Andrew Yates purchases Welbon for $33m from Carrigan family

A 4784ha mixed farm in northern NSW near Moree, owned by one family for 100 years, has been sold for a stunning price through auction.

After a 100-year tenure, the Carrigan family have sold their signature farm, Welbon at Garah in northern NSW.

A well-known northern NSW family has paid a premium price to secure 4784ha of mixed farmland at Garah, north of Moree.

Local grower Andrew Yates has purchased Welbon, located at 496 Dolgelly Rd, Garah, from the Carrigan family who have relinquished their 100-year tenure at the property.

Five bidders registered for the auction held late last month, with three active bidders driving the value from its opening bid of $18 million up to the winning bid of $33 million, or almost $7000 a hectare.

Mr Yates is the son of the late Australian grain grower and well-known Garah identity Bill Yates, who passed away in 2017.

The Yates family has extensive farming interests in northern NSW with history dating back to Andrew’s great-grandfather William, who began farming at the Garah family property in 1899.

About 50 per cent of Welbon can be used for summer crops such as cotton and sorghum as well as winter cereals of wheat, barley, durum, chickpeas, faba beans and canola.

Prior to its sale, Welbon had been held by the Carrigan family for 100 years dating back to when Alexander Carrigan purchased the property, including 8000 sheep, from the Scottish Land Co. in 1923.

Chris and Helen Carrigan, the vendors, increased Welbon’s size in 1985 with the purchase of the adjoining Duravale and then part of Gilbunna in 1988 to bring it to its current 4784.5ha.

Ray White Rural Moree principal Ed Wisemantel handled the sale and said it was a record price for a grazing property in the Garah district.

“It was a great result for what is a signature property in the Garah region,” he said.

Up to half of Welbon has been farmed mainly for winter cereals and fodder, which was incorporated with sheep and cattle production.

The five-bedroom Welbon homestead was built in 1928 for the Carrigan family by Benjamin Wade and his group of tradesmen from Inverell.

Welbon was marketed with a large body of dry feed and was conservatively stocked with the last shearing tallies reaching 8500 head.

Meanwhile two hours south of Garah, Bruce and Susan Retschlag have sold their properties Belfield and Riverstone at Upper Horton, near Barraba.

Having owned the properties for the last 15 years, the Retschlag family is returning to Queensland having sold the 3636ha aggregation post-auction for an undisclosed price understood to be worth north of $10 million.

An undisclosed NSW-based buyer purchased the property after it was passed in at auction last month, in a deal handled by Riley Gibson from Ray White Rural and Etheridge Property’s Peter Etheridge.

Meanwhile, despite tougher economic conditions this year, a local dairy farming family in southwest Victorian paid more than $42,000 a hectare for an 80ha holding near Warrnambool last month.