ONE of Dubbo’s truly landmark properties will go under the hammer next month with the offering of “Dundullimal” for only the third time in more than a century.
“Dundullimal” is a name familiar not only to locals, but also to the thousands of tourists who have visited historic Dundullimal Homestead since it was gifted to the National Trust in 1986.
Believed to be the oldest surviving slab house in Australia, the homestead was built in the 1840s, when “Dundullimal” (according to one source) was a grazing run of more than 8000 hectares.
The homestead, which sits on four hectares, today ranks as one of Dubbo’s premier tourist attractions.
And just next door is the 468-hectare (1157-acre) “Dundullimal” property of which it was once a part, listed now with Davidson Cameron Board and Simmons of Dubbo for June 23 auction.
It’s a unique offering, by virtue of the large size of the property for such a prime location – just five kilometres from Dubbo CBD, where it fronts the Macquarie River for seven kilometres.
Settled in 1836 by Dalmahoy and Charles Campbell, “Dundullimal” underwent various early changes of ownership before being bought in 1871 by Thomas Baird.
By then it had shrunk in size to about 6500ha, and within 20 years would be further trimmed by resumptions to about 2000ha.
Baird at that time also owned Cluny Station in Queensland’s Channel Country and is reputed to have overlanded 1000 head of cattle from there each year to finish on “Dundullimal”.
The Baird family line continued through the marriage of Hannah Baird to Joseph Palmer and it was not until 1990 that the property again went on public sale, to wind up a Palmer estate.
It was bought then by Jim and Sue Furney from the well-known Dubbo stockfeed business family, who sold it in 1999 to the present owners, Tom and Beryl Browne.
The historic homestead had already been hived off as a separate portion in 1986, when the Palmer family gifted it to the National Trust.
Today “Dundullimal” is managed mainly as a mixed livestock operation, producing prime cattle and lambs off crop and improved pasture for domestic and export markets.
But it lends itself to a wide range of agricultural activities from broadacre cropping to intensive horticulture, and has grown seed canola under contract in recent years, and lucerne for hay.
More than 90 per cent of the total area is arable and, of this, some 280ha is rich alluvial river soils running into red loam.
The Brownes have extensively improved the property during their 11-year tenure, upgrading the infrastructure, further developing the pastures and erecting a five-bedroom home.
The infrastructure upgrading included the installation of three centre pivots which allows the irrigation of 80ha, backed by 382 megalitres of river and bore licences.
Livestock facilities include a large set of steel cattleyards with capacity for 150 head, feedlot yards and a three-stand woolshed with new steel sheepyards.
Other working structures include a machinery shed with enclosed workshop, hayshed and silos.
The homestead is a modern, two-storey structure commanding views over the property and set in established lawns and gardens with a heated saltwater pool.
Listing agent, Peter Dwyer, said apart from its agricultural merits, “Dundullimal” offered tourist development possibilities for an entrepreneurially-minded owner.
It is situated in a tourist precinct close to the Taronga Western Plains Zoo and adjacent to Dundullimal Homestead, and a 77ha section of the property carries a 3d (Tourism and Leisure) zoning.
Similar properties in the area have sold for upwards of $7500/ha ($3000/ac), and its prime location and first-class improvements are expected to assure keen interest for “Dundullimal”.
Contact Peter Dwyer, (0418) 266 523.
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