to a header tank and troughs.

Working improvements include a steel machinery shed with lockable workshop and two sets of steel cattle yards, each with six-way round draft and one with covered vet crush and automatic weighbridge.

There is also a set of steel sheepyards with bugle layout and a sheep shelter shed to house 600 woolies.

A modern double-brick, four-bedroom homestead, built in 2014, has a galley-style kitchen with marble benchtops, open-plan living area, formal dining room and covered outdoor entertaining area.

Set amid extensive lawns with district views, the homestead comes with split-system air conditioning, slow-combustion heating, solar hot water system and a double garage.

It is complemented by a two-bedroom, double-brick, self-contained cottage beside the river, ideal for Airbnb or weekender use.

Sugarloaf is expected to attract bidding on the high side of $4.5 million.