PROPERTY OF THE WEEK
- LOCATION: Gooloogong
- AUCTION: February 18
- LAND: 113ha (281ac) and 65ha (160ac)
- AGENT: James Keady, 0427 312 402, James P. Keady, Cowra.
Two adjoining Cowra district properties that started life as a local banker's weekend 'getaway' farm are drawing strong local and outside inquiry - for agricultural and lifestyle reasons alike.
On offer are 113 hectare (281ac) Waterview and 65ha (160ac) Medlorn, on the Lachlan River 10 kilometres from Gooloogong, 27km north of Cowra.
Listed for sale by James Keady of Cowra, the properties will go to auction on February 18 as separate parcels, with price expectations in the high $2 millions for Waterview, and $550,000 to $600,000 for Medlorn.
The properties are owned by former bank manager Milton Barnett and his wife Mary, who bought Medlorn in 1986, while Milton was managing the Cowra branch of the Commonwealth Bank.
Waterview was annexed in 1993, by which time the Barnetts had moved to Canberra, but they commuted back to the property, always intending take up full-time residence when Milton retired.
Now they are taking retirement to the next stage, and moving into Cowra, leaving Waterview and Medlorn to new owners who could be a young family, retirees like themselves or a couple scaling down from a larger operation.
Waterview has a long history of one-family ownership, having been held by successive generations of the Male family from the mid-1800s until about 1980.
Described as level and 100 per cent arable, the property has soils ranging from heavy dark river loams to sandy loams, and a 1km frontage to the Lachlan River.
After initially growing lavender, the Barnetts have concentrated mainly on prime lamb production, from lucerne and clover-based pastures supporting a flock of around 400 first-cross ewes.
A 200-megalitre general security water licence (included) underpins a 24ha irrigation system where river water is piped from a new Grundfos end suction pump through 750m of mains to 13 hydrants.
The present irrigation system (now supporting a new 20ha planting of lucerne) offers scope for expansion, as virtually the whole property is suitable for irrigation.
Average rainfall is 600mm and a Mono pump delivers stock and domestic water from the river to paddock troughs and the garden.
Centrepiece of Waterview is its double-brick colonial homestead, erected for the Male family in 1896 and sympathetically renovated and extended by the present owners.
Set in a large, easy-care garden with swimming pool and tennis court, the four-bedroom home has wide verandahs, formal dining and family rooms, and a covered outdoor entertaining area.
Period features such as polished floorboards, pressed-metal ceilings and the Carmichael fuel stove have been retained, alongside modern additions such as ducted air conditioning, slow-combustion heating, an electric range and dishwasher.
Working infrastructure includes a 19m by 19m steel hayshed, machinery shed and silos, and the property is subdivided into 13 main paddocks interspersed with planted tree corridors.
The adjacent Medlorn block is of granite formation and described as 70pc arable, with native pastures, and a balance of light to medium timber.
In past years the property ran Merino ewes, producing first-cross ewes for Waterview, but it is now unstocked.
The only structures are a two-stand shearing shed, quarters and sheepyards, but the property comes with a home building entitlement.