Western District farm sold for the first time in more than 100 years

A tightly held 360ha farm at Birregurra has been sold for millions, as a family finalised three generations on the property.

Fairholme, at Birregurra, has been sold to a local farming family.

A tightly held 360ha farm in Victoria’s Western District has changed hands in a recently struck deal, ending more than a century of ownership by a single family.

Fairholme, located at Birregurra, 20km east of Colac, has been sold by the Brien family as they finalised three generations at the mixed farming property.

Listed for sale in June last year, Fairholme was expected to receive offers worth about $24,710 a hectare, or about $8.9m in total.

It is understood a local farming family seeking to expand its beef farming enterprise has acquired the property, for an undisclosed sum in the vicinity of expectations.

In recent years the property has been operating as a mixed farming enterprise, running sheep and cattle, along with a cereal and grass seed cropping program.

The farm has run about 1500 crossbred ewes and about 90 cows and calves of mixed breeds.

“The first family members to start farming arrived at the end of World War I,” Elders Real Estate Camperdown selling agent Rob Rickard said when Fairholme was listed for sale.

“It’s attractive rolling arable country with a balance of lighter loam soils and some later heavy-carrying country along the permanent Matthews Creek, which runs through the property.

“There’s also a modest three-bedroom weatherboard home on an elevated site with views across the valley towards the Matthews Creek.

Fairholme has been home to 1500 crossbred ewes and about 90 cows and calves of mixed breeds, plus some cropping pursuits.

“Fairholme includes some magnificent potential home sites, subject to the usual approvals, offering 270-degree views to the Great Otway National Park and beyond.”

Existing infrastructure includes a 20m x 12m machinery shed with skillion, hay shed, large three-stand shearing shed and yards with undercover working area, steel cattle yards with crush and loading ramp.

The transaction comes after a 485ha grazing farm in Victoria’s west was sold back into Australian hands by an institutional investor from the UK.

Elwood, located near Macarthur in the state’s famed Western District, was listed for sale last September as part of the UK-based investors move to divest three livestock farms, which spanned a total of 2078ha within 150km of each other.

When the three grazing farms were listed for sale they were expected to field offers ranging from $16,000-$18,500 a hectare, or more than $7.7m for Elwood.

Originally published as Western District farm sold for the first time in more than 100 years